What is Windows CE? - Telegraph I recently purchased a Satnav of Chinese origin, which uses WinCE as the operating system. The Satnav works well and WinCE is listed as a separate desktop item. It looks a lot like my Windows XP desktop, but I cannot seem to do anything with it, including loading programs. The instructions for WinCE are sparse and poorly translated and I cannot find help anywhere on the Internet. L Zimbler, by email This is Windows Compact Embedded, also popularly known as Compact Edition. It first appeared back in 1996 and is a specially written version of Windows, designed for mobile devices with limited memory. Initially it was used on a range of pocket PCs, the forerunners of today's netbooks, smartphones and tablets but nowadays it is mostly confined to single-purpose devices like satnavs. Access to the desktop is normally hidden and it spends its time running just the one program, with its own custom interface. Superficially it looks a lot like normal Windows but structurally it is quite different and it will not run standard Windows software. Microsoft produced Win CE versions of Internet Explorer, Office, Outlook Express and so on, and at one time there were a number of third party applications available but getting it to do anything useful on a satnav is going to be a struggle; if you want a compact portable computer you are better off with a smartphone or tablet and if you want the complete package, get one with GPS.