What is Win32?

Answer 1

Win32 is the commonly abbreviated form of "Microsoft Windows 32-bit Operating System API," which means that the application was compiled to run on a 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows. There are several versions of Microsoft Windows that support 32-bit code, so the code must still take care to check the OS's version to make sure it is compatible with that version of Windows.

A virus that has an assigned name that includes Win32 targets Microsoft Windows environments capable of running 32-bit code. A program written in Win32 C++, similarly, is written in, and compiled by, a version of C++ that will compile into a 32-bit Windows executable file or shared library (.DLL). This code may be able to run on any version of Windows from Windows 95 onward, although most modern programs require at least Windows XP Service Pack 3.