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  The 80286 is used in the PC/AT and in the PS/2 models 50 and 60. Although
  fully compatible with the 8086, the 80286 supports extra programming
  features that let it execute programs much more quickly than the 8086.
  Perhaps the most important enhancement to the 80286 is its support for
  multitasking.

  Multitasking is the ability of a CPU to perform several tasks at a time--
  such as printing a document and calculating a spreadsheet--by quickly
  switching its attention among the controlling programs.

  The 8088 used in a PC or PC/XT can support multitasking with the help of
  sophisticated control software. However, an 80286 can do a much better job
  of multitasking because it executes programs more quickly and addresses
  much more memory than the 8088. Moreover, the 80286 was designed to
  prevent tasks from interfering with each other.

  The 80286 can run in either of two operating modes: real mode or protected
  mode. In real mode, the 80286 is programmed exactly like an 8086. It can
  access the same 1 MB range of memory addresses as the 8086. In protected
  mode, however, the 80286 reserves a predetermined amount of memory for an
  executing program, preventing that memory from being used by any other
  program. This means that several programs can execute concurrently without
  the risk of one program accidentally changing the contents of another
  program's memory area. An operating system using 80286 protected mode can
  allocate memory among several different tasks much more effectively than
  can an 8086-based operating system.