Windows Vista is a row of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on PC, with home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. It was out in stages to PC hardware and software companies, business customers, and retail channels. Then it was released worldwide, and was made available for buy and download from Microsoft's website. The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between consecutive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems.

Windows Vista has many modifications and latest features, with an updated GUI and visual style called Windows Aero, a restored search function, multimedia tools with Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and show sub-systems. Vista tries to raise level of communication between systems on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to make simpler the sharing files and digital media between PCs and devices.

Windows Vista contains version 3.0 of .NET Framework, permitting software developers to write applications without usual Windows APIs.

Microsoft's major declared objective with Windows Vista has been to develop state of security in Windows operating system. One common analysis of Windows XP and its predecessors is their regularly exploited security vulnerabilities and generally susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. Then Microsoft declared company-wide "Trustworthy Computing initiative" which intends to incorporate security work into each feature of software development at company. Microsoft declared that it prioritized improving security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.