List the common tasks of an operating system

What will be an ideal response?

The common tasks of an operating system include the following:
- Booting (or starting) a computer
- Reading programs into memory and managing memory allocation
- Managing where programs and files are located in secondary storage
- Maintaining the structure of directories and subdirectories
- Formatting disks
- Controlling the computer monitor
- Sending documents to the printer

Operating systems (whether for large mainframe computers or for small notebook computers) perform similar operations. Obviously, large multiuser supercomputers are more complex than small desktop systems; therefore, the operating system must account for and manage that complexity.