Which statement is True or False about the Windows 11 Operating System (OS)? (i) The OS loads program code directly onto the hard…

Question

Which statement is True or False about the Windows 11 Operating System (OS)? (i) The OS loads program code directly onto the hard disk for execution, as the CPU can only execute code from permanent storage. (ii) For multitasking, the OS allocates small CPU time slices to processes, rapidly switching between them, a technique known as Time-Sharing.

1. A. (i) True, (ii) False
2. B. (i) False, (ii) False
3. C. (i) True, (ii) True
4. D. (i) False, (ii) True (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — (i) False, (ii) True

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is (i) False, (ii) True.

Key Points

• Statement (i) is False. The operating system loads program code into RAM (main memory), not onto the hard disk. The CPU can only execute instructions from primary memory, and its reasoning is inverted — permanent storage is exactly what the CPU *cannot* execute from directly.
• Statement (ii) is True. Multitasking works by allocating small CPU time slices to each process and switching rapidly between them, a technique properly called time-sharing or time-slicing.
• Only option D pairs these correctly.

Additional Information

• The memory hierarchy explains statement (i): registers → cache → RAM → secondary storage, with speed falling and capacity rising at each step down. Programs must be brought up into RAM before the CPU can touch them.
• The switching in statement (ii) requires a context switch, in which the OS saves one process's state and restores another's. It happens fast enough to create the illusion of simultaneous execution on a single core.
• Virtual memory blurs the line usefully: when RAM runs short, Windows uses a page file on disk as an extension — but pages are still copied back into RAM before execution.
• RAM is volatile (contents lost on power-off); disk storage is non-volatile, which is why work must be saved.