NetBIOS

Stands for "Network Basic Input/Output System."

NetBIOS was an API introduced by IBM in 1983 to provide applications with basic networking capabilities. Despite "BIOS" in the name, it was not related to a computer's BIOS firmware. Instead, the API offered a set of commands that software programs could use to communicate over a local network.

NetBIOS functions handled network tasks such as identifying devices, establishing connections, and sending or receiving data. For example, a programmer could call a NetBIOS function to access files on another computer without writing the networking code from scratch.

History of NetBIOS

Initially designed for IBM PC networks, NetBIOS was later adopted by Microsoft and supported by multiple protocols, including NetBEUI and NetBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP. It was popular from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. In 1995, Windows introduced native TCP/IP support, making NetBIOS less necessary.

In 2000, Windows 2000 debuted Active Directory and DNS, further reducing reliance on NetBIOS. Over the next few years, SMB became the standard way to share files over a network. In 2007, Windows Vista removed NetBEUI support. While NetBIOS over TCP/IP still available for compatibility in Windows, it is considered a legacy technology and is rarely used today.