List of Microsoft Windows versions

This page lists and links to information on the various versions of Microsoft Windows, a major computer operating system developed by Microsoft.

• Windows 7, for home and business desktops and portable computers
  • Windows 7 Starter A variant for developing countries and netbooks, in which the Aero theme is not included, nor 64-bit compatibility. This edition will be available pre-installed on computers through system integrators or computer manufacturers.
  • Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Home Basic will be available in emerging markets such as Brazil, People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand. It will not be available in countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Some Aero options are excluded along with several new features.
  • Windows 7 Home Premium This edition contains features aimed at the home market segment, such as Windows Media Center, Windows Aero and touch-screen controls.
  • Windows 7 Professional This edition is targeted toward enthusiasts and small business users. It includes all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium, and adds the ability to participate in a Windows Server domain. Additional features include operating as a Remote Desktop server, location aware printing, Encrypting File System, Presentation Mode and Windows XP Mode.
  • Windows 7 Enterprise (Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7600) This edition targets the enterprise segment of the market and will be sold through volume licensing to companies which have Software Assurance contract with Microsoft. Additional features include support for Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packages, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application-support. Not available through retail or OEM channels, this edition will be distributed through Microsoft Software Assurance (SA). As a result it includes several SA-only benefits, including a license allowing the running of multiple virtual machines, and activation via VLK.
  • Windows 7 Ultimate Windows 7 Ultimate contains the same features as Windows 7 Enterprise, but unlike that edition it will be available to home users on an individual license basis. Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional users will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate for a fee using Windows Anytime Upgrade if they wish to do so. Unlike Windows Vista Ultimate, the Windows 7 Ultimate edition will not include the Windows Ultimate Extras feature or any exclusive features. (6.1.7600)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 for servers.

• Windows Web Server 2008 R2
• Windows Storage Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition
• Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems
• Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 for high Performance supercomputers
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation

• Windows Mobile 6.5 for smartphones and PDAs
• Windows Home Server Announced at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access.
• Windows XP Embedded, for embedded systems requiring parts of the Windows XP infrastructure
• Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs, a low-end version of Windows XP that is intended to be a thin-client that works with older hardware.
• Windows Embedded CE 6.0, for embedded systems (not based on the Windows NT kernel)

Past versions

• Windows Mobile 6.1 for smartphones and PDAs
• Windows Server 2008 for servers.
  • Windows Web Server 2008
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1)
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition
  • Windows Storage Server 2008
  • Windows Small Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Cougar") for small businesses
  • Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (Codenamed "Centro") for medium-sized businesses
  • Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
  • Windows HPC Server 2008 for high Performance supercomputers
  • Windows Server Foundation 2008
• Windows Vista, for home and business desktops and portable computers
  • Windows Vista Starter Similar to Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets such as Colombia, India, Thailand, and Indonesia, mainly to offer a legal alternative to using unauthorized copies. It will not be available in the United States, Canada, Europe, or Australia.
  • Windows Vista Home Basic Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic is intended for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects will not be included with this edition.
  • Windows Vista Home Premium Like Windows XP Media Center Edition, this edition will support more advanced multimedia and entertainment authoring, premium games, mobile and tablet PC support, Network Projector, Windows Aero, Touch Screen, and auxiliary display (via Windows Side Show) support.
  • Windows Vista Business This edition is aimed at the business market. It includes advanced network and security features, whilst excluding entertainment features.
  • Windows Vista Enterprise (Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6000.0) This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and is a superset of the Business edition. Additional features include multilingual user interface support, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. This edition will not be available through retail or OEM channels
  • Windows Vista Ultimate This edition combines all the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions, a game performance tweaker (WinSAT), and "Ultimate Extras".
• Windows Server 2003 for servers
  • Small Business Server for first server installations (up to 2 processors)
  • Web Edition for basic Web serving (up to 2 processors)
  • Standard Edition for smaller server applications that don't require clustering (up to 4 processors)
  • Enterprise Edition for larger server applications, and clustering (up to 8 processors)
  • Datacenter Edition for mainframe like servers (up to 128 processors)
  • Storage Server for Network Attached Storage Devices (5.2.3790)
• Windows Mobile 6 for smartphones and PDA
  • Windows Mobile 6 Standard for smartphones
  • Windows Mobile 6 Classic for PDA without GSM
  • Windows Mobile 6 for PDA with GSM
• Windows XP for desktops and laptops (notebooks)
  • Windows XP Starter Edition, for new computer users in developing countries
  • Windows XP Home Edition, for home desktops and laptops
  • Windows XP Home Edition N, as above, but without a default installation of Windows Media Player, as mandated by an EU ruling
  • Windows XP Professional, for business and power users (Version number: NT 5.1.2600)
  • Windows XP Professional N, as above, but without a default installation of Windows Media Player, as mandated by an EU ruling
  • Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, for PCs with x86-64 processors (based on Windows Server 2003)
  • Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, for notebooks with a touch screen or a pen-sensitive screen
  • Windows XP Media Center Edition for desktops and notebooks with an emphasis on audio, video, and PVR capability. There are four versions:
    • Windows XP Media Center Edition
    • Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003
    • Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
    • Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
  • 2001 October 25 - Windows XP 64-bit Edition - A version of Windows XP roughly analogous to Windows XP Professional for Intel's IA-64 (Itanium) line of CPUs. It was discontinued in early 2005 after manufacturers stopped shipping Itanium systems marketed as 'workstations'.
  • Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, for tablet PCs
• 2000 February 17 - Windows 2000 (Version number: NT 5.0.2195)
  • Windows 2000 Professional
  • Windows 2000 Server
  • Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
• 2000 June 19 - Windows Me (Version number: 4.90.3000 (Security Version 4.90.3000A))
• Windows 98
  • 1999 May 5 - Windows 98 Second Edition (Version number: 4.10.2222 or 4.10.2222A (Security Version 4.10.2222C))
  • 1998 June 25 - Windows 98 (Version number: 4.10.1998 (Security Version 4.10.1998A))
• 1996 July 29 - Windows NT 4.0 - the last version which ran on RISC architectures like DEC Alpha, MIPS and PowerPC. Later versions concentrated on x86-based hardware and - mainly as server OSs - the IA-64 line of CPUs. (Version number: NT 4.0.1381)
• Windows 95
  • 1997 November 26 - Windows 95 OSR2.5 (Version number: 4.03.1216 (also listed as 4.00.950C))
  • 1997 August 27 - Windows 95 OSR 2.1 (Version number: 4.03.1214 (also listed as 4.00.950B))
  • 1997 August 27 - Windows 95 USB Supplement to OSR2 (Version number: 4.03.1212 (also listed as 4.00.950B))
  • 1996 August 24 - Windows 95 OSR2 (Version number: 4.00.1111 (also listed as 4.00.950B))
  • 1996 February 14 - Windows 95 OSR1 (Version number: 4.00.951 (also listed as 4.00.950A)
  • 1995 December 31 - Windows 95 SP1 (Version number: 4.00.951 (also listed as 4.00.950A)
  • 1995 August 24 - Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 (Version number: 4.40.310)
  • 1995 August 24 - Windows 95 (Version number: 4.00.950)
• 1995 June - Windows NT 3.51 (Version number: NT 3.51.1057)
• 1994 September - Windows NT 3.5 (Version number: NT 3.50.807)
• 1993 November - Windows for Workgroups 3.11
• 1993 October - Windows 3.2 This Version of Windows was only released in simplified Chinese.
• 1993 August - Windows NT 3.1 (Version number: NT 3.10.528)
• 1992 October - Windows for Workgroups 3.1
• 1992 August - Windows 3.1 (Version number: 3.10.040)
• 1990 May 22 - Windows 3.0 (Version number: 3.00.73)
• 1989 March 13 - Windows 2.11
• 1988 May 27 - Windows 2.10
• 1987 December 9 - Windows 2.03
• 1987 April - Windows 1.04
• 1986 August - Windows 1.03
• 1986 May - Windows 1.02
• 1985 November 20 - Windows 1.01
• CE-based
  • 2008 Windows Mobile 6.1, based on Windows CE 5.2.19202
  • 2006 Windows CE 6.0
  • 2005 Windows CE 5.0, with version for smart phones and PDAs sold as Windows Mobile 5.0
  • 2004 Windows CE 4.2, with version for smart phones and PDAs sold as Windows Mobile 2003 SE
  • 2003 Windows CE 4.1, with version for smart phones and PDAs sold as Pocket PC 2003
  • 2002 Windows CE 4.0, with version for smart phones and PDAs sold as Pocket PC 2002
  • 2000 July - Windows CE 3.0, with version for smart phones and PDAs sold as Pocket PC 2000
  • 1999 August - Windows CE 2.12
  • 1998 October - Windows CE 2.11
  • 1998 July - Windows CE 2.1
  • 1997 November - Windows CE 2.0
  • 1996 November - Windows CE 1.0

Read more »

Posted in: Microsoft Windows,Operating System,Software

Windows Registry

The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user interface and third party applications all make use of the Registry. The registry also provides a means to access counters for profiling system performance.

When first introduced with Windows 3.1, the Windows registry's primary purpose was to store configuration information for COM-based components. With the introduction of Windows 95 and Windows NT, its use was extended to tidy up the profusion of per-program INI files that had previously been used to store configuration settings for Windows programs.

.INI files stored each program's settings into a text file, often located in a shared location that did not allow for user-specific settings in a multi-user scenario. By contrast, the Windows registry stores all application settings in one central repository and in a standardized form. This offers several advantages over INI files. Since accessing the registry does not require parsing, it may be read from or written to more quickly than an INI file. As well, strongly-typed data can be stored in the registry, as opposed to the text information stored in INI files. Because user-based registry settings are loaded from a user-specific path rather than from a read-only system location, the registry allows multiple users to share the same machine, and also allows programs to work for less privileged users. Backup and restoration is also simplified as the registry can be accessed over a network connection for remote management/support, including from scripts, using the standard set of APIs, as long as the Remote Registry service is running and firewall rules permit this.

The registry has features that improve system integrity, as the registry is constructed as a database and offers database-like features such as atomic updates. If two processes attempt to update the same registry value at the same time, one process's change will precede the other's and the overall consistency of the data will be maintained. Where changes are made to INI files, such race conditions can result in inconsistent data which doesn't match either attempted update. Windows Vista and Windows 7 provide transactional updates to the registry, extending the atomicity guarantees across multiple key and/or value changes, with traditional commit-abort semantics. (Note however that NTFS provides such support for the file system as well, so the same guarantees could, in theory, be obtained with traditional configuration files.)

While offering improvements over application-specific .INI files, the organization and implementation of the registry also had potential problems:

• The registry duplicates much of the functionality of the file system.
• Centralizing configurations makes it more difficult to back up and recover individual applications.
• Installers and uninstallers may become more complicated if applications rely on Registry configuration settings that need to be created by installation applications because these Registry settings cannot be transferred by simply copying the application files that comprise the application. Use of the Registry by non-COM based applications is optional; .Net applications leverage a configuration file instead of the Registry. Some other operating systems (e.g., OS X) also support installation through simple file copy.
• Because information required for loading device drivers is stored in the registry,a damaged System registry may prevent a Windows system from booting successfully, since some device drivers won't be loaded, preventing the affected devices from working.[dubious – discuss] Device drivers are stored in a key called HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet, which is a symbolic link that alternates between HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet001 and HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet002, thereby allowing the "last known configutation" boot option to provide a mechanism of reverting to the last configutation that successfully started the system.
• The parts of the registry may have to be kept in sync with the file system (e.g., deleting an application rather than uninstalling it, may leave associated configuration items such as COM registration entries in the registry if the application is legacy and does not leverage side-by-side registry-free configuration.[5])
• Applications that make use of the registry to store and retrieve their settings may be unsuitable for use on portable devices used to carry applications from one system to another. Similarly, it is often not possible to copy installed applications that use the Registry to another computer. This means that software usually has to be reinstalled from original media after a computer upgrade or rebuild. Application virtualization addresses this problem.
• The Windows Registry is claimed by some third parties to be a single point of failure.

source: wikipedia.org

Read more »

Posted in: Operating System,Program,Windows Registry

Types of Operating Systems

Types of Operating Systems :

Real-time Operating System: It is a multitasking operating system that aims at executing real-time applications. Real-time operating systems often use specialized scheduling algorithms so that they can achieve a deterministic nature of behavior. The main object of real-time operating systems is their quick and predictable response to events. They either have an event-driven or a time-sharing design. An event-driven system switches between tasks based on their priorities while time-sharing operating systems switch tasks based on clock interrupts.

Multi-user and Single-user Operating Systems: The operating systems of this type allow a multiple users to access a computer system concurrently. Time-sharing system can be classified as multi-user systems as they enable a multiple user access to a computer through the sharing of time. Single-user operating systems, as opposed to a multi-user operating system, are usable by a single user at a time. Being able to have multiple accounts on a Windows operating system does not make it a multi-user system. Rather, only the network administrator is the real user. But for a Unix-like operating system, it is possible for two users to login at a time and this capability of the OS makes it a multi-user operating system.

Multi-tasking and Single-tasking Operating Systems: When a single program is allowed to run at a time, the system is grouped under a single-tasking system, while in case the operating system allows the execution of multiple tasks at one time, it is classified as a multi-tasking operating system. Multi-tasking can be of two types namely, pre-emptive or co-operative. In pre-emptive multitasking, the operating system slices the CPU time and dedicates one slot to each of the programs. Unix-like operating systems such as Solaris and Linux support pre-emptive multitasking. Cooperative multitasking is achieved by relying on each process to give time to the other processes in a defined manner. MS Windows prior to Windows 95 used to support cooperative multitasking.

Distributed Operating System: An operating system that manages a group of independent computers and makes them appear to be a single computer is known as a distributed operating system. The development of networked computers that could be linked and communicate with each other, gave rise to distributed computing. Distributed computations are carried out on more than one machine. When computers in a group work in cooperation, they make a distributed system.

Embedded System: The operating systems designed for being used in embedded computer systems are known as embedded operating systems. They are designed to operate on small machines like PDAs with less autonomy. They are able to operate with a limited number of resources. They are very compact and extremely efficient by design. Windows CE and Minix 3 are some examples of embedded operating systems.

Read more »

Posted in: Operating System

Operating System

An operating system (OS) is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers and manages computer hardware resources and provides common services for efficient execution of various application software.

For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between application programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and will frequently call the OS or be interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on almost any device that contains a computer—from cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers.

Examples of popular modern operating systems for personal computers are (in alphabetical order): GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Unix.

Read more »

Posted in: Aplication Program,Computer,Operating System,Software