What is the purpose of virtual memory in an operating system?
a) To provide more memory to applications than is physically available
b) To improve hard disk performance
c) To manage user accounts
d) To speed up network connections
Answer:
a) To provide more memory to applications than is physically available
Explanation:
Virtual memory is a memory management technique that allows an operating system to use more memory than is physically available by using disk space. This is achieved by dividing memory into blocks called pages and swapping data between RAM and a special disk area called a pagefile.
When physical memory (RAM) is full, the OS moves less-used pages to disk, freeing up RAM for active applications. This creates an illusion of more memory being available than is physically installed on the system.
Virtual memory improves system performance and allows larger applications to run even when there is limited physical memory.