Windows 95

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products. During development it was referred to by the internal codename Chicago. more...

Home
Cables, Connectors
Filers, Load Balancers
Home Networking, Cable & DSL
Hubs
KVM Switch Boxes, Cables
Mainframe, DEC, VAX, AS/400
Network Interface Cards,...
Networking, Telecom Tools
Other Networking Equipment
Print Servers, Wired
Racks, Mounts & Patch Panels
Router Components, Memory
Routers, Wired
Security, Firewall, VPN
Server Components, Memory
Servers
Software
Antivirus, Security,...
Apple, Macintosh Software
Business & Productivity
Database & Development Tools
Digital Music & Video...
Downloadable Software
Education & Reference
Games & Entertainment
Graphics, Photo & Publishing
Handheld Software
Internet Related Utilities
Kids' Software
Networking
Operating Systems
DOS
Linux
Other Operating Systems
Windows
Other Windows
Windows 2000
Windows 2003
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows NT
Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Professional
Other Software
Wholesale Lots
Software, Operating Systems
Storage Equipment, NAS, SAN
Switch Components, Memory
Switches
Telephone Systems, Telecom
UPS, Power Protection, APC
Wholesale Lots
Wireless Networking, WiFi
Workstation Components,...
Workstations, Terminals

Windows 95 was intended to integrate Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products. It featured significant improvements over the popular Windows 3.1, most visibly the graphical user interface (GUI) whose basic format and structure is still used in later versions such as Windows Vista. There were also large changes made to the underlying workings, including support for 255-character mixed-case long filenames and preemptively multitasked protected-mode 32-bit applications. Whereas the previous versions of Windows were optional "operating environments" requiring the MS-DOS operating system (usually available separately), Windows 95 was a consolidated operating system, which was a significant marketing change.

Windows 95 followed Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with its lack of support for older, 16-bit x86 processors, thus requiring an Intel 80386 (or compatible) processor running in protected mode.

32-bit

The introduction of 32-bit File Access in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 meant that 16-bit real mode MS-DOS was no longer used for managing the files while Windows was running, and the earlier introduction of the 32-bit Disk Access meant that the PC BIOS wasn't used for managing hard disks. This essentially reduced MS-DOS to the role of a boot loader for the protected-mode Windows kernel. DOS could still be used for running old-style drivers for compatibility, but Microsoft discouraged using them, as this prevented proper multitasking and impaired system stability. The Control Panel allowed a user to see what MS-DOS components were still used by the system; optimal performance was achieved when they were all bypassed. The Windows kernel still used MS-DOS style real-mode drivers in the so-called Safe mode, but this mode existed merely to allow a user to fix problems with loading native, protected-mode drivers.

Long File Names

The 32-bit File Access was necessary for the long file names feature introduced with Windows 95 through the use of the VFAT file system. It was available to both Windows programs and MS-DOS programs started from Windows (they had to be adapted slightly, since accessing long file names required using larger pathname buffers and hence different system calls). Competing DOS-compatible operating systems needed an upgrade to be able to see these names. Using older versions of DOS utilities to manipulate files meant that the long names were not visible and would be lost if files were copied or moved around. During a Windows 95 automatic upgrade of an older Windows 3.1 system, DOS and third-party disk utilities which could destroy long file names were identified and made unavailable (Microsoft Anti-Virus for Windows indicated that the upgrade program was itself a computer virus). If Windows 95 was started in DOS mode, e.g. for running DOS games, low-level access to disks was locked out. If the need arose to depend on disk utilities that do not recognize long file names, such as MS-DOS 6.22's defrag utility, a program was provided on the CD-ROM called LFNBACK for backup and restoration of long file names. The program is in the \ADMIN\APPTOOLS\LFNBACK directory of the Windows 95 CD-ROM.

Read more at Wikipedia.org