How do operating systems work? Is there one central .exe file, or, how does that work? Just wondering. Thanks :)

It's very complicated but escentially there's a kernel which handles all low-level functions of the OS and everything is built up from there. In Windows NT/2000/XP the file is ntoskernel and in OS X it's called machkernel or something like that.

That is a fairly complex question, and probably can't be answered completely in here. But, it depends a lot on the specific OS, as each one works slightly differently, but all accomplish the same sort of tasks.

Basically, an OS is the interface between human and machine. It translates the 1's and 0's into a visible interface that we can understand. It is also the communication link between all of the hardware, allowing data to go to where it is supposed to as efficiently as possible.

The OS itself isn't really one single file. At least a current OS does not work that way. You need a kernel, or central core of the OS. This contains the bulk of the code, commands, and the real heart of the OS. But there are many other important aspects, such as drivers for hardware. Without the drivers, the OS would not know what kind of hardware it is or how to talk to it. There are also many other files such as configuration files. These hold the settings required so that the OS knows how something should work.

Its hard to get into a lot of detail, but it is one of those things that if one part is broken, the rest will not work as well. The OS relies on a bunch of information, os making sure every part is available and setup right is key.

OK, thanks. More specifically, how do they make that kernel? Could I go in and change that to make my OS act differently, or does it act like an EXE file? (Written in a language, compiled, etc)
Thanks again.

its written in assembler (most of the the time), the higher functions which basically act as filters to interpret from devices or software into the kernel are written in whatever takes the fancy, be it assembler, c , c++, ada etc etc.
yes if you were incredibly talented you could rewrite the kernel, even without the source, but the complexity would baffle just about everyone. it would depend greatly on the os and what you were trying to achieve, but most modifications would be at a higher level then the kernel and would require the source code to stand a reasonable chance of being able to do it.

Here's a rundown at HSW in lay man's terms :)

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/operating-system.htm

Going along with the rewriting the kernel question, thats one of the great advantages of linux. If you checkout www.kernel.org you can get a kernel that works with most linux, you can edit and compile it to whatever you want then load it into a system. A quick search of linux kernel compile on google would probably lead to wealth of information.

On the other hand with windows there are some programs that replace parts of the base operating system (not sure which never played with it). I think it was called lightstep, of course lightstep was just around visual mods, not actual functionality.

Hope this helped a little more

OK, thanks! I appreciate the help!