A few weeks ago we published a special article where we reviewed what have been, without a doubt, the worst versions of Windows that Microsoft has released. Said article was well received, so today we have decided to publish another one that complements it perfectly, where we will discover what have been best versions of windows that the Redmond giant has launched.
I am not going to adopt any type of hierarchy, so the list that you are going to see below is limited to following a chronological order, that is, we have ordered the best versions of Windows from oldest to newest, without more. The selection is based both in my own experience with said operating system and in the evaluations of experts and user groups over the years, so it’s not based on a purely subjective basis.
All the versions of Windows that we have chosen are considered, in a “universal” way, as good, that does not admit of discussion, and at the end of the article I will tell you which one is the best that exists today. As usual, I invite you to leave us your opinion in the comments, since you tell us which has been the best version of Windows for you. Without further ado, make yourself comfortable and let’s get started.
Best versions of Windows
windows 3
Was the best version, and the most important, before the consecration of Microsoft with Windows 95an operating system that represented a huge leap, but in the end made too many merits to be included in the list of the worst versions of Windows, precisely accompanying Windows 1.
With Windows 3 at Microsoft carried out an important unification of their family of previous products, and they produced a version that had fantastic support and scalability, so much so that in fact it could work with both computers based on a modest 8088 as in other more modern ones based on 286 and 386 processors.
Microsoft greatly improved the graphical interface, introduced new icons designed by Susan Kare, as well as new functions of great importance that would mark the future of Windowssuch as click, drag and drop, the TrueType font system, new customization options, improvements at the multimedia level and surprised with the inclusion of popular games such as solitaire and minesweeper.
It is true that Windows 3 it was still a layer that depended on MS-DOS, but it brought huge improvements that laid the foundation for future versions of Windows, and many of them are still around. On the other hand, it also continued to improve with the updates released by Microsoft, which raised its version to Windows 3.11.
Windows 98
This was a version that started from the base of Windows 95, and that showed that in Microsoft sThey had to learn from their mistakes. It is considered as one of the most popular versions and what a higher degree of adoption it achieved taking into account the historical moment, and the situation at a global level, when it was launched, and I was able to use it on my first PC after upgrading it to 32 MB of RAM.
With Windows 98, Microsoft improved the interface and maintained support for 16-bit applications based on MS-DOS. She managed to profile him as the best operating system for gaming, thanks to the push of DirectX already that 16-bit “legacy” game support, and with the arrival of the SE update (second edition) it introduced even more improvements that finished maturing this operating system.
Windows 98 second edition Fixed several minor issues that were present in the first version, improved USB drive supportreplaced Internet Explorer 4 with Internet Explorer 5, which was one of the mainstays of web browsing at the time, and also ushered in other important features, such as Internet connection sharing, Microsoft NetMeeting 3.0, and the support for DVD optical drives.
On a negative note, it must be said that Windows 98 SE it was not a free update, and therefore we have to choose between it and Windows 98. Obviously we are left with the second, because it represented an important evolution compared to Windows 95, both in terms of stability and reliability as well as support and advanced functions. Among them we can highlight the improved support of FAT32 and the AGP and USB standardconnectivity support FireWire and ACPI, and was also the first to support Windows Driver Model (WDM).
Windows Xp
I think this operating system needs no introduction. Not only is it one of the best versions of Windows, but it is also one of the most loved and highly rated operating systems of all time. Its success was so enormous that, as many of our readers will remember, even the fantastic Windows 7 had a hard time scrolling it.
The transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 was so slow that even with Windows 10 already on the market the former’s share still had a significant presence. In this sense, it should be noted that also considerably influenced the fiasco that was Windows Vistaan operating system that succeeded Windows XP and yet had minimal acceptance, which means that it barely reduced its market share.
With Windows XP there was a significant jump in terms of requirements compared to previous versions, but this was understandable since in the end it was the first Microsoft operating system for general consumption (Windows 2000 was aimed at companies). that it used the NT 5.1 kernel, and therefore abandoned the MS-DOS kernel. To move it we needed a much more powerful computer than to move Windows ME, the latter operating system which, as we already told you at the time, is probably the worst Microsoft has launched.
However, those demands at the hardware level were rewarded with an improved interface that had received a deep facelift, and which gave the operating system a much more attractive appearance. It also had a huge list of improvements and new features, and was the launch platform for the Internet and such important applications as MSN Messenger, which marked an entire generation, and others such as Kazaa and eDonkey.
Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Player were also a huge improvement on the multimedia capabilities of Windows XP, and with this operating system gaming on PC experienced a real revolutionas it received two of the versions of DirectX that defined the foundation of some of the most important games in all of history. I’m talking about DirectX 8 and DirectX 9, as well as its subsequent updates. In case someone doesn’t finish assimilating it, I remind you that Half-Life 2, DOOM III, Resident Evil 6, Crysis 1 and 2 GTA San Andreas, among many others, use DirectX 9.
windows 7
After the Windows Vista fiasco at Microsoft they were aware that they could not afford a new skid. I remember that, in the days before the release of Windows 7, expectations were very low. There was a lot of uncertainty about what the Redmond giant was going to do, and some rumors said that it was going to be an operating system even worse than Windows Vista. The negativity around this operating system was very large, but luckily in the end those bad predictions did not come true.
Windows 7 is one of the best versions of Windows, one of the most important in history, and a clear example that, once again, it is possible to learn from mistakes, in this case with Windows Vista. The new graphical interface that Microsoft introduced and its design changes were very successful and almost all users liked it, but without a doubt the most important thing was that Microsoft managed to correct the stability and performance problems that Windows Vista was showing.
In general terms, Windows 7 performed better and offered better stability than Windows Vista on the same hardware.it had a much more attractive interface, it maintained superb backward compatibility, it improved “old” functions and features that were still important, and it introduced improvements at all levels that made it a true marvel capable of covering the needs of any user profile.
It must also be remembered that this Windows was responsible for another great revolution in the world of PC gaming, and that is that it was the only one compatible with DirectX 11an API that arrived in 2009 and that still has a huge presence in the world of videogames today, so much so that many of the current titles continue to be developed with its support, and some perform better with it than with DirectX 12, an API more modern and superior.
This operating system also maintained all the things Microsoft did right with Windows Vista, among which we can highlight the changes in the start button, and significantly improved over its lifetime thanks to upgrades which you received in the form of “Service Packs”. Its life cycle ended in 2020, but it is still used by many people across the globe.
Windows 10
After Windows 7 came Windows 8, an operating system that I used on a new generation Lenovo laptop (at the time), and that frankly I didn’t like at all because of the changes it introduced at the interface level and for that forced tactile touch that it adopted Microsoft, saturating the screen with “live tiles” and making us feel as if the PC experience had expired.
Luckily Windows 10 showed that Microsoft had not lost its mind for the “touch age”. In its beginnings this operating system was widely criticized, but the truth is that it is the best version of Windows that I have tried, and it is the one that I still use on my personal computer. It has also been the only version of Windows that I have been able to use it for five years without serious problems, and without having to reinstall due to performance losses.
The changes at the interface level were totally successful, the performance offered by Windows 10, even on modest computers, is excellent, it is not demanding at the hardware level and today it is a mature, stable and truly reliable operating system. It is true that Microsoft did things wrong with this operating system, but most are limited to the issue of updates, and we must not let this cloud the real value that this operating system offers.
On the other hand, the criticized policy of offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade for me was a success, because allowed me to upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro without spending a dimeand I was also able to update that Lenovo laptop with Windows 8 that I told you about completely free of charge.
Both for performance and for security, stability, advanced feature support, interface, maturity, and stability I think that Windows 10 is still, overall, the best version of Windows out there today, even better than Windows 11, an operating system that I have installed on a laptop and on my test bench, and which hasn’t yet finished convincing me
There are two things that hold me back from upgrading to that operating system, and that I want to share with you before finishing this article. The first are certain interface changes that do nothing but “slow me down” when I use Windows 11, and which I find deeply annoying, such as the new right click, which hides basic actions under a second click. In second place are the problems with updates and performance losses.
I will not make the jump to Windows 11 Until those two issues are resolved, and until then I will not consider this as an operating system superior to Windows 10. It is not something I need or rush, since Windows 10 more than meets my needs, and will be supported until 2025.
