Windows 10, the upcoming operating system from Microsoft, has many various editions. These include Home, Pro, Enterprise, Mobile, Education, Mobile Enterprise, and IoT Core editions. We have reviewed them in the past. Most home users will probably use Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro. Let's see what is the difference between these editions.
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As expected, Windows 10 Home edition has significantly less features. It does not include Group Policy, Remote Desktop and many other useful features which Pro edition offers to the end user.The lower editions of Windows have always been lacking in features, and with the upcoming release, it's the same case. The worst thing in my opinion is that the Home edition does not come with any option to control updates. The Windows Update for Business feature and Current Branch for Business update branches, are more flexible than the update branch for Windows 10 Home.
See the following table to find all the differences between Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro:
| Features | Home | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Customizable Start | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Defender and Windows firewall | Yes | Yes |
| Fast startup with Hiberboot and InstantGo | Yes | Yes |
| TPM Support | Yes | Yes |
| Battery Saver | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Update | Yes | Yes |
Cortana | ||
| Talk or type naturally | Yes | Yes |
| Personal and proactive suggestions | Yes | Yes |
| Reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Search web, device, and cloud | Yes | Yes |
| “Hey Cortana” hands-free activation | Yes | Yes |
Windows Hello | ||
| Native fingerprint recognition | Yes | Yes |
| Native facial and iris recognition | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise level security | Yes | Yes |
Multi-doing | ||
| Virtual desktops | Yes | Yes |
| Snap assist (up to four apps on one screen) | Yes | Yes |
| Snap apps across screens on different monitors | Yes | Yes |
Continnum | ||
| Switch from PC to tablet mode | Yes | Yes |
Microsoft Edge | ||
| Reading view | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in ink support | Yes | Yes |
| Cortana integration | Yes | Yes |
Security | ||
| Device Encryption | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Passport | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise Data Protection | No | Yes |
Windows as a service | ||
| Windows Update | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Update for business | No | Yes |
| Current branch for business | No | Yes |
Management and deployment | ||
| Side-loading of line of business apps | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile device management | Yes | Yes |
| Ability to join Azure directory, win single sign-on to cloud-hosted apps | No | Yes |
| Business Store for Windows 10 | No | Yes |
| Easy Upgrade from Pro to Enterprise Edition | No | Yes |
| Easy Upgrade from Home to Education Edition | Yes | No |
Existing fundamentals | ||
| Device Encryption | Yes | Yes |
| Domain Join | No | Yes |
| BitLocker | No | Yes |
| Group Policy | No | Yes |
| Enterprise Mode Internet Explorer | No | Yes |
| Assigned Access 8.1 | No | Yes |
| Remote Desktop | No | Yes |
What do you think about Windows 10 Home? Is it suitable for you or will you use Windows 10 Pro instead?
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I using the 8.1Home edition, so i’ll install the 10Home.
Good. At this moment, one of my PCs has Win8.1 Pro installed. I will update it to Win10Pro sooner or later.
I’m going to wait until Windows 10 is officially out and you can buy it, either I’ll use my Windows 8.1 home key or buy Pro, haven’t decided yet.
I’m installing 10 Home 10162. 10130 was no big deal; ran smoothly with no surprises.
i will stay with windows 7 home premium because it’s my favorite operating system in the world
Can somebody tell me if there will be a way to control the behavior of Windows Update in Windows 10 Home? Like for example, editing a value in the registry? According to what I’ve read in several sites (this one’s included, of course), Updates will be delivered automatically in Windows 10 Home.
And what about Hyper-V ?