An Operating System (OS) is an interface between hardware and user which is responsible for the management and coordination

of activities and the sharing of the resources of the computer that acts as a host for computing applications run on the machine. Basic functions of OS :
CPU scheduling Memory management Storage management

I/O managemnt
Multi-user support Security
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In 1980, IBM has an agreement with Microsoft so that the later will produce an operating system for IBM PC. Microsoft introduced MS-DOS in 1981. Later on, Microsoft decided to sell MS-DOS to IBM compatible PC. Since then, Microsoft dominates the PC operating system market until now. The last version of MS-DOS (version 6.22) was released in 1994. While MS-DOS is not used commonly today, it still can be accessed from Windows by clicking Start / Run and typing command or CMD.
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 MS-DOS

is a command based operating system. Users have to type in text command in the command prompt to operate the computer.

 Features

of MS-DOS :

Used text based command Support single user only No network support
Advantage

of MS-DOS :

Fast

Disadvantages of MS-DOS :
Not user friendly, have to remember commands No Plug-n-Play support, installing new hardware could

be troublesome
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In order to make its MSDOS more user friendly, Microsoft introduced Windows 1.0 in 1985. Windows 1.0 is a graphical user interface (GUI) shell program run on top of MS-DOS. Windows was not popular until version 3.1 and 3.11 (early 1990s).

In 1995, Microsoft released a true GUI operating system called Windows 95. Microsoft Windows 98 was released in June 1998 followed by Microsoft Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) in May 1999. Microsoft Windows 2000 was released in February 2000. Microsoft Windows ME (Millennium) released in July 2000. Microsoft Windows XP was released on October 25, 2001. Microsoft Windows Vista was released in January 2007. Microsoft Windows 7 was released in Nov 2009.
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 Features

of Windows 9x / XP / Vista / 7 :

User friendly Support Plug-n-Play Support multi-user

Support networking
Support larger harddisk partition (Windows 98 and

above) Better multimedia support Better graphic support

Different OS has different hardware requirements which include CPU speed, amount of memory, hard drive space, graphics requirement, etc. For example, Windows 7 has the following hardware requirements :
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit) 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

We should only install the OS if our computer meets or exceeds the recommended hardware requirements.

Make sure you have the Windows 7 Setup Disk. To start the installation, first check that the first boot device in your system BIOS is set to the CD-ROM Drive.

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To begin insert your Windows 7 Setup Disk into the CDROM/DVD-ROM and reboot you computer. Setup program will be loaded (this may take a few minutes).

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Now select your install Language, Time and Currency Format, plus keyboard type, once you are happy with the settings, Click on "NEXT" to continue.

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From the next screen click on "Install Now" to continue

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Now the "License agreement"..... ....read them and click on "I accept the License terms", then click "Next" to continue.

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Now the "Type of installation". Click on "Custom (Advanced) to continue..

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Hard drive setup comes next. Click next for "Automatic Harddrive setup using full capacity", otherwise click on "Drive Options" to configure the drive yourself.

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To setup the harddrive, click on "NEW and type the amount of size you wish to use and click on "APPLY".

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The partitions are now setup, select the partition that says "Primary" underneath "Type" and click on "Format" to finalize the hard drives setup.

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Now the "Where do you want Windows to go question" select the drive you created ("Disk 0 Partition 2" in my case), the same drive that you formated in the previous step....

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Windows will now begin copying files

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Once done it will begin expanding the copied files

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Now, installing features, and then installing updates (if any)

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Wait 10 seconds for restart or click "Restart" to restart immediately.

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After the computer is restarted, Windows will run for the first time and update registry settings.

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Updating services and completing installation...

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Another restart is needed

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Once Windows is completely loaded, it prompts for user name and computer name. Fill up and click Next.

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Next the password setting screen, fill in the password box, retype to confirm, and leave yourself a hint in case it become forgotten. Click Next to continue.

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You will now need your Windows "Product Key". This will be on the disk packaging provided with your CD's/DVD's, or from Microsoft's website just before downloading.

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Now the built in Windows protection modes. It is recommended to select "Use Recommended settings", this will enable updates to be downloaded and installed.

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Next, confirm the time zone is correct and also the time and date. Time and date is from the BIOS, but "Time Zone" needs to be set.

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Now your Network configuration, if you want to setup the new "homegroup" network system for easy to configure, password protected configuration, then use this option. If you want a standard network setup then use "Work Network", allowing you to browse and see other computers. The last option is public network, use this when you are connected to unsafe network (like public places).

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Windows 7 will now finalize your settings

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Finally

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If you are lucky you will have no drivers to install, but chances are the next step will be to install them. Check out device manager for unknown devices, likely items are Network Cards, Sound Cards, Printers, Scanners, Graphics Cards, Digital Cameras, etc. Also installing anti-virus software, spyware software and possibly a 3rd party Firewall are a must for any computer. Windows Update is very successful in finding many drivers, so try running it for a few hours, and after a few boots you may find all items installed and ready for use

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