Windows 95

"Windows 4.0" redirects here. For The Windows NT 4.0 operating system that was released after Windows 95, see Windows NT 4.0.

Windows 95 is an operating system created by Microsoft. It was released in August 1995. It is the first version to be part of Windows 9x. Windows 95 added new features to the last Microsoft Windows. which was Windows 3.x. Windows 95 has the first Windows with the "Start" menu. Since then, the Start menu has been used in all Windows operating systems except Windows 8. It was also the first Windows that included ways to connect to the [Internet]. Although Windows 95 is thought of as an operating system by itself, it works over MS-DOS. Windows 95 is like a visual version of MS-DOS. This means that Windows 95 can run both MS-DOS programs and Windows ones, but programs made just for Windows 95 will not work in MS-DOS.

Windows 95

A computer running Windows 95's installer
Developer	Microsoft
OS family	Microsoft Windows
Source model	Closed source
Released to manufacturing	August 15, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-08-15)[1]
Kernel type	Hybrid kernel
License	MS-EULA
Preceded by	Windows 3.1x (1992)
Succeeded by	Windows 98 (1998)
Official website	support.microsoft.com
Support status
Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2000. Unsupported since December 31, 2001[2] [2]

Windows 95 was Microsoft's first operating system to support long file names. Before that, file names could only be eight characters (letters, numbers, or symbols) long, plus the file extension. Windows 95 was also Microsoft's first operating system to fully support CD-ROMs, though Windows 3.x could also access CD-ROMs.

It was popular from 1995 until 1998, when Microsoft replaced it with Windows 98. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 95 on December 31, 2000 and extended support ended 95 on December 31, 2001.

Editions

• Windows 95 Retail
• Windows 95 OSR 1 and SP1
• Windows 95 OSR 2.0
• Windows 95 OSR 2.1
• Windows 95 OSR 2.5