Difference Between Linux and Windows

Parameter	Windows	Linux
Introduction	It is an Operating System developed by Microsoft and  named Windows on November 20, 1985 as a graphical operating system shell for MS-DOS	Linux is a Unix Like Operating System introduced by Linus Torvalds and was first released on 5 October 1991.
License Type	Proprietary Commercial Software and must have to be Purchased before using Windows OS.	Except Red Hat all versions are free and are distributed under GNU GPL License.
File System Supported	NTFS,FAT,FAT 32, ISO 9660, UDF,	Ext,Ext2, Ext3, Ext3, ReiserFS, FAT, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS, NTFS, JFS, XFS, Minux and GmailFS
Versions	Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 etc.	Red Hat, Suse Linux, Debian, Knoppix, Ubuntu etc.
Data Security	It is less secure than Linux because in Windows, applications can create, modify, and delete Dynamic Link Libraries.	It is more secure than windows because it executable file are identified by “executable “flags rather than their extensions.
Drive Recognition	In Windows drives are identified by Drive letters and labels. Such as C, D, E, F etc.	Drives are treated as files and letters are not assigned to file systems. There is only one root file system whose path is “/”. Linux mounts new drives in folders inside the root file system.
Registry	Windows uses single database of configuration options which is called registry.	Linux does not uses registry and many individual configuration files are used, typically in plain text that can be edited by hand using any text editor. These files are generally found in /etc directory.
Software Support	Software are downloaded either from websites or through CDs/DVDs.	Software is downloaded from repos. In Linux you a centralized location where User can search for, add, or remove software.
Admin Login	Default admin name for System Administration in Windows is Administrator or Admin.	In Linux Administrator is called “root”.
Source Code Access	There is no source code access to users.	In Linux User can access and alter the source code of Linux Kernel.
Troubleshooting	Windows provides Safe Mode booting option for repair and troubleshooting purpose.	In Linux this is achieved by booting the system at command line mode. i.e. Run Level 3.
Paging	Windows uses dynamically allocated page file for memory management. This Page file is allocated on disk and leaves more RAM for actively used objects.	Linux uses “swap partition”, which is a dedicated partition exclusively used for paging operations.
Cross File System Support	Can be achieved by installing third party software.	Linux can read all file systems of Windows without using any third party software.
Hardware Compatibility	Windows has more hardware compatibility.	Linux has less Hardware compatibility.
Process Scheduling	NT-based Windows uses a CPU scheduler based on a Multi-level feedback queue, with 32 priority levels defined. The kernel may change the priority level of a thread depending on its I/O and CPU usage.	Linux uses scheduling algorithm to favor interactive processes, which have short bursts of CPU usage. In Linux a process without root privilege can take advantage of this to monopolize the CPU, when the CPU time Accounting precision is low.