A good answer might be:

Yes---the operating system is running. Mostly it is managing the user interface, waiting for some input to tell it what to do.

If you are running Windows NT or Windows 98 do the following:

1. Using your right mouse button, click a blank area on the taskbar.
   • The taskbar is the bar (usually at the bottom of the screen) that has the Start button.
2. Click Task Manager.
3. Click on the Processes tab of the Task Manager window.
   • Each item on the list is a program that is active in your system.
   • Many of these are programs that are part of the operating system.
4. Click on the Close button of the Task Manager (the little X in the top right corner.)

The above procedure might not work, depending on how your computer has been set up. If it did work, you will have seen that there is quite a bit more going on in your computer than the one or two applications that may be running.

The operating system is a complex collection of many programs concerned with keeping the hardware and software components of a computer system coordinated and functioning. It is like a shop keeper who keeps a shop in order by attending to customers, handling supplier deliveries, stocking the shelves, doing the bookkeeping, and so on.

The operating system is software; the same hardware can be used with many different operating systems (although only one at a time.) Sometimes the operating system on a computer becomes corrupted (perhaps because of a computer virus) and must be tediously re-installed. Until it is up and running again, other programs will not be available.

QUESTION 9:

What component of a computer system holds the operating system when the computer is not running?