What Is Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems  developed  Microsoft Corporation. Windows was first released in 1985 as a graphical user interface to DOS,  which was the original operating system developed by microsoft. Windows provided document support, mouse support, drop down menus, and color video drivers. Windows  gradually replaced many of DOS's built-in hardware functions with their own functions that greatly enhanced usage. Microsoft Windows is now often referred to as an integrated operating system due to the high level of integration between the basic kernel functions and other Microsoft software such as Outlook, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. Despite it's poor security record caused by this integration, Microsoft Windows is today is used by over 90% of personal and business computers in the world. The latest version is called  Windows Vista and  was released late 2006 to large businesses while the consumer version was released in early 2007.
All Microsoft Windows versions come with a lot of  preinstalled software that is ready to use when the system is installed. Basic text editors and calculators have been available right from the first version of Windows was released. Windows 98 added Media Player, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. Windows Vista has enhanced this operating system with the addition of the Windows Mobility Center, Photo Gallery, DVD Maker, and the Linux-like Windows Sidebar. Vista is also the first version of Windows to have built-in security.. Although the second Windows XP service pack added a firewall and anti-virus monitoring service, Vista implements these features  at the kernel level. Individual programs are isolated and cannot access each other's memory. Critical drivers are executed in user mode, this means crashes and malicious behavior cannot cause system instability or security breaches. Third-party anti-virus and anti-spyware software now run outside the kernel, This provides additional protection from bugs and backdoors in those programs.