Computer Fundamentals and System Concepts

A system or boot sector virus resides in the boot sector of a disk (master boot record for hard disks, boot sector for floppies) and executes when the computer boots, before the operating system loads. Trojan horses disguise themselves as legitimate software, file viruses infect executable files, and macro viruses infect documents/files with macros.

MS-Word is Microsoft's word processing application used for creating documents. A game is for entertainment, an operating system manages computer resources, and a typing tutor teaches typing skills.

The IBM System/38, introduced in 1979, was a mid-range computer system designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It was positioned as a 'small scale computer' or 'minicomputer' - smaller than mainframes but more powerful than microcomputers. It evolved into the AS/400 and later IBM i series. The classification 'small scale computer' is historically accurate for this system.

Microprogramming involves designing the control unit using microinstructions stored in control memory (typically ROM). It simplifies complex CPU control logic by breaking instructions into micro-operations that execute in sequence.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) architecture consists of three main components: Control Unit (CU) manages instructions, Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) performs calculations, and Memory stores data. RAM is a type of memory but not part of the CPU itself. Option B correctly identifies CU, Memory (internal registers/cache), and ALU as CPU components.

Icons in graphical user interfaces serve as visual symbols representing system elements. They provide 'a symbolic representation of any system' - icons represent files, programs, folders, or other objects through small images. Options B, C, and D describe functions or relationships, not the fundamental purpose of icons themselves.

The actual execution of the instructions takes place in the control unit during data processing in a computer system.

The computer as a machine and all other equipment associated with it, is termed as hardware.

Distributed operating systems provide transparency - users don't need to know where their programs execute or where resources are located. The OS manages this abstraction across multiple machines seamlessly.

Kernel mode always supports all these primitives.

A system call is the mechanism by which a program requests a service from the OS kernel. It also provides the interface boundary between user processes and the operating system. Both blanks refer to this same concept.

CPS stands for Cycles Per Second, an older unit for measuring processing speed in computers (now largely replaced by Hertz or Hz). EFTS refers to electronic funds transfer, MPG is miles per gallon (fuel efficiency), and NIPS was a neural information processing conference (now NeurIPS).

In some computers, interrupt vector is the first address of the I/O service routine.