System software is designed to operate the hardware of the computer. It also provides platform for running application software and basic functions for the computer usage. The purpose of system software is to protect the applications programmer from the complexity and specific details of a particular computer being used, especially memory and other hardware features. It consists of the following components:
Device Driver:
This is a computer program that allows higher level computer programs in interacting with the computer hardware. A device driver simplifies programming as it acts as a translator between a hardware device and the applications that use it.
Operating System:
An operating system manages computer hardware, provides services for execution of application software. It consists of programs and data. Examples of operating systems for computers are Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Unix.
Server:
A server is a program that operates as a socket listener in computer networking. A server computer is a computer, or series of computers, that link other computers and they often provide essential services across a network, either to private users inside a large organization or to public users via the internet.
Utility Software:
Utility software is used to manage the computer hardware and application software and performs small tasks. Some of the examples of utility software are systems utilities, virus scanners and disk defragmenters.
Windowing System:
A windowing system supports the implementation of window managers and provides basic support for graphics hardware and pointing devices such as mice, and keyboards. It is a component of graphical user interface.