List of Microsoft Windows components

The following is a list of Microsoft Windows components.

Configuration and maintenance

Component	Description	Introduced
Control Panel
Control Panel	Allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and removing software, controlling user accounts, changing accessibility options, and so on.	Windows 1.0
Device Manager	Allows the user to display and control the hardware attached to the computer, and control what device drivers are used.	Windows 95
Windows Mobility Center	Centralizes the most relevant information related to mobile computing.	Windows Vista
Windows Action Center	Centralizes and reports on the status of anti-virus, Automatic Updates, Windows Firewall, and other security-related components of the operating system.	Windows XP SP2
Administrative Tools
Microsoft Management Console	Provides system administrators and advanced users with a flexible interface through which they may configure and monitor the system.	Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack
Windows System Assessment Tool	A built-in benchmarking tool that analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc.), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Windows Vista systems, and for software optimizations. It rates the computer's performance using the Windows Experience Index.	Windows Vista
System Restore	Allows for the rolling back of system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of a system failure.	Windows Me
Windows Recovery Environment	Helps diagnose and recover from serious errors which may be preventing Windows from booting successfully, or restore the computer to a previous state using System Restore or a backup image.	Windows Vista
Windows Disk Defragmenter	Rearranges files stored on a hard disk to occupy contiguous storage locations in order to optimize computer performance.	Windows 95, Windows 2000
Event Viewer	Lets administrators and users view the event logs on a local or remote machine.	Windows NT 3.1
Resource Monitor (or Reliability and Performance Monitor)	Lets administrators view current system reliability and performance trends over time.	Windows Vista
Logical Disk Manager	A logical volume manager developed by Microsoft in conjunction with Veritas Software.	Windows NT 4.0 (as a separate Tool) 2000 (integrated in the Management Console)
Registry Editor	Edits the Windows registry.	Windows 3.1
Task Scheduler	Allows users to script tasks for running during scheduled intervals	Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95
Software installation and deployment
Windows Update	An online service which provides critical updates, service packs, device drivers, and other updates. A variation called Microsoft Update also provides software updates for several Microsoft products.	Windows 98
Windows Installer	A packaging format and engine for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software. Includes a GUI framework, automatic generation of the uninstallation sequence and deployment capabilities for corporate networks.	Windows 2000
ClickOnce	Technology for deploying .NET Framework-based software via web pages, with automatic update capabilities. Intended for per-user only applications.	.NET Framework 2.0

User interface

Component	Description	Introduced
Windows Aero	The file that contains the Windows Aero theme for Windows Vista and Windows 7.	Windows Vista
Windows Shell	The most visible and recognizable aspect of Microsoft Windows. The shell is the container inside of which the entire graphical user interface is presented, including the taskbar, the desktop, Windows Explorer, as well as many of the dialog boxes and interface controls. In Windows Vista, a new compositing glass-like user interface called Windows Aero has been shown.	Windows 95
Windows Explorer	Provides an interface for accessing the file systems, launching applications, and performing common tasks such as viewing and printing pictures.	Windows 95
Windows Search	Starting with Windows Vista, search is a tightly shell-integrated component of Windows. A downloadable Windows Desktop Search software is available for Windows XP and older versions.	Windows Vista, downloadable for older versions
Special Folders	Folders which are presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute path. This makes it possible for an application to locate where certain kinds of files can be found, regardless of what version or language of operating system is being used. See also, Windows Shell namespace.	Windows 95
Start menu	Serves as the central launching point for applications. It provides a customizable, nested list of programs for the user to launch, as well as a list of most recently opened documents, a way to find files and get help, and access to the system settings. By default, the Start Button is visible at all times in the lower left-hand corner of the screen.	Windows 95
Taskbar	The application desktop bar which is used to launch and monitor applications.	Windows 95
Desktop Gadget Gallery	A screen to place gadgets anywhere.	Windows 7
File associations	Used to open a file with the correct program. File associations can be uniquely assigned to specific actions, known as verbs.	Windows 3.0

Applications and utilities

Component	Description	Introduced
Windows Easy Transfer	File transferring.	Windows Vista
Windows Contacts	Keeps a single list of contacts that can be shared by multiple programs.	Windows Vista
Calculator	A calculation application.	Windows 1.0
Character Map	Utility to view and search characters in a font, copy them to the clipboard and view their Windows Alt keycodes and Unicode names	Windows 3.1
Paint	A simple graphics painting program.	Windows 1.0
Portable Workspace Creator	A utilit to create bootable versions of Windows 8, called Windows To Go	Windows 8 (expected)
Notepad	A simple text editor.	Windows 1.0
Narrator	A screen reader utility that reads dialog boxes and window controls in a number of the more basic applications for Windows.	Windows 2000
Sound Recorder	A simple audio recording program that can record from a microphone or headset, and save the results in WAVE format and Windows Media Audio format in some Windows versions.	Windows 3.1
Command Prompt	A text-based shell (command line interpreter) that provides a command line interface to the operating system.	Windows 1.0
WordPad	A simple word processor that is more advanced than Notepad. It has facilities to format and print text, but lacks intermediate features such as a spell checker and thesaurus.	Windows 95
Private Character Editor	Utility to create private use characters as defined under Unicode and various East Asian encoding schemes.	Windows 3.1+ East Asian editions
Remote Desktop Connection	A client implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol; allows a user to securely connect to a computer running Terminal Services (Remote Desktop on Windows XP and Server 2003) and interact with a full desktop environment on that machine, including support for remoting of printers, audio, and drives.	Windows XP, downloadable for previous Windows versions
Windows Remote Assistance	Allows a user to temporarily take over a remote computer over a network or the internet to offer help with and resolve issues.	Windows XP
Internet Explorer	A graphical web browser and FTP client. See also: IE1, IE2, IE3, IE4, IE5, IE6, IE7, IE8, Features, History, Removal, Browser Helper Objects	Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95
IExpress	Allows users to create self-extracting, self-installing INF installation-based packages.	Internet Explorer 6
Windows Fax and Scan	An integrated faxing and image scanning application.	Windows Vista, older faxing and scanning applications were present in previous Windows versions
Windows Media Player	A digital media player and media library application that is used for playing audio, playing video and viewing images. In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player includes the ability to rip music from, and copy music to compact discs, synchronize content with a digital audio player (MP3 player) or other mobile devices, and let users purchase or rent music from a number of online music stores.	Windows 95
Windows Photo Viewer	A simple image viewer that can play a simple slideshow	Windows 7
Windows DVD Maker	A DVD movie encoding and authoring software.	Windows Vista
Windows Journal	A notetaking application that allows for the creation of handwritten notes.	Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Vista
Windows Media Center	Designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub, to be viewed from a distance up to 3 meters (~10 feet) and controlled by specially designed remote controls. Lets users browse and view pictures, videos, and music from local hard drives, optical drives, and network locations, along with viewing, recording and deferred-playing live TV. Features an interactive TV guide with scheduled recording capabilities. Can also be used for visualization of other information (like sports scores) within the interface.	Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows Task Manager	Provides information about computer performance and displays details about running applications, processes, network activity, logged-in users, and system services.	Windows 3.0
Disk Cleanup	A utility for compacting rarely used files and removing files that are no longer required.	Windows 98
Shadow Copy	A graphical front end for the Shadow Copy service that lets users choose from multiple versions of a file. The shadow copy service creates multiple copies of a file as they are changed over time, so that users can revert to previous versions.	Windows Vista. Windows Server 2003 included Previous Versions support only for client computers.
Snipping Tool	A screen-capture tool that allows for taking screen shots (called snips).	Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

Windows Server components

Component	Acronym	Description	Supported by
Windows Server domain		A logical group of computers that share a central directory and user database.	All Windows NT-based versions
Active Directory	AD	A set of technologies introduced with Windows 2000 that allows administrators to assign enterprise-wide policies, deploy programs to many computers, and apply critical updates to an entire organization. Active Directory stores information and settings relating to an organization in a central, organized, accessible database. Networks can vary from a small installation with a few objects, to global-scale directories with millions of objects.    Related topics: Active Directory Service Interfaces, Flexible single master operation, IntelliMirror, Active Directory Application Mode	Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003
Domain controller	DC, PDC, BDC	A server that responds to security authentication requests (logging in, checking permissions, etc.) within a Windows Server domain. Prior to Windows 2000, a domain controller was either a Primary Domain Controller (PDC), of which there could only be one with this role; or a Backup Domain Controller (BDC). In Windows 2000 and later the concept of primary and secondary domain controllers were eliminated, partially to emphasize the multi-master replication technology available in Windows.	All Windows NT-based versions
Group Policy	GP, GPO	Provides centralized management of user and computer settings in an Active Directory environment. Group policy can control a target object's registry, NTFS security, audit and security policy, software installation, logon/logoff scripts, folder redirection, and Internet Explorer settings. Policy settings are stored in Group Policy Objects (GPOs), and may be linked to one or more sites, domains or organizational units.    Related topics: Administrative Templates	Windows 2000 and later
Internet Information Services	IIS	Web server	Windows NT family

File systems

Component	Acronym	Description	Supported by
File Allocation Table	FAT, FAT12, FAT16	The original file systems used with MS-DOS. The standard file systems used with Windows 1.0 through Windows 95.	All versions
FAT32	FAT32	Extensions to FAT supporting larger disk sizes. The standard file system for Windows 98 and Me.	Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista
NTFS	NTFS	Standard file system of Windows NT; supports security via access control lists, as well as file system journaling and file-system metadata. Windows 2000 added support for reparse points (making NTFS junction points and Single instance storage possible), Hard links, file compression, and Sparse files. Encryption of data is provided by Encrypting File System. Symbolic links and transactioning of file operations via Transactional NTFS are features new to Windows Vista. Windows 95 also supports reading NTFS partitions, over a network.	Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista
ISO 9660	ISO 9660 ("CDFS")	The predominant file system for CD-ROM and DVD-ROM media. Windows includes support for Joliet extensions and the ISO 9660:1999 standard. ISO 9660:1999 is supported since Windows XP.	MS-DOS and Windows 9x via extensions, such as MSCDEX.EXE (Microsoft CDROM Extension), natively in Windows NT
Universal Disk Format	UDF	A file system for storing files on optical media. It is an implementation of the ISO/IEC 13346 standard (also known as ECMA-167). It is considered to be a replacement of ISO 9660. Successive versions of Windows have supported newer versions of UDF.	Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista
HPFS	HPFS	High-Performance File system, used on OS/2 computers. Read and write capability in Windows 95 (where it also listed network computer NTFS-formatted drives as "HPFS", even though it had no direct NTFS capabilities). HPFS write support was dropped in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98, and dropped altogether shortly before the release of Windows 2000.	Windows 95 (Read/write), Windows 98, Windows NT (read), 3.1/3.51 (read/write/boot)

Core components

Component	Acronym	Description
Windows kernel (Windows NT) Main article: Architecture of the Windows NT operating system line
Ntoskrnl.exe		The Windows kernel image. Provides the kernel and executive layers of the kernel architecture, and is responsible for services such as hardware virtualization, process and memory management, etc.
hal.dll	HAL	Provides and handles the interaction between software and hardware via the Hardware Abstraction Layer.
Core processes (Windows NT)
System idle process	SIP	A counter which measures how much idle capacity the CPU has at any given time. The process runs in the background and monitors processing bandwidth, occupied memory and the Windows virtual paging file.
Session Manager Subsystem	SMSS	Performs several critical boot-time operations, such as the creation of environment variables, starting CSRSS, and performing file-copy operations that were queued up from before the system was booted (pending file rename operations). During system operation, it handles Windows File Protection and the creation of logon sessions via Winlogon.
Client/Server Runtime Subsystem	CSRSS	User-mode side of the Win32 subsystem. Provides the capability for applications to use the Windows API.
Local Security Authority Subsystem Service	LSASS	Responsible for enforcing the security policy on the system. Verifies users logging on to the computer and creates security tokens.
Winlogon		Responsible for handling the secure attention key, loading the user profile on logon, and optionally locking the computer when a screensaver is running. On Windows NT systems prior to Windows Vista, Winlogon is also responsible for loading GINA libraries which are responsible collecting logon credentials from the user.
Svchost.exe		A generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). Several Svchost processes are typically present on a Windows machine, each running in a different security context, depending on what privileges the contained services require.
Windows on Windows and WOW64	WoW	An abstraction layer that allows legacy code to operate on more modern versions of Windows; typically this means running 16-bit Windows applications on 32-bit Windows, and 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows.
Virtual DOS machine	NTVDM	Allows MS-DOS programs to run on Intel 80386 or higher computers when there is already another operating system running and controlling the hardware. Introduced in Windows 2.1; not available in any 64-bit edition of Windows.
System startup (Windows NT) Main articles: Windows NT Startup Process and Windows Vista Startup Process
NTLDR, IA64ldr, Winload		The boot loader; performs basic system initialization options such as loading the hardware abstraction layer and boot-time device drivers, prior to passing control to the Windows kernel. In versions prior to Vista, NTLDR and IA64ldr also display menus to the user if multiple operating systems are defined in boot.ini, or if F8 is pressed.
Recovery Console		Provides the means for administrators to perform a limited range of tasks using a command line interface, primarily to aid in recovering from situations where Windows does not boot successfully.
ntdetect.com		Used during the boot process to detect basic hardware components that may be required during the boot process.
Windows Boot Manager		In Windows Vista and later operating systems, displays boot menus to the user if multiple operating systems are configured in the system's Boot Configuration Data.
Graphical subsystem
Desktop Window Manager	DWM	The compositing manager introduced in Windows Vista that handles compositing and manages special effects on screen objects in a graphical user interface.
Graphics Device Interface	GDI/GDI+	The kernel graphics component for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers.
Windows USER		The Windows USER component provides core user interface, messaging and visual elements.

Services

This list is not all-inclusive (see also: Windows Services).

Display name	Service key name	Description	Introduced
Active Directory Service	NTDS	Network Authentication Management	Windows 2000 Server
Alerter service	Alerter	Sends administrative alerts over the network to client computers, administrators and users.	Windows NT
Application Layer Gateway service	ALG	Provides support for plugins that allow network protocols to pass through Windows Firewall and work behind Internet Connection Sharing.	Windows 2000
Application Management	AppMgmt	Processes requests to enumerate, install, and remove applications that are installed on the computer or deployed through an organization’s network.	Windows 2000
Background Intelligent Transfer Service	BITS	Transfers files between machines using idle network bandwidth. Used by Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, and Systems Management Server to deliver software updates to clients, as well as by Windows Messenger.	Windows XP
Computer Browser	Browser	Crawls neighboring computers on the network and locates shared resources. One of the computers acts as the Master Browser and supplies this information to other computers designated as browsers.[1]	Windows for Workgroups
Distributed Link Tracking	TrkWks, TrkSrv	Used to track links to files on NTFS volumes. Windows uses these services to find linked files if they are renamed or moved (locally or to another machine).[2]	Windows 2000
Distributed Transaction Coordinator	MSDTC	Allows transactional components to be configured through COM+ by coordinating transactions that are distributed across multiple computers and/or resource managers, such as databases, message queues, file systems, and other transaction–based resource managers.[3]	Windows 2000 and later NT-based
DNS Client and Server	DNSCache/DNS	The client service resolves and caches DNS names. The DNS server performs DNS name resolution.	Client in Windows 2000 and later NT-based, Server in Windows NT 4.0 and later NT-based
Event Log	EventLog	Stores and retrieves events that can be viewed in the event viewer. Part of services.exe.[4]	Windows NT
Extensible Authentication Protocol	EAPHost	Provides EAP authentication to connecting clients	Windows 2000
Indexing Service	CISVC	Indexes contents and properties of files on local and remote computers; provides rapid access to files through flexible querying language.[5]	Windows 2000 and later NT-based
Network Location Awareness	NLA	Manages network configurations and information, and notifies applications of changes.	Windows XP
Network Store Interface Service	NSIS	Collects routing information of active network interfaces, shares this with other services and notifies applications of changes.	Windows XP
NTLM Security Support Provider	NTLMSSP	Uses the NTLM MS-CHAP protocol to encapsulate and negotiate options in order to provide signed and sealed communication. Deprecated now in favor of Kerberos authentication.	Windows NT
PNRP	PNRPSvc	Resolves domain names using PNRP.	Windows XP
Plug and Play	PlugPlay	Enables autodetection and configuration of hardware.	Windows 2000
Print Spooler	Spooler	Manages printer devices and moves files into memory for printing.	Windows 95, Windows NT
Secondary Logon (Run As...)	SecLogon	Allows users to run programs with a different account than the one they logged in with. Allows non-administrative accounts to perform administrative tasks.[6]
Security Account Manager	SamSs	Manages user account security information.	Windows NT family
System Event Notification	SENS	Monitors system events, such as network, power, logon, logoff, terminal services session connection and disconnection, and delivers these to applications and other system components.[7]	Windows 2000
Task Scheduler	Schedule	Lets users setup and schedule automated tasks.	Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper	LmHosts	Enables support for NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) service and NetBIOS name resolution.	Windows NT family
Windows Audio	AudioSrv	Manages audio devices for Windows-based programs. Controls all audio functions.	Windows XP
Windows Error Reporting	WERSvc	Generates error logs and reports errors. On Windows Vista and later, it notifies of solutions.	Windows XP
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)	STISvc	Handles scanner and camera inputs.	Windows Me
Windows Time	W32Time	Synchronizes the system time with external time servers. From Windows Server 2003 forward, full and compliant NTP support is provided.[8]	Windows 2000
Windows Update	WUAUServ	Provides updates for the operating system and its installed components.	Windows XP
Wireless Zero Configuration	WZCSvc (XP), WLANSvc	Configures and manages 802.11 wireless adapters.	Windows XP, Server 2003 only
Messenger service	Messenger	Allows users to send pop-up messages to other computers over the network.	Windows NT family
MSRPC	RpcSs	Provides Remote Procedure Call (RPC) technique via remotely accessible Named Pipes.	Windows NT family
Volume Shadow Copy Service	VSS	Create multiple versions of files that change. Gained ability to store persistent snapshots in Windows Server 2003.[9]	Windows XP
WebClient[10]		Enables Windows-based programs to create and interact with Internet-based files.	Windows XP
Windows Firewall/ Internet Connection Sharing	SharedAccess	Internet Connection Sharing (Firewall)	Windows 2000

Games

Component	Description	Introduced
Chess Titans	A version of Chess.	Windows Vista
FreeCell	A version of FreeCell.	Win32s
Hearts	A version of Hearts using Black Lady scoring.	Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Mahjong Titans	A version of Mahjong solitaire.	Windows Vista
Minesweeper	A version of Minesweeper.	Windows 3.1
Purble Place	An educational game for children, teaching pattern recognition, shapes, and colors.	Windows Vista
Solitaire	A version of Klondike Solitaire.	Windows 3.0
Spider Solitaire	A version of Spider Solitaire.	Microsoft Plus! 98

DirectX

• Direct3D
• DirectDraw
• DirectInput
• DirectMusic
• DirectPlay
• DirectShow
• DirectSound
• DirectX Media Objects
• DirectX plugin
• DirectX Video Acceleration

Networking

• Administrative share
• Distributed File System
• My Network Places (formerly Network Neighborhood)
• Network Access Protection
• Remote Installation Services
• Server Message Block
• Windows Rights Management Services

Scripting and command-line

• Batch file
• CHKDSK
• Cmd.exe
• ComSpec
• Ipconfig
• Net
• Net Send
• Netdom.exe: Windows Domain Manager
• Netsh
• Netstat
• QBasic
• Regsvr32
• Robocopy
• Win32 console
• Windows Script Host
• Windows PowerShell
• XCOPY

Kernel

• Commit charge
• Kernel Transaction Manager
• Win32 Thread Information Block

.NET Framework

• .NET assembly
• .NET Languages
• .NET metadata
• .NET Remoting
• ADO.NET
• ASP.NET
• Base Class Library
• Common Intermediate Language
• Common Language Infrastructure
• Common Language Runtime
• Common Type System
• Virtual Execution System
• Windows CardSpace
• Windows Communication Foundation
• Windows Forms
• Windows Presentation Foundation
• Windows Workflow Foundation

Security

Component	Description	Introduced
AppLocker	AppLocker uses rules and the properties of the files to provide access control for applications.	Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions Windows Server 2008 R2
BitLocker Drive Encryption	A full disk encryption, designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes.	Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate editions, Windows Server 2008
Data Execution Prevention	A security feature that is intended to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region.	Windows XP Service Pack 2
Encrypting File System	A file system driver that provides filesystem-level encryption.	Windows 2000
Security Account Manager	A database stored as a registry file	Windows NT 3.1
SYSKEY	A utility that encrypts the hashed password information in a SAM database using a 128-bit encryption key.	Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3
User Account Control	A technology and security infrastructure utility aims to improve the security of Microsoft Windows by limiting application software to standard user privileges until an administrator authorizes an increase.	Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008
Windows Firewall (wf.msc)	A utility designed to block unauthorized access while permitting authorized communications. An earlier edition known as Internet Connection Firewall that was disabled by default was included with the original Windows XP release.	Windows XP Service Pack 2
Windows Defender	A security utility to prevent, remove and quarantine spyware in Microsoft Windows. This utility is superseded by Microsoft Security Essentials, available as a free download.	Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 download
Windows Resource Protection	A feature that protects registry keys and folders in addition to critical system files.	Windows Vista

Deprecated components and programs

Component	Description	Category	Introduced	Last OS included	Superseded
3D Pinball	A pinball video game version from Full Tilt! Pinball.	Game	Plus! 95 for Windows 95	Windows XP	No
ActiveMovie	Streaming media technology	API	Windows 95	---	DirectShow
Cardfile	A personal information manager software.	Personal organizer	Windows 1.0	Windows ME	Outlook Express, or Windows Live Mail
DriveSpace	A disk compression utility.	Data compression	MS-DOS	Windows ME	No
File Manager	A file manager program.	File manager	Windows 3.0	Windows NT 4.0	Windows Explorer
HyperTerminal	A communication utility on a low end version of HyperACCESS.	Communication	Windows 95	Windows XP	No
Hover!	A video game in a combination of bumper cars and capture the flag.	Game	Windows 95	---	No
Internet Mail and News	A e-mail and news client.	E-mail	Windows 95	---	Outlook Express, or Windows Live Mail
Media Control Interface	A program which can play media files and record sound by passing commands as strings.	API	Windows 3.0	---	No
Media Player	A media player software.	Media player	Windows 3.0	Windows XP	Windows Media Player
Microsoft Calendar	A personal organizer program.	Personal organizer	Windows 1.0	Windows 2000	Windows Calendar, or Windows Live Mail
Microsoft Diagnostics	A tool provide detailed technical information about user's software and hardware.	Diagnostics	MS-DOS	Plus! 95 for Windows 95	Microsoft System Information
Microsoft Fax	A fax application	Fax	Windows 95	Windows XP	Windows Fax and Scan
Microsoft WinHelp	A proprietary format for online help files that can be displayed by the Microsoft Help browser winhelp.exe or winhlp32.exe.	Online help	Windows 3.0	Windows XP	Microsoft Help
NTBackup	A built-in backup command of Microsoft Windows.	Backup	Windows NT 4.0	Windows XP, Windows Server 2003	Windows Backup and Restore Center, Windows Server Backup
Outlook Express	A e-mail client application.	E-mail	Windows 98	Windows XP	Windows Mail or, Windows Live Mail
Program Manager	A shell exposed a task-oriented graphical user interface, consisting of icons (shortcuts for programs) arranged into program groups.	GUI	Windows 3.0	Windows XP	Windows Explorer
Recorder (Macro Recorder)
Reversi	A version of Reversi.	Game	Windows 1.0	Windows 3.0	Internet Reversi only on Windows ME and Windows XP
System File Checker	A utility that allows users to scan for and restore corruptions in Windows system files.	Security	Windows 98	Windows Server 2003	Windows Resource Protection
Video for Windows	A multimedia framework program.	API	Windows 3.1	Windows 95	DirectShow
Windows Address Book	A list of contacts that can be shared by multiple programs.	Contact manager	Windows 95	Windows XP	Windows Contacts, or Windows Live Mail
Windows Calendar	A calendar application.	Personal information	Windows Vista	Windows Vista	Windows Live Mail
Windows File Protection	A sub-system in the operating system, aims to prevent programs from replacing critical Windows system files.	Security	Windows Me as System File Protection	Windows XP	Windows Resource Protection
Windows Mail	A e-mail and newsgroup client.	E-mail	Windows Vista	Windows Vista	Windows Live Mail
Windows Messaging	A e-mail client.	E-mail	Windows 95	Windows 95	Internet Mail and News, or Windows Live Mail
Windows Messenger	A internet messaging client.	Internet messaging	Windows XP	Windows XP, Windows Server 2003	Windows Live Messenger
Windows Movie Maker	A video creating and editing software.	Video	Windows ME	Windows Vista	Windows Live Movie Maker
Windows NetMeeting	A video conferencing client.	Web conference	Windows 95	Windows XP	Windows Meeting Space
Windows Photo Gallery	A photo management, tagging, and editing tool client.	Photo	Windows Vista	Windows Vista	Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer	A image viewer application.	Photo	Windows XP	Windows XP	Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Fax and Scan or Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Write	A word processor application.	Word processor	Windows 1.0	Windows NT 3.5	WordPad

APIs

• ClearType
• Media Foundation
• Windows Driver Foundation
• Windows Imaging Component
• Windows Management Instrumentation

Miscellaneous (to be categorized)

• ActiveSync
• I/O technologies
• Microsoft Agent
• Prefetcher
• ReadyBoost
• Sync Center
• Text Services Framework
• Universal Audio Architecture
• Windows Color System
• Windows Mobile Device Center
• Windows Rally
• Windows Registry
• Windows Speech Recognition
• XML Paper Specification

See also

• List of Microsoft topics

References

1. ^ Description of the Microsoft Computer Browser Service
2. ^ "Distributed Link Tracking on Windows-based domain controllers". Microsoft. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312403. Retrieved 2008-10-28. 
3. ^ "Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC)". Microsoft. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940166.aspx. Retrieved 2008-06-27. 
4. ^ "Event Log". Microsoft. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa939451.aspx. Retrieved 2008-06-27. 
5. ^ "What is Indexing Service?". Microsoft. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms689718.aspx. Retrieved 2008-06-27. 
6. ^ "Secondary Logon (Run As): Starting Programs and Tools in Local Administrative Context". Microsoft Corporation. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225035. Retrieved 2008-10-28. 
7. ^ "System Event Notifcation Service". The Elder Geek. http://www.theeldergeek.com/system_event_notification.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-27. 
8. ^ "How Windows Time Service Works: Windows Time Service". Microsoft Corporation. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773013.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-28. 
9. ^ "What Is Volume Shadow Copy Service?: Data Recovery". Microsoft Corporation. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc757854.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-28. 
10. ^ Minasi, Mark; Layfield, Rhonda; Justice, Lisa (2006). Mastering Windows Server 2003: upgrade edition for SP1 and R2 (12 ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 56. ISBN 9780470056455. http://books.google.com/books?id=aAUJAQAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2010-07-21. "There is also a client piece for WebDAV built into XP, 2003, R2, and Vista, called the WebClient Service."