System software is a type of software that provides a platform for other software and manages the basic functions of a computer or a mobile device. Some examples of system software are operating systems, device drivers, firmware, compilers, assemblers, linkers, loaders, utilities, etc. System software is usually written in low-level languages and interacts with the hardware directly.

Some of the features of system software are:

• Fast in speed: System software is designed to be as fast as possible to provide an efficient platform for higher-level software¹.

• Hard to manipulate: System software is hard to manipulate as it does not directly interact with users and is written in low-level languages that are difficult to understand and modify¹.

• Low-level: System software runs at the most basic level of the computer or the device, and controls the hardware resources and functionality².

• Background: System software runs in the background and performs essential tasks such as memory management, file management, process management, input/output management, security, etc³.

• Platform: System software provides a platform for application software to run on top of it and interact with users. It also provides common services and libraries that application software can use³.