What Is The Best Version Of Windows

The classic Microsoft Windows logo on a blurry white background

Over the past 35 years, Microsoft has released at least thirty major versions of the Windows operating system. 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 adequacy for its time. That's the recipe at play here in this ranking, which is not (and never could exist) a definitive list to objectively prove which version of Windows is "the all-time."

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

To go on things simple, we simply considered desktop versions of Windows. Mobile operating systems like Windows CE, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile 10, and Windows RT are some other beast entirely, as are server versions of Windows like Windows Server 2003.

With that out of the way, let's get ranking!

#10: Windows 3.0 (1990)

Windows three.0 unified the confusingly named Windows ii.10 family unit of products (Windows 2.03, Windows/286, Windows/386, etc.) into a unmarried surroundings that worked on machines ranging from depression-speed 8088s to those with 386 CPUs. It as well included a stunning new graphical interface with a 3D-shaded await and a suite of gorgeous icons designed past graphic design fable Susan Kare.

It also introduced Solitaire, which doesn't hurt.

RELATED: Windows 3.0 Is 30 Years Old: Hither'south What Made It Special

#9: Windows 8 (2012)

Modify is hard, and Windows 8 made a radical difference from tradition that left many people upset. Despite poor critical reviews, Windows eight was the about innovative version of Windows since Windows 95, daring to face the encroaching world of affect-based mobile devices like the iPad caput-on. The upshot was a hybrid OS that could piece of work both on tablets and desktops.

The result wasn't the best for desktop users—ditching the Get-go menu was a fault—but Microsoft did set up some glaring issues in Windows 8.1. And under the hood, Windows 8 was Windows 7 with a lot of overlooked security improvements.

#eight: Windows NT iv.0 (1996)

If you take the stability of the 32-flake Windows NT kernel and add together the very user-friendly interface of Windows 95 on peak, you have Windows NT 4.0. Its rock-solid stability (later some patches) fabricated it Microsoft's about popular business and bookish OS for years, and defended NT4 users were reluctant to upgrade equally late equally 2003. If information technology ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

In fact, if you lot were willing to forego mod interface conveniences and security updates, y'all could still run Windows NT 4 for some tasks today—if you lot 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 still straddling the xvi-bit legacy MS-DOS world. For a fourth dimension, there was no better PC gaming Os than Windows 98, since it supported DOS games and DirectX-based titles as well.

The "2d Edition" release in 1999 added a choice of improvements (including better USB support) that kept many using 98 until Windows XP was released in 200—skipping right over Windows Me. Unfortunately, Windows 98 proved wildly unstable, but that didn't keep it from beingness a pop upgrade for consumers.

#half-dozen: Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (1993)

Windows for Workgroups took everything great almost 1992'due south popular Windows 3.eleven—TrueType font support, multimedia back up, document embedding with OLE, and Minesweeper among them—and added native networking back up, making information technology the virtually stiff consumer and small business concern version of Windows until Windows 95.

RELATED: 30 Years of 'Minesweeper' (Sudoku with Explosions)

#five: Windows 10 (2015)

Windows 10 got off to a shaky start with printing criticism over suspicious telemetry phoning home to Microsoft, built-in advertising, and forced updates interrupting people'south work. Only to Microsoft's credit, the house has addressed those concerns over time and has connected to update Windows ten at a steady pace over the past 5 years.

Today, Windows 10 is a mature, stable, competent, and very popular Os with over a billion users. As the "last version of Windows," we can expect 10 to continue growing and changing over time every bit the globe changes with it.

RELATED: Windows ten Is Great, Except for the Parts That Are Terrible

#four: 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 well-nigh 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 first time.

Along the style, they got a taste of stone-solid Windows NT tech, since the average PCs had only recently become powerful enough to run it well. And run information technology they did, with many XP fans unwilling to upgrade away from XP for a very long time.

#3: Windows 95 (1995)

For many PC users, Windows 95 was when "Windows the Microsoft software product" became "Windows the must-have desktop OS." Information technology was beautiful and piece of cake to use, and included the innovative Start menu and taskbar, arguably surpassing Macintosh OS for the first fourth dimension in usability.

Windows 95 introduced many Windows standards that nosotros accept for granted today, including File Explorer, Windows keyboard shortcuts, the Recycle Bin, file shortcuts, the modernistic desktop, and more. It is the classic of Windows, distilled: Anyone familiar with Windows today could hands go back and use Windows 95 without whatever problem. Few software products have ever been every bit essential in their fourth dimension.

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#2: Windows 2000 (2000)

Windows 2000 is an underrated masterpiece—a gustation of a stable and more mature Windows that felt ahead of its fourth dimension for early on adopters. As a "professional" version of Windows, information technology didn't get the splashy coverage of its consumer analogue Windows Me. But unlike before versions of Windows NT, 2000 was a perfectly usable dwelling version of Windows NT for the starting time time.

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

RELATED: Remembering Windows 2000, Microsoft's Forgotten Masterpiece

#1: Windows 7 (2009)

At the time of its release, Windows 7 marked Microsoft's big comeback 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 desire to be more like Bone X" Aero interface that didn't experience like it added much to the Os.

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

Ironically, a big function of what even so makes Windows 7 great is how it's non like Windows 10. Windows 7 has no freemium pack-in games, no advertizing on the Kickoff menu, and no pressure to link your account to the deject. You lot update when you lot experience the time is correct. Your figurer feels like it's under your control, non Microsoft'southward. In some ways, it'due south the last gasp of a non-software-as-a-service era (or equally a vehicle for a cut of in-app purchasing) that many are even so desperate to cling to despite the changing tech landscape effectually u.s.a..

With Windows 7 support finally over as of Jan 2020, you should upgrade to Windows 10 if you are able—but information technology remains to be seen whether Microsoft will e'er friction match the lean utilitarian nature of Windows seven ever again. For at present, it'southward still the greatest desktop version of Windows ever made.

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