3. Memory Management

One of the most vital resources that the operating system needs to manage is memory.

The amount of memory that you have in your computer is limited. (Such as the memory held on the RAM stick shown above). And so, like any limited resource, it needs to be managed. This is the task of the memory manager which is part of the operating system.

When you double click on a desktop icon to open an application, the operating system loads the necessary parts of the application into memory. As you start using the application, the operating system will load extra modules into memory as they are required. If you do not use some of the features of the application for a while, the operating system will remove them from memory to try to free up space.

While you are doing your work, your data will be stored in memory. When you have finished your task and closed the application, the operating system will remove it from memory.

Memory management is one of the main duties of the operating system