Windows - Operating System

The operating system (OS) that runs all your programs and allows you to easily interact with your PC is called Windows for a good reason.

It allows you to work with several different items and programs at once, all in their own 'window'. A window is like a smaller screen contained within a box on your main screen.
When you are working with a window it is brought to the 'front' of the screen, overlapping the Desktop and any other items behind it, so that you can focus on whatever is in the window.

In this way, you can have several windows open at the same time containing different programs that can be opened, closed, and re-arranged across the screen. This means you can do multiple tasks at the same time, such as listening to an audio program while writing an e-mail for example.

Operating System Types

There are many types of operating systems. The most common is the Microsoft suite of operating systems. They include from most recent to the oldest:

Windows Vista
Windows XP Professional Edition - A version used by many businesses on workstations. It has the ability to become a member of a corporate domain.

Windows XP Home Edition - A lower cost version of Windows XP which is for home use only and should not be used at a business.

Windows 7

Microsoft can do better than Windows Vista.

And with Windows 7—expected sometime before the year is up.

Whether it's the new features or the less taxing system requirements, Windows 7 promises to be a vast improvement on Vista, and hopefully enough to coax most of us still clutching XP for dear life to finally upgrade.

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What is an Operating System

The operating system is the core software component of your computer. It performs many functions and is, in very basic terms, an interface between your computer and the outside world. In the section about hardware, a computer is described as consisting of several component parts including your monitor, keyboard, mouse, and other parts. The operating system provides an interface to these parts using what is referred to as "drivers". This is why sometimes when you install a new printer or other piece of hardware, your system will ask you to install more software called a driver.

What does a driver do?.

A driver is a specially written program which understands the operation of the device it interfaces to, such as a printer, video card, sound card or CD ROM drive. It translates commands from the operating system or user into commands understood by the the component computer part it interfaces with. It also translates responses from the component computer part back to responses that can be understood by the operating system, application program, or user. The below diagram gives a graphical depiction of the interfaces between the operating system and the computer component..

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Windows OS

The operating system (OS) that runs all your programs and allows you to easily interact with your PC is called Windows for a good reason.

It allows you to work with several different items and programs at once, all in their own 'window'. A window is like a smaller screen contained within a box on your main screen.

When you are working with a window it is brought to the 'front' of the screen, overlapping the Desktop and any other items behind it, so that you can focus on whatever is in the window.

In this way, you can have several windows open at the same time containing different programs that can be opened, closed, and re-arranged across the screen. This means you can do multiple tasks at the same time, such as listening to an audio program while writing an e-mail for example.