Start menu in the context of "Windows 11"

Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, to retail on July 29, 2015, and was a free upgrade to users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Its server counterparts are Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022. It was succeeded by Windows 11 in October 2021.

In contrast to the tablet-oriented approach of its predecessor, Windows 10 returned to a desktop-oriented interface in line with previous versions of Windows and reintroduced the Start menu. Other features included the Cortana virtual assistant, Task View and virtual desktops, Action Center, biometric authentication through Windows Hello, an improved Settings component, Xbox Live integration, and DirectX 12. Also, Microsoft Edge was introduced, deprecating Internet Explorer. Unlike previous NT releases, Windows 10 received free feature updates on an ongoing basis. Alternatively, enterprise environments can use long-term support milestones that receive only critical and security updates. An ARM version of Windows 10 was released in 2018.

Microsoft Windows was announced by Bill Gates on November 10, 1983, 2 years before it was first released. Microsoft introduced Windows as a graphical user interface for MS-DOS, which had been introduced two years earlier, on August 12, 1981. The product line evolved in the 1990s from an operating environment into a fully complete, modern operating system over two lines of development, each with their own separate codebase.

The first versions of Windows (1.0 through to 3.11) were graphical shells that ran from MS-DOS. Windows 95, though still being based on MS-DOS, was its own operating system. Windows 95 also had a significant amount of 16-bit code ported from Windows 3.1. Windows 95 introduced multiple features that have been part of the product ever since, including the Start menu, the taskbar, and Windows Explorer (renamed File Explorer in Windows 8). In 1997, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 4 which included the (at the time controversial) Windows Desktop Update. It aimed to integrate Internet Explorer and the web into the user interface and also brought new features into Windows, such as the ability to display JPEG images as the desktop wallpaper and single window navigation in Windows Explorer. In 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98, which also included the Windows Desktop Update and Internet Explorer 4 by default. The inclusion of Internet Explorer 4 and the Desktop Update led to an antitrust case in the United States. Windows 98 included USB support out of the box, and also plug and play, which allows devices to work when plugged in without requiring a system reboot or manual configuration. Windows Me, the last DOS-based version of Windows, was aimed at consumers and released in 2000. It introduced System Restore, Help and Support Center, updated versions of the Disk Defragmenter and other system tools.

In computing, a file shortcut is a handle in a user interface that allows the user to find a file or resource located in a different directory or folder from the place where the shortcut is located. Similarly, an Internet shortcut allows the user to open a page, file or resource located at a remote Internet location or Web site.

Shortcuts are typically implemented as a small file containing a target URI or GUID to an object, or the name of a target program file that the shortcut represents. The shortcut might additionally specify parameters to be passed to the target program when it is run. Each shortcut can have its own icon. Shortcuts are very commonly placed on a desktop, in an application launcher panel such as the Microsoft Windows Start menu, or in the main menu of a desktop environment. The functional equivalent in the Macintosh operating system is called an alias. Unix-like systems have symbolic links which point to a target file, and often support .desktop files which provide additional configuration details.

Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and generally released for retail on October 26, 2012.

Windows 8 introduced major changes to the operating system's platform and user interface with the intention to improve its user experience on tablets, where Windows competed with mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS. In particular, these changes included a touch-optimized Windows shell and start screen based on Microsoft's Metro design language, integration with online services, the Windows Store, and a new keyboard shortcut for screenshots. Many of these features were adapted from Windows Phone, and the development of Windows 8 closely parallelled that of Windows Phone 8. Windows 8 also added support for USB 3.0, Advanced Format, near-field communication, and cloud computing, as well as a new lock screen with clock and notifications. Additional security features—including built-in antivirus software, integration with Microsoft SmartScreen phishing filtering, and support for Secure Boot on supported devices—were introduced. It was the first Windows version to support ARM architecture under the Windows RT branding. Single-core CPUs and CPUs without PAE, SSE2 and NX are unsupported in this version.

The taskbar is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, displaying and facilitating switching between running programs. The taskbar and the associated Start Menu were created and named in 1993 by Daniel Oran, a program manager at Microsoft who had previously collaborated on great ape language research with the behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner at Harvard.

The taskbar is an exemplar of a category of always-visible graphical user interface elements that provide access to fundamental operating system functions and information. At the time of its introduction in 1995, the taskbar was unique among such elements because it provided the user with a means of switching between running programs through a single click of the pointing device.

Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system based on Windows 8 developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its predecessor, and succeeded by Windows 10 on July 29, 2015. Windows 8.1 was made available for download via MSDN and Technet and available as a free upgrade for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows RT users via the Windows Store. A server version, Windows Server 2012 R2, was released on October 18, 2013.

Windows 8.1 aimed to address complaints of Windows 8 users and reviewers on launch. Enhancements include an improved Start screen, additional snap views, additional bundled apps, tighter OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) integration, Internet Explorer 11 (IE11), a Bing-powered unified search system, restoration of a visible Start button on the taskbar, and the ability to restore the previous behavior of opening the user's desktop on login instead of the Start screen. Windows 8.1 also added support for then emerging technologies like high-resolution displays, 3D printing, Wi-Fi Direct, and Miracast streaming, as well as the ReFS file system.

A background process is a computer process that runs behind the scenes (i.e., in the background) and without user intervention. Typical tasks for these processes include logging, system monitoring, scheduling, and user notification.

On a Windows system, a background process is either a computer program that does not create a user interface, or a Windows service. The former are started just as any other program is started, e.g., via Start menu. Windows services, on the other hand, are started by Service Control Manager. In Windows Vista and later, they are run in a separate session.