2. Software Categories

There are two main categories of computer software that you need to know about.  They are:

1. System software – the Operating System, utility programs and drivers. System software controls the operation of the hardware, it supports networking and communication operations. Effectively it is a 'software platform' that allows application software to run properly.

2. Application software – the everyday programs that you use such as Microsoft Office, graphics packages and web browsers. Application software runs 'on top' of the system software that supports it. For example, a computer game will be sending graphic commands to the system software that is driving the graphic card within the computer.

We will look at each of these categories in a bit more detail over the next few pages.