Windows 10 Home vs Pro: Whats the Smarter Choice?

At the end of July 2016, the clock struck midnight and the period to upgrade your computer to Windows 10 for free was over. Quite a lot of people upgraded while they had a chance but as Net Market Share reports, not every Windows-powered computer has been updated to 10.

In this post, we’re going to discuss why it is a good idea to upgrade to Windows 10. A Detailed study of Windows 10 Home vs Pro. Hence, helping you to choose the best platform.

Microsoft was very aggressive with how much they pushed Windows 7 and 8 users to upgrade to 10. Especially over the last few months before the deadline for the free upgrade. If you’re still running Windows 7 or 8, you either live under a rock or have to fight hard to keep it.

So why would you want to upgrade to Windows 10 at all, after dodging annoying pop-ups for months? Now that Windows 10 has had time to mature, it’s a stable operating system that offers a good amount of upgrades over previous versions.

Here are a few reasons why it would be smart to consider upgrading to Windows 10:

1. Much Better Built-In Security: While it still won’t take the place of a strong antivirus and anti-malware suite, the built-in Windows Security in 10 is leagues ahead of 7 and 8. Being on older versions like Windows XP can make you vulnerable to widespread Malware exploits like WannaCry Ransomware.
2. Cortana: Microsoft’s digital assistant, you can use your voice to set alarms, navigate through Windows, plan vacations and even track your packages. Windows Central goes through an extensive list of things you may not know Cortana can do.
3. DirectX 12: The next generation of graphics technology is exclusively on Windows 10. While games have been slow to update, the day will come where you will need Windows 10 to run your favorite games.
4. Plenty of Power-User Tools: Microsoft heard the complaints about Windows 8 loud and clear. They packed Windows 10 full of handy tools power users will love like running virtual desktops, high-DPI monitor support and pasting text into the command prompt.

Windows 10 Home Vs Pro: Key Points

With that in mind, let’s go through a few unique features that only Windows 10 Pro offers. You’ll see why we recommend Windows 10 Pro upfront, hopefully saving you a little money down the road.

1. Remote Desktop

In Windows 10 Pro, you can connect to and control another computer running Windows 10 Pro. This can come in handy in many different situations. If you’re often on the road for work, you can still log into your desktop back at the office.

You can also use remote desktop for support reasons. Is your parent’s computer acting up? It doesn’t matter if you’re on the other side of the country, or even world, you can log into their computer and see what’s going on for yourself.

If you don’t use cloud storage, this is an excellent way to keep your files close. Forgot that important report you were working on last night at home? No problem, log into your computer from work and email it over to yourself!

2. Hyper-V

Marketed more towards power users. It’s the ability to run virtual machines on your Windows 10 computer. However, you can always use it to safegaurd your primary Windows 10 copy.

A virtual machine can act as sandbox to experiment around in a safe environment. Are you concerned with a program you downloaded has built-in adware? Launch a virtual machine and install the program in it. Check for any unwanted behavior by the program.

In this way you can always test software stuffs before actually using them.

3. Delaying Updates

Neither all updates are good nor they are always safe. However, in Windows 10 Home and Pro you get the option to delay updates to stable and tested versions only.

In addition, Windows 10 Pro offers a feature to let Microsoft know that you donot want to install the downloaded update right-away. It has to wait until you power down to install updates and not to enforce you to reboot in the middle of video chatting with your family or an important task.

4. BitLocker

We saved the best one for last. Are you a laptop owner? What happens if someone steals it?

If hackers have physical access to your computer, there’s almost nothing they can’t break into. BitLocker puts a stop to that. Microsoft has a great article detailing what BitLocker does, but basically it encrypts your entire hard drive so no one can get in.

Those tax returns from last year? Quickbooks files? Sensitive documents? All encrypted and completely safe. You’d have to find a way to replace them if your laptop disappears but at least they won’t be in wrong hands!

BitLocker alone is enough of a reason to choose Windows 10 Pro, but there are a lot of other reasons why we recommend Windows 10 Pro. It’s more secure, has plenty of more settings and is a power user’s dream come true.

The only thing to decide is what version you want, but instead of jumping at the cheaper option look at the whole picture. Home is missing some critical features and it’ll be more expensive in the long run if you go with Home than decide to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro later.

For that reason, we recommend Windows 10 Pro edition, it’s a great operating system that comes with all of the extra features you need. If you still haven’t made up your mind, Microsoft made a handy chart that goes through all of the features the versions have here.