Thursday, November 8, 2012

How to Determine your Operating System Version

 Windows Computer Version Screen 
 
So if you are new to computers and the way that things inside them work, then one of the things you may be curious about is what operating system your computer uses. There are many ways to find that out, but first, what is an operating system? It is basically a software package that allows for the presence of a user interface (graphical, binary or text) and helps the user establish basic functions with the computer, such as scheduling various tasks, controlling peripheral hardware and installed software management. Common operating systems today include the Windows 7 and Windows 8 platforms that have been launched by Microsoft. Macintosh computer users will be familiar with MAC OS X versions that have come out recently and other users of some of the unconventional operating systems such as Linux or Unix will know them better.

The only thing is, how do you know what version of the operating system you have running on your computer? Here are some simple steps to help you find out which operating system your computer is currently running. There are many different ways to do this.

1) Windows:
To determine which version of windows you have, you can
a) Simply right click 'My Computer' and go to the properties tab. It will show you on the upper right which version your Operating system is.
b) Open the control panel and double click on the system icon. This will also bring about the same window as above, which will detail your operating system version
c) Go to the run dialog box, usually located in your start menu. Type in 'msinfo32' in the dialog box and say ok. The first two lines in the following dialog box should show you which version of windows you are running. The best part about this method is, that it does not matter which windows OS you are running and will show the same dialog box for windows 7, 8, XP or even 98.
d) If you are running windows 7 or vista, go to the windows button and in the search bar type in 'winver'. Your search results should show a program by the same name. Double click the program and then another dialog box should come up which has a more detailed view of your operating system version.


2) Macintosh:
a) Close any active windows and make finder active. Click the apple menu and click 'about this computer'. The window that opens will show the operating system version near the MAC OS icon. 

3) Other Operating Systems:
If you are working on another operating system, then the best way to check the version is to google how to do so. Linux, Unix and other GUI based interfaces will give you step by step instructions on how to determine your operating system, much like this article has.
So that is that. We hope this article has helped you identify your operating system and has helped you become slightly more knowledgeable about your personal computer or macintosh.

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