Multitasking is a technique of most of today's operating systems in which a computer's microprocessor is able to safely and efficiently run several independent tasks (such as the operation of many application programs) at the same time without any noticeable delays to the user. As an example, a computer user is able to open a Web browser in order to "surf" the Internet, while also opening and using a word processing program. The first multitasking operating systems were designed in the early 1960s. Multitasking is referred to by several other names, including "multiprocessing," "multiprogramming," "concurrency," and "process scheduling."

The number of programs that can be effectively multitasked depends on such things as the type of multitasking performed, the speed of the central processing unit (CPU), and the amount of available main memory. Multitasking is accomplished because the computer's CPU is able to switch from one task to another...