XP Home vs Professional

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Huwge, Dec 17, 2004.

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  1. Huwge

    Huwge Registered Member

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    For the average, home user, is there any benefit in one over the other ?
     
  2. Jimbob1989

    Jimbob1989 Registered Member

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    Well I believe it comes down to one main thing basically, thats networking. if you have a home based network with multiple pcs, pro is more equipped out of the box to handle it. if you wont need to do that, then xp home is just as good as pro for most things.

    Jimbob
     
  3. bigc73542

    bigc73542 Retired Moderator

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    xp pro is more secure out of the box. and it has less running on average. Xp pro is more of a corporate os which is more secure for that reason. you might want to check here

    bigc
     
  4. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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  5. Huwge

    Huwge Registered Member

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    Thanks for the info. I'm in the process of buying a new machine in the New Year. Out of the ones I'm looking at they mostly ship with Pro version. I am currently running Win 98SE.
     
  6. bigc73542

    bigc73542 Retired Moderator

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    I had my own computer shop for many years and I have found that there is no way to make win 98 or 98se comp as secure as xp, it just can't be done. especially if you are comparing 98 to xp pro. There are security options in place in xp that are not even available in 98. But if anyone wants to delude there selfs that they can not update to xp and still get all of the security updates to stay secure are very mistaken. The security updates for 98 and xp are not even the same about 95% of the time.

    bigc
     
  7. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    I came from 98se to XP. I like the memory management in XP much better.
     
  8. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    I've been using XP for 3 years now. I thought long and hard before moving to it for just the reasons you state.
    So far, so good. :)
     
  9. bigc73542

    bigc73542 Retired Moderator

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    The thing is that the xp os even with it's unpatched "holes" is still more secure than win 98. Xp due to it's file system and tighter security that is there by default. Even if 98 had no open holes it still is not going to be as secure as xpsp2, It is just physcially impossible to do on any 9x os. That is why 9x was dropped in the first place.

    bigc

    bigc
     
  10. Jimbob1989

    Jimbob1989 Registered Member

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    Excuse me gents, I think this thread has gone off subject a little, do you think maybe we should find out way back to the original topic of discussion.

    Jimbob
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2004
  11. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

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    On my system XP home was pre-installed, but it crashed from time to time. Since I installed the Pro version it hasn't crashed anymore. :)
    So in my opinion the pro version is more stable then the home version.
    Why? I really don't know. I would think both versions are the same, except for some programs and bells and whistles.
    Could be of course my computer doesn't like the home version. :D
     
  12. Jimbob1989

    Jimbob1989 Registered Member

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    Maybe it was something to do with the fact home was given free, sort of. Most stuff that is given free tends to be cut down a little.

    Jimbob
     
  13. nadirah

    nadirah Registered Member

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    Just choose the one that suits your needs the most. :)
     
  14. Don Pelotas

    Don Pelotas Registered Member

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    I run XP home and initially saw the same as you, crashes from time to time, but after a particular update (which one i can't remember, it was before SP1) XP home has been rocksolid, not a bluescreen since. :)
     
  15. bigbuck

    bigbuck Registered Member

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    I use Home at home and Pro at work. No difference that I can see except for the networking stuff on Pro......and that NTBackup facility that is not installed by default on Home.
    Buck.
     
  16. Jimbob1989

    Jimbob1989 Registered Member

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    For some reason our school upgraded from windows NT to windows Xp Pro on a number if not all of the machines we use. I'm not sure why, I always thought Windows NT was purposefully built to work with networks.

    Jimbob
     
  17. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Huwge: Since you're here (Wilders), I'm assuming you're getting more into security.. if that's true, Pro will give you a lot more room to secure your system around what you want than Home will, without getting into registry editing and that kind of thing. Home and Pro are both XP and come pretty much the same way 'out of the box' (simple file sharing is still present and enabled by default, etc), but Pro gives you a lot more choice about what you can disable and restrict.

    If, however, you don't have the time to get into changing settings and such, then there's no point in wasting the hundred bucks for that functionality. I guess it comes down to your budget and if you think you'll utilize the added configurability.
     
  18. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    JimBob: XP is NT, a later version.
     
  19. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

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    o_O So I was not the only one experiencing these crashes.
    It's been a long time since I installed the Pro, so I can't comment on how it's now.
    Glad you're not having these annoying crashes/blue screens anymore. ;)
    That's what I like most of the Pro, being able to minimize the security risks. :)
    It costs a lot more, but having a stable/secure system is IMHO worth it.
     
  20. Huwge

    Huwge Registered Member

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    Thanks for all the info :) . With regard to the posting from Nitok...I have narrowed it down to two systems. The one ships with Pro and the other is £40 extra for Pro. I assume that some of the security issues come with all that networking and remote access stuff, presumably they can be disabled easily enough o_O
     
  21. Notok

    Notok Registered Member

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    Yup! Same issues exist in Home, but XP gives you controls to disable or restrict those things more easily. There are some free utilities to switch off some of this stuff in both Home and Pro, but if think you even MIGHT connect another computer to this one in the future, it's worth it to get Pro so that you can make that network more secure. By default, both Home and Pro will use Simple File Sharing.. this is easier to use, but also easier to abuse, and Home will not give you a choice between it and the standard file sharing, and Simple File Sharing is more difficult to secure. XP Pro also has the Group Policy Editor that allows you to disable or restrict a lot of the remote access functionality that will be relevant to internet use.

    IMO $40 is a hell of a deal and well worth it.. even if you don't use it now, you never know what you might end up doing with it down the road, and I doubt you'll ever find an upgrade to Pro for $40 on it's own. Which ever way you decide to go, start a thread when you get it, make sure to specify how you're using it and how much time/money you're willing to invest, and we can all get you going in the right direction at least. :)
     
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