Windows Interview Questions and Answers
A series of Operating systems developed by Microsoft Corporation, Windows is widely used for PCs and laptops. It has a built-in graphical user interface and comes with a desktop to view files and folders in a more organized and more comfortable manner. Check out our Windows interview questions to know how Windows has revolutionized the computer industry and how it can be used both for home and professional purposes. Windows can be easily installed on various hardware systems. Starting Windows 7, the OS allows touchscreen features, which makes it usable on tablets and phones other than computers. Most organizations prefer Windows as their OS because of the ease of use and software availability.
Advantages of Windows
- Very easy to use, even those who don’t know programming language can use.
- Supports almost all the new and existing hardware available in the market
- Backward compatibility
- Plenty of software and applications are available to work on.
- Fast and much suitable for those who love gaming
Want to crack essential interviews? Check out our comprehensive list of Windows interview questions below.
Most Frequently Asked Windows Interview Questions
| S.no | LINUX | WINDOWS |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Free of cost and open source | Commercial and comes with a price |
| 2. | Completely customizable | user cannot access any system files |
| 3. | Highly secure | Quite prone to viruses |
| 4. | Complex for users who are not from a programming background | Even a layman can operate |
| 5. | Can be booted from a logical or primary partition | Has to be booted from primary partition only |
| 6. | Consumes more running space | Uses microkernel that takes lesser space |
| 7. | File names are case sensitive | File names are not case-sensitive |
Five main functions of an OS are –
- System boot – starting (or restarting) a computer.
- Load and execute programs – facilitates loading of user and system programs into the memory to execute them efficiently.
- Managing memory –efficiently allows memory to different programs that run parallelly on a computer. Without OS, there will be chaos amongst various programs.
- Scheduling – If there are many processes to be run, the OS prioritizes and decides which method should get the CPU first.
- Security – OS prevents a user from accessing system files that should be protected from accidental or illegal modification or deletion.
We need windows because it is
- a user-friendly operating system,
- has graphical display making it easy to use,
- accessing and organizing data is simple and faster,
- reasonably priced.
| S.no | WINDOW | WINDOWS |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Refers to a single work box on the computer screen. | Refers to the whole operating system on which applications and programs run |
| 2. | Example – a word document, photo viewer, explorer, etc.… | Example – Windows95, WindowsNT, Windows7 etc.… |
Understand how Windows works, with our easy to understand answers about Windows interview questions.
There are 3 main types –
- Windows for PC – the most famous earlier version was Windows 95. The current version is Windows 10.
- Windows for servers – Windows NT, Windows 2000 and 2016 are a few examples of high-power workstations or servers.
- Windows for phone – Windows for the phone is not as popular as for desktops or servers. The last software is named as Windows 10 phone which has been applied only to a very few phones.
Windows server is used for machines that host websites and support more users at the same time. They can handle heavy loads that can be run as background processes, unlike windows PC that interacts directly with users.
Read more details about features of Windows in our list of Windows interview questions.
| S.no | THREAD | PROCESS |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Runs in a shared memory space and uses shared system resources. | Each process runs in a separate memory space and provides the required resources |
| 2. | Simple, the small task can be categorized as a thread. | A complex task that has at least one thread of execution. There can be multiple concurrent threads in a process. |
| 3. | Context switching between threads is easier | Context switching is more time-consuming |
How can I see all IP addresses on my network using CMD?
Active directory is a domain service provided by Microsoft to store information about network objects. This information is then readily available to network admins and users. Active directory supports distributed environments. The objects can be users, devices, passwords, computers, etc.…
Development history
Bill Gates announced Microsoft Windows on November 10, 1983, and the first version was available for $100 on November 20, 1985. Major releases after that were Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. Read our list of frequently asked Windows interview questions to get your dream job.
Latest version
The latest and last version of Windows is Windows 10 released on July 29, 2015. The latest build version of Windows 10, 1809, was released on November 13, 2018.