An operating system is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers, manages computer hardware resources, and

provides common services for execution of various application software. Operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system. Without an operating system, a user cannot run an application program on their computer, unless the application program is self booting. 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, [1][2] 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 are: BSD, Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuSE, Mandriva, Arch Linux, Debian, Linux mint etc.), Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and UNIX.[3] Types Real-time A real-time operating system is a multitasking operating system that aims at executing real-time applications. Realtime 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 have an eventdriven or time-sharing design and often aspects of both. An event-driven system switches between tasks based on their priorities or external events while time-sharing operating systems switch tasks based on clock interrupts. Multi-user vs. Single-user A multi-user operating system allows 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 vs. Single-tasking 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 multitasking 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 A distributed operating system manages a group of independent computers and makes them appear to be a single computer. 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 Embedded operating systems are designed to be used in embedded computer 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. Unix and Unix-like operating systems Ken Thompson wrote B, mainly based on BCPL, which he used to write Unix, based on his experience in the MULTICS project. B was replaced by C, and Unix developed into a large, complex family of inter-related operating systems which have been influential in every modern operating system (see History). The Unix-like family is a diverse group of operating systems, with several major subcategories including System V, BSD, and GNU/Linux. The name "UNIX" is a trademark of The Open Group which licenses it for use with any operating system that has been shown to conform to their definitions. "Unixlike" is commonly used to refer to the large set of operating systems which resemble the original Unix. Unix-like systems run on a wide variety of machine architectures. They are used heavily for servers in business, as well as workstations in academic and engineering environments. Free Unix variants, such as GNU/Linux and BSD, are popular in these areas. Some Unix variants like HP's HP-UX and IBM's AIX are designed to run only on that vendor's hardware. Others, such as Solaris, can run on multiple types of hardware, including x86 servers and PCs. Apple's Mac OS X, a hybrid kernel-based BSD variant derived from NeXTSTEP, Mach, and

FreeBSD, has replaced Apple's earlier (non-Unix) Mac OS. Unix interoperability was sought by establishing the POSIX standard. The POSIX standard can be applied to any operating system, although it was originally created for various Unix variants BSD and its descendants A subgroup of the Unix family is the Berkeley Software Distribution family, which includes FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. These operating systems are most commonly found on webservers, although they can also function as a personal computer OS. The Internet owes much of its existence to BSD, as many of the protocols now commonly used by computers to connect, send and receive data over a network were widely implemented and refined in BSD. The world wide web was also first demonstrated on a number of computers running an OS based on BSD called NextStep. BSD has its roots in Unix. In 1974, University of California, Berkeley installed its first Unix system. Over time, students and staff in the computer science department there began adding new programs to make things easier, such as text editors. When Berkely received new VAX computers in 1978 with Unix installed, the school's undergraduates modified Unix even more in order to take advantage of the computer's hardware possibilities. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense took interest, and decided to fund the project. Many schools, corporations, and government organizations took notice and started to use Berkeley's version of Unix instead of the official one distributed by AT&T. Steve Jobs, upon leaving Apple Inc. in 1985, formed NeXT Inc., a company that manufactured high-end computers running on a variation of BSD called NeXTSTEP. One of these computers was used by Tim Berners-Lee as the first webserver to create the World Wide Web. Developers like Keith Bostic encouraged the project to replace any non-free code that originated with Bell Labs. Once this was done, however, AT&T sued. Eventually, after two years of legal disputes, the BSD

project came out ahead and spawned a number of free derivatives, such as FreeBSD and NetBSD. In this two year wait, GNU and Linux appeared. Plan 9 Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy at Bell Labs designed and developed the C programming language to build the operating system Unix. Programmers at Bell Labs went on to develop Plan 9 and Inferno, which were engineered for modern distributed environments. Plan 9 was designed from the start to be a networked operating system, and had graphics built-in, unlike Unix, which added these features to the design later. It is currently released under the Lucent Public License. Inferno was sold to Vita Nuova Holdings and has been released under a GPL/MIT license. Linux and GNU Linux (or GNU/Linux) is a Unix-like operating system that can be used on a wide range of devices from supercomputers to wristwatches. The Linux kernel is released under an open source license, so anyone can read and modify its code. It has been modified to run on a large variety of electronics. Although estimates suggest that Linux is used on 1.82% of all personal computers,[5][6] it has been widely adopted for use in servers[7] and embedded systems[8] (such as cell phones). Linux has superseded Unix in most places[which?], and is used on the 10 most powerful supercomputers in the world.[9] The Linux kernel is used in some popular distributions, such as Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Google's Android. The GNU project is a mass collaboration of programmers who seek to create a completely free and open operating system that was similar to Unix but with completely original code. It was started in 1983 by Richard Stallman, and is responsible for many of the parts of most Linux variants. For this reason, some claim that the combined product of the Linux kernel and the GNU software collection is more correctly called GNU/Linux. Thousands of pieces of software for virtually every operating system are licensed under the GNU General Public License. Meanwhile, the Linux kernel began as a side

project of Linus Torvalds, a university student from Finland. In 1991, Torvalds began work on it, and posted information about his project on a newsgroup for computer students and programmers. He received a wave of support and volunteers who ended up creating a full-fledged kernel. Programmers from GNU took notice, and members of both projects worked to integrate the finished GNU parts with the Linux kernel in order to create a full-fledged operating system. Google Chrome OS Chrome is an operating system based on the Linux kernel and designed by Google. Chrome targets computer users who spend most of their time on the Internet, it is technically only a web browser with no other applications and relies on Internet applications (or Web apps) used in the web browser to accomplish tasks such as word processing and media viewing. Mac OS X Mac OS X is a line of partially proprietary graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently shipping Macintosh computers. Mac OS X is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. Unlike its predecessor, Mac OS X is a UNIX operating system built on technology that had been developed at NeXT through the second half of the 1980s and up until Apple purchased the company in early 1997. The operating system was first released in 1999 as Mac OS X Server 1.0, with a desktop-oriented version (Mac OS X v10.0) following in March 2001. Since then, six more distinct "client" and "server" editions of Mac OS X have been released, the most recent being Mac OS X v10.6, which was first made available on August 28, 2009. Releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats; the current version of Mac OS X is "Snow Leopard". The server edition, Mac OS X Server, is architecturally identical to its desktop counterpart but usually runs on Apple's line of Macintosh server hardware. Mac OS X Server includes work group management and administration software tools that

provide simplified access to key network services, including a mail transfer agent, a Samba server, an LDAP server, a domain name server, and others. In the upcoming release of Mac OS X v10.7 Lion, all server aspects of Mac OS X Server will be integrated into the client version Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a family of proprietary operating systems designed by Microsoft Corporation and primarily targeted to Intel architecture based computers, with an estimated 88.9 percent total usage share on Web connected computers.[11] [12][13][6] Currently, the most widely used version of the Windows family is Windows XP,[14] released on October 25, 2001. The newest version is Windows 7 for workstations and Windows Server 2008 R2 for servers. Microsoft Windows originated in 1985 as an application running on top of MS-DOS, which was the standard operating system shipped on most Intel architecture personal computers at the time. In 1995, Windows 95 was released, combining MS-DOS 7.0 with Windows on the same medium, removing the need of getting a separate MS-DOS license. Keeping much legacy, it could run real-mode MS-DOS[15][16] and 16 bits Windows 3.x[17] drivers. Windows Me, released in 2000, was the latest version of Windows of the Windows 95 family. Later versions have all been based on the Windows NT kernel. Current versions of Windows run on IA-32 and x86-64 microprocessors, although Windows 8 will support ARM architecture. In the past, Windows NT supported a few non-Intel architectures. Server editions of Windows are widely used. In recent years, Microsoft has expended significant capital in an effort to promote the use of Windows as a server operating environment. However, Windows' usage on servers is not as widespread as on personal computers, as Windows competes against Linux and BSD for market share. Windows XP is an operating system that was produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, and media centers. It was first released

to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001,[3] and is the most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base. The name "XP" is short for "eXPerience, as it says on the Installation CD."[4] Windows XP was the successor to both Windows 2000 and Windows Me, and was the first consumeroriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel, such as Windows 2000 and architecture. Windows XP was released for retail sale on October 25, 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst.[5] It was succeeded by Windows Vista (also based on NT technology), which was released to volume license customers on November 8, 2006, and worldwide to the general public on January 30, 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on June 30, 2008. Microsoft continued to sell Windows XP through their System Builders (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) program until January 31, 2009.[6][7] XP may continue to be available as these sources run through their inventory or by purchasing Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Pro, Windows Vista Ultimate or Windows Vista Business, and then downgrading to Windows XP.[8][9] The most common editions of the operating system were Windows XP Home Edition, which was targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which offered additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and was targeted at power users, business and enterprise clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition was designed to run stylus applications built using the Tablet PC platform. Windows XP was eventually released for two additional architectures, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for x86-64. There is also Windows XP Embedded, a component version of the Windows XP Professional, and editions for

specific markets such as Windows XP Starter Edition. By mid 2009, a manufacturer revealed the first Windows XP powered cellular telephone.[The NT-based versions of Windows, which are programmed in C, C++, and assembly, are known for their improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows. Windows XP presented a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. A new software management facility called Side-by-Side Assembly was introduced to ameliorate the "DLL hell" that plagues 9x versions of Windows.[14][15] It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat illegal copying. Windows XP had also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration of applications such as Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Media Player, and for aspects of its default user interface. Later versions with Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3, and Internet Explorer 8 addressed some of these concerns. During development, the project was codenamed "Whistler", after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.[16] According to web analytics data generated by W3Schools, as of June 2011, Windows XP is the most widely used operating system for accessing the Internet in the world with a 39.7% market share, having peaked at 76.1% in January 2007. User interface Windows XP featured a new taskbased GUI (Graphical user interface). The Start menu and Taskbar were updated and many visual effects were added, including: A translucent blue selection rectangle in Explorer Drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop Task-based sidebars in Explorer windows ("common tasks") The ability to group the taskbar buttons of the windows of one application into one button

The ability to lock the taskbar and other toolbars to prevent accidental changes The highlighting of recently added programs on the Start menu Shadows under menus (Windows 2000 had shadows under mouse pointers, but not menus) Windows XP analyzed the performance impact of visual effects and uses this to determine whether to enable them, so as to prevent the new functionality from consuming excessive additional processing overhead. Users can further customize these settings.[18] Some effects, such as alpha compositing (transparency and fading), are handled entirely by many newer video cards. However, if the video card is not capable of hardware alpha blending, performance can be substantially degraded, and Microsoft recommends the feature should be turned off manually.[19] Windows XP added the ability for Windows to use "Visual Styles" to change the user interface. However, visual styles must be cryptographically signed by Microsoft to run. Luna is the name of the new visual style that ships with Windows XP, and is enabled by default for machines with more than 64 MiB of RAM. Luna refers only to one particular visual style, not to all of the new user interface features of Windows XP as a whole. Some users "patch" the uxtheme.dll file that restricts the ability to use visual styles, created by the general public or the user, on Windows XP.[20] In addition to the included Windows XP themes, there is one previously unreleased theme with a dark blue taskbar and window bars similar to Windows Vista titled "Royale Noir" available for download, albeit unofficially.[21] Microsoft officially released a modified version of this theme as the "Zune" theme, to celebrate the launch of its Zune portable media player in November 2006. The differences are only visual with a new glassy look along with a black taskbar instead of dark blue and an orange start button instead of green. [22] Additionally, the Media Center "Energy Blue" theme, which was included in the Media Center editions, is also available to download for use on all Windows XP editions.[23]

The default wallpaper, Bliss, is a BMP photograph of a landscape in the Napa Valley outside Napa, California,[24] with rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds. The Windows 2000 "classic" interface can be used instead if preferred. Several third party utilities exist that provide hundreds of different visual styles. New and updated features Main article: Features new to Windows XP Windows XP introduced several new features to the Windows line, including: GDI+ graphics subsystem and improved image management and viewing in the shell [25] DirectX 8.0 upgradeable to DirectX 9.0c Start Menu and Taskbar improvements A number of new features in Windows Explorer including task panes, tiles and filmstrip views, improved sorting and grouping, built-in CD burning and AutoPlay A number of kernel enhancements and power management improvements
[26][27]

designed to improve text readability on liquid crystal display (LCD) and similar monitors, especially laptops.
[32][33]

Faster start-up, (due to improved Prefetch functions) logon, logoff, hibernation and application launch sequences.
[28]

The ability to discard a newer device driver in favor of the previous one (known as driver rollback) should a driver upgrade not produce desirable results.[29] A new, arguably more userfriendly interface, including the framework for developing themes for the desktop environment [30] and richer icons Fast user switching, which allows a user to save the current state and open applications of their desktop and allow another user to log on without losing that information [31] The ClearType font rendering mechanism, which is

Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop features, which allow users to connect to a computer running Windows XP from across a network or the Internet and access their applications, files, printers, and devices or request help.[34] New networking features [35] including Windows Firewall, Internet Connection Sharing integration with UPnP, NAT traversal APIs, IPv6 and Teredo tunneling, network bridging, peer to peer networking, support for most DSL modems, IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) connections with auto configuration and roaming, as well as networking over FireWire, and Bluetooth. New security features such as Software Restriction Policies, Credential Manager, Encrypting File System improvements, improved certificate services, smart card and PKI support and Data Execution Prevention in SP2. Side-by-side assemblies and registration-free COM Improved media features in Windows Media format runtime, Windows Media Player, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Encoder and introduction of Windows Media Center General improvements to international support such as more locales, languages and scripts, MUI support in Terminal Services, improved IMEs and National Language Support, Text Services Framework Handwriting recognition, speech recognition and digital ink support accessible through the Tablet PC Input Panel (TIP) in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

Numerous improvements to system administration tools and Group Policy [36] Improved application compatibility and shims compared to Windows 2000 Users in British schools observed the improved ease of use and advanced capabilities comparing the former to RISC OS and Mac OS, and the latter to Unix Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows XP To Press

To window. Display the System menu for the active window. Switch between open items. Carry out the

Press

To Explorer.

Press

ALT+SPACEBA R

Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in

BACKSPACE

ALT+TAB

the Save As or Open dialog box

Set focus on Windows a notification. View properties for the selected item. Displays the ALT+Enter properties of the selected object. Cycle through items in the order they were opened. "Close the active item, or quit the active program. Opens the shortcut menu for the active ALT+SPACEBA R ALT+F4 ALT+ESC ALT+ENTER Key+B

ALT+Underlin ed letter

in a dialog box. Copy selected item. Select all. CTRL while dragging an item CTRL+A

correspondi ng command or select the correspondi ng option in a dialog box. Display the correspondi ng menu. Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons in a dialog box. View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows BACKSPACE ALT+Underlin ed letter in a menu name Arrow keys

Copy. CTRL+C Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4 Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys Move backward through tabs in a dialog box. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB Move forward through tabs in a dialog box. CTRL+TAB Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW Paste. CTRL+V Search for computers. CTRL+Windows Key+F Cut. CTRL+X Undo. CTRL+Z Delete. DELETE

Display the bottom of the active window. END Carry out the command for the active option or button in a dialog box. ENTER Cancel the current task. ESC Display Help in a dialog box. F1 Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10 Rename selected item. F2 Search for a file or folder. F3 Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4 Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. F4 Refresh the active window. F5 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6 Display the top of the active window. HOME Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. F4 Refresh the active window. F5 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6 Display the top of the active window. HOME Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. F4 Refresh the active window. F5 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6 Display the top of the active window. HOME Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW

Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. Menu key Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*) Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-) Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+) Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds Display the items in the active list in a dialog box. F4 Refresh the active window. F5 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6 Display the top of the active window. HOME Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. Menu key Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*) Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-) Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+) Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds

Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times Prevent the CD from automatically playing. SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10 Move backward through options in a dialog box. SHIFT+TAB Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box in a dialog box. SPACEBAR Move forward through options in a dialog box. TAB Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu Display or hide the Start menu. Windows Key Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. Windows Key+ L Display the System Properties dialog box. Windows Key+BREAK Show the desktop. Windows Key+D Open My Computer. Windows Key+E Search for a file or folder. Windows Key+F Display Windows Help. Windows Key+F1 Minimize all windows. Windows Key+M Open the Run dialog box. Windows Key+R Restores minimized windows. Windows Key+Shift+M Opens Utility Manager. Windows Key+U