Editing Windows 95 (section)

==Technical improvements==
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2024}}
Windows 95 included support for 255-character mixed-case [[long filename]]s<ref>255-character mixed-case long filenames are only possible for files and/or folders with no sub-folders at the root folder of any drive.</ref> and [[Preemption (computing)|preemptively]] multitasked protected-mode 32-bit applications. 16-bit processes were still co-operatively multitasked.

===Plug and Play===
{{Main|Legacy Plug and Play|Device Manager}}

Windows 95 tried to automate device detection and configuration as much as possible, but could still fall back to manual settings if necessary. During the initial install process of Windows 95, it would attempt to automatically detect all devices installed in the system.

Windows 95 also introduced the Device Manager to indicate which devices were working optimally with correct drivers and configuration and to allow the user to override automatic Plug and Play-based driver installation with manual options or give a choice of several semi-automatic configurations to try to free up resources for devices that still needed manual configuration.

Windows 95 also has built-in support for [[Advanced Power Management]].

===Long file names===
{{Main|Long filename}}
[[32-bit File Access]] is necessary for the ''long file names'' feature introduced with Windows 95 through the use of the [[VFAT]] file system extension. It is available to both Windows programs and MS-DOS programs started from Windows (they have to be adapted slightly, since accessing long file names requires using larger [[pathname]] [[Buffer (computer science)|buffers]] and hence different [[system call]]s). Competing DOS-compatible operating systems released before Windows 95 cannot see these names. Using older versions of DOS utilities to manipulate files means that the long names are not visible and are lost if files are moved or renamed and by the copy (but not the original) if the file is copied. During a Windows 95 automatic upgrade of an older Windows 3.1 system, DOS and third-party disk utilities which can destroy long file names are identified and made unavailable. When Windows 95 is started in DOS mode, e.g. for running DOS programs, low-level access to disks is locked out. In case the need arises to depend on disk utilities that do not recognize long file names, such as the MS-DOS 6.x's defrag utility, a program called LFNBACK for backup and restoration of long file names is provided on the CD-ROM, specifically in its \ADMIN\APPTOOLS\LFNBACK directory. {{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

===32-bit===
Windows 95 followed [[Windows for Workgroups]] 3.11 with its lack of support for older, 16-bit [[x86]] processors, thus requiring an [[Intel 80386]] (or compatible). While the OS kernel is 32-bit, much code (especially for the user interface) remained 16-bit for performance reasons as well as development time constraints.

The introduction of [[32-bit file access]] in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 meant that 16-bit real mode MS-DOS is not used for managing the files while Windows is running, and the earlier introduction of the [[32-bit disk access]] means that the PC [[BIOS]] is often no longer used for managing hard disks. DOS can be used for running old-style [[device driver|drivers]] for compatibility, but Microsoft discourages using them, as this prevents proper multitasking and impairs system stability. [[Control Panel (Windows)|Control Panel]] allows a user to see which MS-DOS components are used by the system; optimal performance is achieved when they are bypassed. The Windows [[kernel (operating system)|kernel]] uses MS-DOS style real-mode drivers in ''[[Safe Mode]]'', which exists to allow a user to fix problems relating to loading native, protected-mode drivers.

===Core improvements in OEM Service Releases===
OEM Service Releases of Windows 95 introduced support in Windows for several core new technologies that were not included in the original release of Windows 95. These include the [[Internet Explorer]] web browser, [[DriveSpace]] compression, [[OpenGL]], [[DirectX]], [[FAT32]] file system support, [[UDMA|UltraDMA]] mode for disk drives, [[Universal Serial Bus]], [[IEEE 1394|IEEE 1394 (FireWire)]], and [[Accelerated Graphics Port]].

===Accessibility features===
Windows 95 introduced [[computer accessibility]] features like [[Sticky keys]], [[FilterKeys]], [[ToggleKeys]], [[Mouse keys]]. [[Microsoft Active Accessibility]] API was introduced as an add-on for Windows 95.