MS Windows Variations and the Internet

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MS Windows Variations and the Internet

Various versions of MS Windows provide varying levels of internet/TCP support. Since Microsoft is just now entering the world of the internet, the level of internet support and ease of installation is generally lower than what most Mac or unix people expect from their OSes.

The following describes internet support available with the various versions of MS Windows:

NT 3.5

NT 3.5 provides the most complete MS Windows support for internet access.

Earlier versions of NT provided TCP capabilities, but lacked support for SLIP/PPP, and had limited support for hardware drivers in general. NT 3.5 is relatively easy to install, provides drivers for most types of hardware and has the performance one would expect from an OS that might be used as a network server.

The only downside is that NT requires more of a hardware investment than most other Windows flavors: you should have at least a 486, 1G of hard disk space and 16M of memory (32M would be better).

If you intend on running full time internet servers (like http and ftp), NT should be your MS Windows version of choice, as it provides full kernel and file system protection.

Note: When Windows95 becomes available, it will have much of the same internet support as NT, but with less expensive hardware requirements.

Windows For Workgroups

Windows For Workgroups (WFW) provides the next best level of support for the internet.

While it does not currently have TCP drivers included, it does provide support for installing 3rd party TCP drivers. A beta version of Microsoft's 32 bit TCP is available at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/peropsys/windows/public/tcpip/WFWT32.EXE. Note: this version of TCP only supports LAN access - you'll need to use a 3rd party TCP if you wish to dial into an internet service provider.

WFW can be used as an ftp server - however, since WFW has no file protection support, it is possible for remote users to over-write your existing files or insert potentially dangerous material on your PC.

Regular MS Windows

Finally, you can access the internet via conventional MS Windows, but you may need to do a bit more work to get it set up.

The best way to access the internet via regular Windows is to acquire a 3rd party TCP/Winsock package. Several Winsock vendors are listed on the preceding document.

Windows 3.1 is adequate for accessing the internet on a client basis; it may not be generally suitable for use as an internet server.

TCP Stacks on MS Windows

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