The Operating System performs several management tasks to maintain security and organisation.

(a) Tick one box in each row to identify whether the action is an example of User Management or File Management.

Action	User Management	File Management
Setting a password for a new employee account
Moving a spreadsheet from the Desktop to the "Accounts" folder
Changing the permissions of a folder to "Read-Only"
Sorting a list of images by "Date Modified"

(b) State two methods of authentication an Operating System might use to verify a user's identity before logging them in.

A secondary school network allows both students and teachers to log in to the same computers.

(a) The school needs to ensure that students cannot delete important lesson plans created by teachers.
Explain how the Operating System’s User Management function allows this to happen.
(b) When a student logs in, they are shown a personal area where they can save their work.
Explain why the Operating System uses user profiles to manage this.

File Management allows users to organise their data efficiently.

(a) Modern Operating Systems use a hierarchical structure (directories/folders).
Describe one benefit of using a hierarchical structure for storing files.
(b) A user attempts to save a file with the name Science/Homework.docx, but the Operating System prevents this.
Explain why the Operating System does not allow characters such as /, \, or : in a filename.
(c) Files usually have an extension (e.g., .py, .txt, .jpg).
Explain the purpose of the file extension for the Operating System.

When a user deletes a file, it is often moved to a "Recycle Bin" rather than being immediately erased.

(a) Identify one benefit to the user of having a Recycle Bin.
(b) The user empties the Recycle Bin. The Operating System marks the space on the hard drive as "available".
Explain why the data might still be recoverable by a specialist.

A small business owner wants to improve how their office computers are managed.
Complete the description of the Operating System functions using the words from the list below.
Not all words will be used. The Operating System allows the business to create accounts for each employee. To log in, each user must provide a username and password. This process is known as (1).

To ensure security, the (2) account can set different permissions for different users. This feature is known as setting (3). For example, a junior employee may only be able to read a file, whereas a manager can edit it.

The Operating System also manages files. It organises files into a hierarchical (4) structure, using folders to group related documents. When a file is saved, it is given a name and a file (5), such as .docx, which tells the OS which software to use to open it.

If an employee forgets where they saved a contract, they can use the (6) utility to locate it. Each file has a specific location address on the drive, known as the file (7) (e.g., C:\Documents\Work).

The OS may also store metadata about the file, such as whether it is "Read-only" or (8) from view.