Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptively multitasked,graphical operating system, designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was part of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996. It is a 32-bit Windows system available in both workstation and server editions with a graphical environment similar to that of Windows 95.

Overview

The successor to Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0 introduced the user interface of Windows 95 to the Windows NT product line, including the Windows Shell, Windows Explorer (known as Windows NT Explorer), and the use of "My" nomenclature (e.g. My Computer). It also includes most applications introduced with Windows 95. Internally, Windows NT 4.0 was known as the Shell Update Release (SUR). Various administrative tools, notably User Manager for Domains, Server Manager and Domain Name Service Manager have improved graphical user interfaces. The Start Menu in Windows NT 4.0 separated the per-user shortcuts and folders from the All users shortcuts and folders by a separator line. Windows NT 4.0 includes some enhancements from Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 such as the Space Cadet pinball table, font smoothing, full window drag, high color icons and stretching the wallpaper to fit the screen. Windows Desktop Update could also be installed on Windows NT 4.0 to update the shell version and install Task Scheduler. The Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit included the Desktop Themes utility.

Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing, multi-user operating system.

The first version of Windows NT was Windows NT 3.1 and was produced for workstations and server computers. It was intended to complement consumer versions of Windows (including Windows 1.0 through Windows 3.1x) that were based on MS-DOS. Gradually, the Windows NT family was expanded into Microsoft's general-purpose operating system product line for all personal computers, deprecating the Windows 9x family.

"NT" was formerly expanded to "New Technology" but no longer carries any specific meaning. Starting with Windows 2000, "NT" was removed from the product name and is only included in the product version string.

NT was the first purely 32-bit version of Windows, whereas its consumer-oriented counterparts, Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids. It is a multi-architecture operating system. Initially, it supported several CPU architectures, including IA-32, MIPS, DEC Alpha and PowerPC. The latest versions support x86 (more specifically IA-32 and x64) and ARM. Major features of the Windows NT family include Windows Shell, Windows API, Native API, Active Directory, Group Policy, Hardware Abstraction Layer, NTFS file system, BitLocker, Windows Store, Windows Update, and Hyper-V.

History of Microsoft Windows

In 1983,Microsoft announced the development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS). The product line has changed from a GUI product to a modern operating system over two families of design, each with its own codebase and default file system.

The 3.x and 4.x family includes Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 added 32-bit networking. Windows 95 added additional 32-bit capabilities (however, MS-DOS, some of the kernel, and supplementary utilities such as Disk Defragment remained 16-bit) and implemented a new object oriented user interface, elements of which are still used today.

The Windows NT family started with Windows NT 3.1 in 1993. Modern Windows operating system versions are based on the newer Windows NT kernel that was originally intended for OS/2. Windows runs on IA-32, x86-64, and on 32-bit ARM (ARMv7) processors. Earlier versions also ran on the i860, Alpha, MIPS, Fairchild Clipper, PowerPC, and Itanium architectures. Some work was done to port it to the SPARC architecture.

List of Microsoft Windows versions

This page lists and links to information on the various versions of Microsoft Windows, a major computer operating system developed by Microsoft.

Client versions

In this section, a client version of Windows is a version that can be purchased and installed on personal computers (desktop computers, laptops and workstations) or purchased with these computers.

Server versions

Device versions

Appliances

Smartphones

Neurotrophin-4

Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4), also known as neurotrophin-5 (NT-5), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NTF4 gene.

NT-4 is a neurotrophic factor that signals predominantly through the TrkB receptor tyrosine kinase.

References

Further reading

External links