What Is The Best Windows

The classic Microsoft Windows logo on a blurry white background

Over the by 35 years, Microsoft has released at least xxx major versions of the Windows operating arrangement. But they weren't all created equal, so we thought it would be fun to rank the 10 greatest desktop versions of this essential OS.

The Ranking Criteria

When someone says that something was the "greatest," it suggests that it had a combination of legacy, impact, innovation, and capability for its time. That's the recipe at play here in this ranking, which is not (and never could be) a definitive list to objectively evidence which version of Windows is "the all-time."

In fact, if you wanted a listing of the "all-time" versions of Windows, you might get a list of Windows versions with the most features, the least bugs, and the most upwards-to-date security—in other words, a list of Windows versions in chronological gild (with a couple of hiccups). No, this list will be far more than fun than that.

To go along things simple, we just considered desktop versions of Windows. Mobile operating systems like Windows CE, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile 10, and Windows RT are another beast entirely, equally are server versions of Windows similar Windows Server 2003.

With that out of the way, allow'southward go ranking!

#10: Windows 3.0 (1990)

Windows iii.0 unified the confusingly named Windows 2.x family of products (Windows ii.03, Windows/286, Windows/386, etc.) into a single environment that worked on machines ranging from low-speed 8088s to those with 386 CPUs. It too included a stunning new graphical interface with a 3D-shaded wait and a suite of gorgeous icons designed past graphic pattern legend Susan Kare.

Information technology likewise introduced Solitaire, which doesn't hurt.

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#9: Windows viii (2012)

Change is hard, and Windows 8 made a radical departure from tradition that left many people upset. Despite poor critical reviews, Windows 8 was the most innovative version of Windows since Windows 95, daring to face the encroaching world of touch-based mobile devices like the iPad head-on. The result was a hybrid OS that could work both on tablets and desktops.

The consequence wasn't the all-time for desktop users—ditching the Start menu was a mistake—but Microsoft did fix some glaring issues in Windows viii.1. And under the hood, Windows 8 was Windows 7 with a lot of overlooked security improvements.

#8: Windows NT 4.0 (1996)

If y'all have the stability of the 32-fleck Windows NT kernel and add together the very user-friendly interface of Windows 95 on peak, you lot take Windows NT iv.0. Its rock-solid stability (after some patches) fabricated information technology Microsoft'southward most popular business organization and bookish Bone for years, and dedicated NT4 users were reluctant to upgrade as late as 2003. If it ain't broke, don't gear up it, right?

In fact, if you were willing to forego modern interface conveniences and security updates, y'all could however run Windows NT 4 for some tasks today—if you were daring enough.

#7: Windows 98 SE (1999)

Windows 98 took the innovations introduced in Windows 95 and added an improved interface with more flexibility, while however straddling the 16-chip legacy MS-DOS world. For a fourth dimension, there was no amend PC gaming Bone than Windows 98, since it supported DOS games and DirectX-based titles also.

The "Second Edition" release in 1999 added a selection of improvements (including better USB back up) that kept many using 98 until Windows XP was released in 200—skipping right over Windows Me. Unfortunately, Windows 98 proved wildly unstable, simply that didn't proceed information technology from being a pop upgrade for consumers.

#6: Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (1993)

Windows for Workgroups took everything bully well-nigh 1992'southward pop Windows 3.xi—TrueType font back up, multimedia back up, certificate embedding with OLE, and Minesweeper among them—and added native networking support, making information technology the virtually strong consumer and small business version of Windows until Windows 95.

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#5: Windows 10 (2015)

Windows x got off to a shaky start with press criticism over suspicious telemetry phoning home to Microsoft, built-in advertising, and forced updates interrupting people'southward work. But to Microsoft'due south credit, the firm has addressed those concerns over time and has continued to update Windows 10 at a steady pace over the past v years.

Today, Windows x is a mature, stable, competent, and very popular OS with over a billion users. As the "terminal version of Windows," we tin can expect 10 to go along growing and irresolute over time as the world changes with it.

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#4: Windows XP SP2 (2004)

Even if you didn't like the dark-green-and-blue motif of XP'due south default interface, there was something very magical about Windows XP to many consumers: stability. With XP, many PC users were upgrading away from the unstable MS-DOS roots of Windows 98 and Me for the get-go time.

Along the way, they got a taste of rock-solid Windows NT tech, since the average PCs had just recently go powerful enough to run it well. And run it they did, with many XP fans unwilling to upgrade away from XP for a very long fourth dimension.

#iii: Windows 95 (1995)

For many PC users, Windows 95 was when "Windows the Microsoft software product" became "Windows the must-take desktop OS." It was beautiful and easy to utilise, and included the innovative Beginning menu and taskbar, arguably surpassing Macintosh Bone for the first time in usability.

Windows 95 introduced many Windows standards that we take for granted today, including File Explorer, Windows keyboard shortcuts, the Recycle Bin, file shortcuts, the modern desktop, and more. Information technology is the archetype of Windows, distilled: Anyone familiar with Windows today could easily become dorsum and use Windows 95 without any trouble. Few software products have ever been as essential in their fourth dimension.

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#2: Windows 2000 (2000)

Windows 2000 is an underrated masterpiece—a taste of a stable and more mature Windows that felt alee of its fourth dimension for early adopters. As a "professional person" version of Windows, information technology didn't get the splashy coverage of its consumer counterpart Windows Me. Simply different earlier versions of Windows NT, 2000 was a perfectly usable dwelling house version of Windows NT for the beginning time.

It did everything you needed without too much flash, and information technology delivered rock-solid stability that inspired fierce loyalty in users, some of whom didn't upgrade over again until Windows 7 came out in 2009.

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#1: Windows vii (2009)

At the time of its release, Windows 7 marked Microsoft's big improvement from the disaster that was Windows Vista, which had been pilloried for its new approach to security (UAC), its bugs, its resource-hogging nature, and its flashy "I want to be more than like OS X" Aero interface that didn't feel similar it added much to the OS.

In contrast, Windows 7 was more stable than Vista, ran faster on the same hardware, toned downward the UAC issues, and refined the Aero interface to make information technology less flashy and more classy (and you could turn it off, if necessary). At the same time, Windows 7 kept some of Vista's improvements (similar search in the Start menu) while adding others (like pinning an icon to the taskbar).

Ironically, a big part of what even so makes Windows 7 smashing is how it's not similar Windows x. Windows 7 has no freemium pack-in games, no advertising on the Start bill of fare, and no pressure level to link your account to the deject. You update when yous feel the time is right. Your computer feels like it's under your control, non Microsoft'southward. In some means, information technology's the last gasp of a non-software-as-a-service era (or as a vehicle for a cut of in-app purchasing) that many are withal drastic to cling to despite the changing tech landscape around us.

With Windows 7 support finally over equally of Jan 2020, you should upgrade to Windows ten if y'all are able—but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will ever match the lean commonsensical nature of Windows 7 ever again. For now, it's even so the greatest desktop version of Windows always made.

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