Unit 2, Task 4 - M1

Unit 2, Task 4 – M1

	Windows XP	Mac OS
Machine and Peripheral management	With Windows XP the peripheral management such as key board and mouse are bought and you can change the setting on them depending on the speed that you would like them to work, also most of this has to be bought separately.	Whereas with Mac OS most of the peripheral management for Macs have to be the hardware from apple to get the best kind of result.  Being able to change the setting on them wouldn’t be necessary as the hardware is made especially for the Mac.
Security	With security windows has the basic setting for it. This includes things like user name accounts and passwords to ensure that there isn’t any unauthorised access into the computer and the things that are inside of it.	With Mac OS the security system is a little different as they heck downloads before they are downloaded to see if they are safe and they also block the ports that are a potential security risk to the computer.
File Management	File manager in both Windows and Mac OS are very similar in how to use. It runs on different programmes as well as just windows XP, however file manager doesn’t run on all of the windows programmes. It is a simple file management and it sorts them depending on the size and it can also be customised to satisfy the person using the computer.	Mac OS have a simple and easy way to manage the files with in the computer and it makes it easier for the user to sort through them and make them easier to find and to be accessible. It uses something called ‘finder’. You can see all of the files on the hard drive and it is very similar to internet explorer.
Device drivers	Windows XP has something called device manager and this lets the user of the computer control the device driver.  Windows made the use of the device drivers easy and made the quality worth it.  If each device driver is currently updated then windows XP will be able to work it and handle it better than if it wasn’t updated to full that I can be.	Mac OS has different device drivers within the computer. A device driver is a computer programme that operates a certain type of device within the computer.  The device driver is a programme that is in the computer and runs the device internally. Mac OS has different devices that can be controlled by their own programme these include Bluetooth, and other plug in devices such as printers or scanners.
Ability to customize	Windows XP doesn’t have as many customisation tools as Mac OS does. They have their control panel which can change different features on the computer including icon sizes, colour and others features as well. Windows also has something called accessibility wizard which means you can customise your computer to suit your hearing and your vision.	With Mac OS there is a variation of customisation tools that are available. It had different downloadable tools that can make your Mac customised, this includes programmes such as mirage and candy bar. These are both available for Macs in order to customise the computer. There are also programmes available so you can customise other thing in the computer such as the way things install.
Support for connectivity of portable media	Windows supports different portable media that can be connected to the computer these feature include, USB, CD, sync, Bluetooth and WIFI.	With Mac OS it’s pretty much the same as windows XP as both of them manage to support mostly all portable media and both can do it with the same quality.
Security	Windows XP has an anti-virus system with in the programme that protects the computer from viruses that occur from downloads and pop ups that come up on the computer.  Windows also has security and has a wider range of security compared till Mac OS.	With security and Mac OS the problems that occur in computers are usually viruses, and with viruses the problem is usually in the applications rather than the OS itself. However Mac OS does have security in other ways such as privacy with in the computer which is useful for the computer user.
Stability and reliability	Stability and reliability would kind of rely of the applications that can be downloaded from the system and how they work. Windows has different types of applications and has more of them then OS so this can cause more stability problems compared to Mac OS	With Mac OS it is more stable because of the way that the hardware has been made for the computer and that it’s all tightly compact with each parts of the computer itself. It also has a cleaner code than Windows which makes it run faster with fewer crashes in the system.
Ease of management	With windows the way that it is managed is quite a simple format. However to compare both of these systems on the ease of management is difficult as it depends what the user it used to using.	With Mac the ease of management is a lot like Windows XP but with a different layout. They are both quite easy to use as they share the same similar features.
Associated utilities	With windows it does have more variety of utilities compared to Mac OS, but that doesn’t mean that it is better. The quality for some Mac OS utilities has better quality than some Windows XP utilities. Both are good though.	The associated utilities are utilities that have been created for Mac, this includes programmes such as path finder, even simpler ones such as the dimmer on the Mac itself.