Win xp home vs. pro

[vBR]

I think my Win 98 SE in on it's last legs.
Now it is time to upgrade, but which one should I get?
I've not used either version so I need a little advice form those of you who have.
What are the basic differences?
What advantages does one have over the other?
Is there a legal way to bypass the activation? I just don't like the idea of Microsoft being big brother.

[CeleronXT]

No, in the terms and agreements stuff, you agree to being activated, therefore there's no legal way around it.

I have Home, but really want to go for Pro... I'd say go for Pro now instead of paying for Home, and going for Pro later.

[Beorn]

I think my Win 98 SE in on it's last legs.
Now it is time to upgrade, but which one should I get?
I've not used either version so I need a little advice form those of you who have.
What are the basic differences?
What advantages does one have over the other?
Is there a legal way to bypass the activation? I just don't like the idea of Microsoft being big brother.

Definitely, without a doubt, go with XP Pro!

Less little "toys", generally better tuned, and I would think it's more secure (hah! XP and secure...what an oxymoron).

First thing you do: Install Zone Alarm. Next, activate the XP Firewall (for when you're not logged in). Next, disable Remote Assistance. Next...revert to Classic Windows Scheme ().

All but the last I strongly suggest. The last I urge

[Andy Z]

When you activate, you don't have to register. And I would go with Pro if you can afford the difference in price. Basically just personal preference, though.

[vBR]

What are those 'little "toys"' of which you speak?

[vBR]

Basically just personal preference, though.

As I have never used either I need something to go on to be able to make a decision like this.

[Beorn]

What are those 'little "toys"' of which you speak?

For one thing, if you go to search for files, you have to manually turn off the animated characters...

In general, there are little stupid things...Ya know how whenever you crash IE, it tries to send an error report...Well, it tries that for every program you crash, and I didn't have the problem on XP Pro (though I can't remember if that was already like that, or I fiddled)

I thought you were confined to XP...if you're not, then go with Windows 2K. It gives you all the power, it's much more secure, it's well tuned (so is 2K Advanced Server ), and I've crashed the system maybe once in two years...

Mike

[vBR]

So 2000 is "better" than xp pro?

[Wayne Luke]

As I have never used either I need something to go on to be able to make a decision like this.

With XP Pro you can use things like .NET IDE's, MSDE (Scaled down version of MS-SQL Server) and IIS if you need to in the future. With HOME you can't even install these.

Pro also includes file encryption, support for domain controllers and true networking instead of peer-to-peer and other networking features.

I would be careful with Zone Alarm and Windows XP though. When I upgraded, and installed Zone Alarm, it wouldn't let me access the Internet while it was running. Not a good situation. Granted that was a year ago so they probably fixed the issue. However I switched to Sygate Personal Firewall and have never gone back.

AS for whether to use the Classic style or Luna, that is up to you. Personally I prefer Luna as the old Windows 95 style was well umm getting old.

[Vile]

Get XP Pro if you don't mind paying the extra $$$ for it. The networking features it has (that home version does not) are worth it. That's one of the main differences between the two, networking features.

As for Zone Alarm...I had ZA insatlled on my XP Pro machine, and it worked fine (after setting permissions for various programs accessing Net, etc) but I'm not a fan of it at all. I think it's a horrible program, and there are many better ones available.

[hankster]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing.asp

[IDN]

XP is more like Win2k... I like it


For me it was only a $10 difference, so i got pro. Besides i like the better stuff

[Lorddraco98]

go pro, home lacks some networking features as well

[chiel]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

as you can see Pro offerse more network features. but you likely wont use them. beside of that they are the same, there are not so calld "little toys"!! and there is no such thing ass that pro is more stable or something...

but if money isn't a problem I would go for Pro.

[Floris]

With XP Pro you can use things like .NET IDE's, MSDE (Scaled down version of MS-SQL Server) and IIS if you need to in the future. With HOME you can't even install these.

Pro also includes file encryption, support for domain controllers and true networking instead of peer-to-peer and other networking features.

I would be careful with Zone Alarm and Windows XP though. When I upgraded, and installed Zone Alarm, it wouldn't let me access the Internet while it was running. Not a good situation. Granted that was a year ago so they probably fixed the issue. However I switched to Sygate Personal Firewall and have never gone back.

AS for whether to use the Classic style or Luna, that is up to you. Personally I prefer Luna as the old Windows 95 style was well umm getting old.

All of the members in my family purchased a new computer in the last few years and 50% uses winXP home and 49% uses winxp PRO, and 1% uses linux ((w00t)).

The ones I help who have WinXP Home edition, .. sigh! Each time I try to do something to fix it, options are missing and I can't seem to find daemons running etc, all kinds of little things that you get used to in the Pro version which I also use.

I use the internet mainly on my system, together with graphic work and big processing for encoding and encrypting files (video work too).

I used to have home for a month because my brother didn't use the cdrom yet and wanted to stay with win98, but later on he went to winxp home and i got Pro for myself, boy oh boy... never going back.

And I use sygate firewall to protect myself, it is great, never gonna use anything else again.

Is it worth the money? NO
You get too much colors for that money, rather then too much OS. I totally disagree with paying SO much for an operating system, even the upgrade costs almost twice the money of the previous versions full version! HORRIBLE PEOPLE.

You KNOW 99% of the consumers who buy a system will get the os they use, damn! It isn't worth that much money.

But it is worth investing in the pro version.
IF You want to wait and IF you want to spend this much money, wait for longhorn maybe?

I also have Win2000 running, but I am only pleased with it after installing the latest service packs and then tweaking and configging it to my liking. But THEN it runs very very stable as a nice internet server. User management is possible, but if you don't know how it is a drag to go through and you are then still unsure you did it all right and that it is secured. I found this much easier with win xp pro.

With WinXP home you can't switch between several users on the same computer/network (i couldn't at least) and with the pro version you can run unlimited accounts on the same system doing all stuff in the background.

I have several users on this pc, just one for chatting and email, and surfing, and one for development, and file encryption etc. and one user that is tweaked with the best performence for gaming.

The rest I do on Debian and FreeBSD which I have on a seperate 2x 80 HD which I can multi boot to.