This video covers everything in Edexcel topic 4.4 Software. This includes operating system and application software, software licences, and software models.

A thorough overview of operating systems, the reason we need them, and the types of tasks they perform. Some of the technical language is dropped in without explanation and will probably go over the heads of GCSE students at first, but it is worth sticking with because the level of detail is good.

This page contains notes on operating systems, memory management, hardware management, and user interfaces. The level of detail is perfect for GCSE courses, but also useful as an introduction to operating systems for A-Level and IB courses.

This is the better of the two BBC pages on operating systems, covering the functions of an OS in much more detail and with much clearer explanations. There are clear notes and diagrams covering CPU management, memory management, and peripheral management.

This page provides a brief over of general operating system functions. The second page then goes into more detail about the different types of process management, including multi-programming, batch processing, and multi-user access.

A detailed overview of operating systems, starting with the general tasks they perform (process management, memory management, user interface) and then going into more detail about how these tasks are performed. The video is aimed at GCSE courses and so does not go into lots of detail about how (for example) an OS schedules tasks - but it is more than enough to cover the GCSE syllabus.

Some students find the difference between operating system software and utility software hard to understand. This video should help clarify the differences (and also the difference between application software and utility software), with plenty of good examples. It also covers the basics of computer software models.

Introduction to Climate Models

The video Supercomputing the Climate and the article Models 'key to climate forecasts' are a good introduction to how computer climate models are used.

How climate models work

The slideshow In Pictures: Climate Models shows how climate models have developed over the years with improvements in computing technology. It is a useful article to understand the myriad factors that must be considered by such models. National Earth Science Teachers Association and How do climate models work? also have clear explanation of the processes and variables that are included in climate models.

Finally, New Supercomputer Enhances Reliability of Weather Predictions explains how new advances in technology are helping improve climate models even further.

Increasingly car manufacturers use computers models during the vehicles' design and testing processes. Models can be used to test the structure of cars, the effectiveness of safety features such as airbags, and the possible outcomes of collisions.

• FIAT Bravo Animation-front crash test
• Crashing Cars When They're Still a Gleam in the Designer's Eye
• Car-crash Testing: Is It Accurate?
• Crashteams 'Crash reconstruction experts'
• Toyota High-Tech Simulator Helps Racecar Safety
• Simulated Car Crashes Involving Pregnant Women

Driving simulators range from software programmes that can run on home computers to supercomputer powered simulators with specialised input and output hardware.

• Video: Driver Test
• Video: Red Bull F1 Simulator with Mark Webber
• Video: Trying out Fernando Alonso's Ferrari F1 simulator

Flight simulators are probably the most recognised types of computer simulators. Both civil aviation and the military use simulators extensively to test pilots in a range of situations that would be too expensive or too dangerous to try with real aircraft. The resources below show a range of flight simulators and their development.

• Flight simulator pictures
• Pilots train without taking off
• Video: Boeing flight simulator
• Video: RAF Valley Hawk simulator