Curious: MS Windows Kernel Question

[CMonster]

Since the end user is not able to recompile a Windows kernel to add optimizations for a specific CPU (e.g. P4, Athlon) is there another method by which (say Windows 2000/XP kernel) is able to take advantage of advanced CPU features?

I know that some program code is written to take advantage of things like SSE but what about the OS itself?

I wonder -is the default Windows 2K/XP kernel i686?

[storm2k]

i believe it's specifically written to take advantage of all intel speed optimizations. they dont' call it wintel for nothing.

[CMonster]

Yeah, I can see how they would want to compile it with the latest Intel optimizations.