by Ryan Budiman

Created on: March 12, 2009

Windows 95. It is more than a decade old by now! Windows Vista is a 'quantum-leap' for those who uses 95 back in the 1995. Now let's see how it Windows 95 compares with today's Vista. For a start, knowing a little about the old 95 will help in understanding the whole comparison.

Everybody are familiar with the eminent Start Menu, the 'trademark' of every Windows operating system. Back on the earlier days (that is, 1995), the ones who saw it will most likely exclaim something like: "WOW! This one button could give me access to all my folders and computer settings! Amazing! Unimaginable!". That's right, Microsoft introduced the Start Menu, along with the taskbar, Windows Explorer, and some other things, on Windows 95.

So nowadays, what Windows 95 is capable of? Well, it can do simple everyday things you would want to do, such as word processing, printings files, and browsing the Internet. On the other hand, Windows Vista could do much more than that. For example, Microsoft Flight Simulator X will most likely hangs in Windows 95, but running it in Vista will be a breeze.

So without any further ado, here's the basic comparison between Windows 95 and Windows Vista:

1. -Resource Requirements-

As you might have guessed, Windows 95 took up less memory than Vista. The official hardware requirements for 95 were an Intel 80386 DX CPU of any speed, 4 MB of system RAM, and 50 MB of hard drive space; whereas Vista requires 1 GHz processor speed, 1 GB of RAM, 128 MB graphic memory, and 40 GB of hard disk space.

2. -Features-

Windows 95 ships with Internet Explorer 4, and some basic applications, like Notepad, Command Prompt, and Calculator. That is just enough to run our daily digital chores. Unlike 95, Windows Vista ships with more applications. Although each edition is different from each other, they all have Notepad, Wordpad, Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer 7, Windows Sidebar, Windows Mail, and a lot more. As you can see, Vista is more entertainment and multimedia-oriented, as it comes with a full digital multimedia support.

3. -Security-

Nothing much to say here, Windows 95 is much more vulnerable to threats than Vista, basically because Windows 95 is no longer patched by Microsoft. And also some antivirus won't work with Windows 95, making it even more vulnerable to viruses, trojans, and spyware.

4. -Ease of use-

Obviously, we are more comfortable with Vista's interface than 95's. How would you like to use a Start Menu that only has 5 icons in it, or Windows Explorer that only displays the content of the folder. That is, no links to your favorites folders, no search-as-you-type box, no preview or details pane, NO DRAG-AND-DROP!?

That four points conclude the basic comparisons an average computer user would want to know about Windows 95 and Windows Vista. And one last thing, on 24 August 1995, hundreds (if not thousands) of people line up at 12 midnight to be the first to buy the 'new' Windows 95, imagine that!

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