Compare Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro

While Windows 10 offers multiple versions for specific use cases, home users have only two main options to consider: Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro. So what is the difference between Windows 10 Home and Pro?

You may be wondering whether Windows 10 Home is enough, or if you should pay for Windows 10 Pro. Take a look at the most important exclusive features of Windows 10 Pro to find the answer.

1. Windows Remote Desktop

Windows has included its own Remote Desktop tool for some time. This allows you to connect to a PC with another device and control it like you're sitting in front of the PC.

With Windows 10 Home, you cannot use Remote Desktop to connect to your own PC from other devices. You need Windows 10 Pro to be able to access it from anywhere. On Windows 10 Pro, go to Settings> System> Remote Desktop to set this feature.

If you have Windows 10 Home, you can easily 'copy' this feature with the remote access software instead. Tools like TeamViewer are free for personal use and work on all versions of Windows.

2. BitLocker encryption

Did you know that even if a computer is password protected, someone with access to the hard drive can read all the data stored on it? This is where encryption comes into play. It tampered with all the files on the computer and made them unreadable to anyone without the key.

BitLocker is Microsoft's integrated encryption software for Windows. It is the Windows 10 Pro feature that you will find in BitLocker Drive Encryption in Control Panel .

This is a great tool for making encryption simple, powerful and convenient as it is integrated into the operating system. Windows 10 Home users must use other options to encrypt the drive.

Refer to the article: How to encrypt a Windows system drive with VeraCrypt for more details.

3. Hyper-V virtualization

Hyper-V is a virtual machine manager (VM) that allows you to run virtual operating systems on your computer. This is a great tool to try other operating systems or install software in a safe environment, without risking the actual system.

Newer versions of Windows 10 also include a handy related tool called Windows Sandbox. You can use Windows Sandbox to open a 'clean' copy of Windows 10, which will reset when you close it. Compared to a traditional VM, this tool does not take much time to set up and is easier to maintain.

However, like both of the above functions, Windows 10 Home users have free alternatives. Hyper-V is a good tool, but for regular VM users, VirtualBox will do this very well.

4. Delay updating longer

Sometimes, Windows 10 Home users have no way to turn off Windows Updates, because they are all automatic. Windows 10 now allows Home users to pause updates for up to 35 days. Go to Settings> Update & Security> Windows Update> Advanced Options and you can select Pause updates to pause updates until a future date.

This prevents all Windows updates from being installed within the time period you choose. However, once that date comes, you must install the current updates before pausing again.

Windows 10 Pro goes one step further, letting you delay both feature updates and security updates for the set number of days. Feature updates are a major revision to Windows 10, rolling out about twice a year and adding new features. Quality update (Quality update) is a Windows 10 patch to fix bugs and fix security issues.

If you're confident enough to control updates, you may want to use Windows 10 Pro to gain more control.

5. Features focused on the business

Some Pro features are clearly targeted at businesses, but may still be appealing to home users (of course, not all).

One of these is Enterprise Mode for Internet Explorer, which allows you to simulate IE 8 inside IE 11. This is an 'old' website that doesn't work in modern browsers, usually internal business websites.

Another tool that can be used more for ordinary users is Assign Access , a feature only available in Pro, which allows you to restrict accounts on computers that are only allowed to use one application.

It is designed for kiosks or other restricted environments, but is also a great way to limit a child's computer use. Letting your kids play games and knowing they can't access the web is a great feature.

Windows 10 Pro also has other enterprise features, such as connecting a computer to a domain and supporting Active Directory. This is important for the corporate environment, but not as useful to ordinary users.

Should you upgrade to Windows 10 Pro?

As you can see, Windows 10 Pro has some preeminent features, but it's almost unnecessary for home users. Use the alternatives listed above and save money on something more useful. Windows 10 will continue to add new features in major updates for all users, so Home users will not miss anything interesting.