The operating system (OS) is a set of software for controlling computer tasks and managing the proper use of hardware resources. The basic operating systems are Linux, UNIX, Mac and Microsoft Windows. There are several diverse components in an operating system which include, but are not limited to, file management, security, memory, and process management. The following paragraphs present the comparison of basic operating systems against the features given above (Solomon, Russinovich & Polze, 2006). File management system refers to the organization, management and manipulation of computer data in documents and files provided by the file manager through a graphical user interface. Computer documents and files can be created, modified, viewed and deleted from computer memory and files can be organized into computer directories. The file management process differs depending on the operating system, as presented in the following paragraphs. There are several file managers used only by Microsoft Windows, including Altap Salamander, FAR Manager, File Manager, Windows Explorer, etc. Files are placed in folders and the index contains information about the files known as the File Allocation Table (FAT). One of the latest file management systems in Windows is the New Technology File System (NTFS). Name of the NTFS store owner, it provides POSIX file permissions, creation timestamps, last access timestamp, and content last modified timestamp. The Mac operating system uses file managers which include: Disk Order, Finder, Path Finder and Xfile. Disk Order File Manager provides the graphical user interface and displays files in list form and two...... middle of paper ......Murphy, P. (2004). What makes Linux different from Windows?. Retrieved from http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/33089.htmlSolomon DA, Russinovich, ME, and Polze, A. (2006). Comparison of Windows XP and Linux. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TexasStallings, W. (2012). Operating Systems: Internal Components and Design Principles (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall. Silberschatz, A., Galvin, PB and Gagné, G. (2009). Operating System Concepts: Update (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. Vélez, R. (2011). Mac vs. PC vs. Linux. Retrieved from http://raquel.escuchame.org/2011/07/29/mac-vs-pc-vs-linux/Wallen, J. (2008). 10 fundamental differences between Linux and Windows. Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-fundamental-differences-between-linux-and-windows/406/WhatIs.com. (2014). Retrieved from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/process