Question about OS

[sandmannight]

I am going to build a comp and I have to get a OS so I was wondering home or professional. I am on a limited budget and will be using this for games and slight schoolwork, nothing intense. What should I do. The 50 dollar difference between home and pro is big for my budget so I would like to stay with home but if pro is so much better then I guess I would go with that

One more question. What should I do in the way of internet security and anti-virus. Thanks

 

[sandmannight]

I guess I should say the specs

opty 165
G.SKill Ram
EPoX EP-9NPA3ULTRA
x1800xt

 

[Jagger]

Pro comes with a built in backup program too. However, you are probally better off spending the difference in price between home and pro on something like Acronis or Dantz.

Home will serve you well.

Free firewall: ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com)
Free Antivirus: AVG (www.grisoft.com)

 

[shadowduck]

I guess I should say the specs

opty 165
G.SKill Ram
EPoX EP-9NPA3ULTRA
x1800xt

You have to go with Pro. Home does not support more than 1 CPU core.

 

[Shifty52]

You have to go with Pro. Home does not support more than 1 CPU core.

This is where I wish someone would make up their minds.

 

[shadowduck]

You have to go with Pro. Home does not support more than 1 CPU core.

This is where I wish someone would make up their minds.

Prozac is right, it does. MS at first didn't support it, but appearantly they changed their minds. There was a whole MSDN write on it.

 

[Stevemeister]

I have two computers - a Pentium 4 based machine with XP Home and an AMD 64 4000+ based machine running XP Pro 64 bit. In terms of functionality within the OS there is little that makes any real difference for the home user. I have Office 2003 Suite installed on my XP Home computer and that does everything I need. The XP machine runs minimal applications software and is used mostly for gaming right now. XP Home will be good enough for what you need.

 

[MG37221]

Since you didn't mention games, ponder Suse Linux 8O It has everything you need right out of the box. Consider also Openoffice for your office suite. No virus' yet on linux. Ultra easy (and complete) install. If you're not a gamer, Suse... when you just want to get your work done.

OK everybody, flame on.

My mistake. You did mention games. Nevermind.

 

[gambit6259]

If your budget is that tight then go with Home Edition. It will give you all the basic functionality you will need.

 

[jj14]

Pro comes with a built in backup program too. However, you are probally better off spending the difference in price between home and pro on something like Acronis or Dantz.

Home will serve you well.

Free firewall: ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com)
Free Antivirus: AVG (www.grisoft.com)

Actually, Home has the backup program as well - just that you will manually need to install it from the Home CD (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx)
The Pro version does allow you to control Local computer policies (using GPEdit.msc) like starup/shutdown scripts, and lots of security related properties for IE, messenger, Logon accounts, User rights and of course Windows itself - that are not available using the Home version.
Do look into the GPEdit.msc also before you decide on which one to go for. I say this because on the only PC that I bought from Dell (yeah, I did that once before I realized that it was a waste of money), I initially ordered XP Home, but realized that it didn't let me adjust the security settings to the extent that I wanted - luckily, Dell replaced the OS for me.

 

[rodney_ws]

You have to go with Pro. Home does not support more than 1 CPU core.

This is where I wish someone would make up their minds.

Let's settle this once and for all... Windows XP Home DOES fully support dual-core processors... it does NOT support multi-processor systems. Let me clarify... in the eyes of Microsoft, as long as your processor's two cores are located in one physical housing (e.g. Core Duo, X2, Pentium 800/900 Series, etc), Windows XP Home will support both cores. If you have two single core processors physically located in seperate sockets on a motherboard... XP Home will not fully support that setup.

Does this make sense? No.

Is this the way it works? Yes.

Want more proof? Go to Dell or Gateway and spec out a Core Duo laptop... they'll sell you one with Windows XP Home. Do you honestly think Dell or Gateway would sell you a crippled system? (no spyware jokes please!)

I had this same question previously a few months back and it was answered (correctly) for me... subsequent research and personal experience validated this.

 

[FITCamaro]

I don't let anyone I know run Home. Have talked to people who worked at Microsoft during the development of XP. According to them Home has way more holes in it than Pro.

Also:
- Home has lower limits on the number of connections it can use at once(5 vs. 10 on Pro).

- XP Home support will end Jan 1, 2007 vs. 2013 for Pro. That includes security updates.

Spend the extra bucks on Pro.

 

[theboomboomcars]

I would also recomend linux, although probably PClinuxOS since it comes with the media codecs already installed. If you do games you can get native linux ones, or get cedega.

 

[angry_ducky]

Get XP Pro. Get Office 2003. Use Firefox. End of story.

 

[illuminatirex]

"XP Home support will end Jan 1, 2007 vs. 2013 for Pro. That includes security updates. " how can You be shoor of that, did those people that You know that worked on xp tell you that? ...just curious, im planning to build a new rig and was actually thinking of getig xp home edition (as i am now OEm which cam ewith my pc) , and maby later on upgrading to a vista os using one of those upgrade cd's (at begining i thought of just waiting for vista) but to be honest i read many things about vista that i do not like


and in reply to the 1 st post: i would go with home edition, btw if You are a student there are LEGAL ways of geting a home to pro upgrade very very cheap ...i mean very cheap( 1/10 or so of the original price).

 

[Anoobis]

Do you honestly think Dell or Gateway would sell you a crippled system?

Yes.

 

[rodney_ws]

- XP Home support will end Jan 1, 2007 vs. 2013 for Pro. That includes security updates.

I'm calling complete and total BS on this statement... Microsoft has never dropped support for a product just a few months after it released a replacement... with Vista being delayed, I just don't believe this is possible. Anyone with a Microsoft link to validate this ridiculous claim?

 

[rodney_ws]

Do you honestly think Dell or Gateway would sell you a crippled system?

Yes.

Please elaborate.

Here's what I've come up with, but I hardly consider it "crippled"... when you don't get the OS CD, they just dump an image on your drive wasting space... OC'n is generally limited by the BIOS... so other than that, how the hell is a Gateway/Dell crippled?

 

[oldsaw]

MG37221 is right about SUSE: It blows Windows out the door. And I suspect that the reason you spoke of not expecting to be able to do much on a limited budget is because you have no experience with GNU software. Get some. The software is free and the experience is becoming more valuable every month as Longhorn dissolves into Vista and Vista into Bedlam. For only the cost of five blank CD-Rs or one blank DVD-R you can build a dual partition harddrive with Grub to manage your booting choice. Use the SUSE applications for your web browsing, email, word processing, drawing, etc., and you will soon find that that list of cetera will have grown so long as to subsume almost any reasons for booting into the Windows partition.

 

[Anoobis]

Our server at work is small and albeit an older SC1400. Yes, laugh all you want, but it's a small business and we cannot afford much.

From day one they've had nothing but problems from the tape backup drive (constant failures). Per Dell's instructions, the drive is cleaned constantly and we have tried different brands of media. It has been replaced several times. Everytime one of Dell's techs that have come out to install the new one has they constantly said it is a problem with Dell's end of the equipment and not the tape backup drive itself.

The server was originally only a single processor unit. I had Dell quote me a price to upgrade it to a dual processor setup. I don' recall the exact amount, but they wanted to charge us somewhere in the range of $280.00 for a used processor and a 90 day warranty. They said no new processors were available at the time from them. I can understand this because the processor is an old PIII Tualatin 1.13. However, I found (and purchased) a brand new boxed PIII online for only $215.00 and the retail 3 year warranty.

Yes, we all know you can find better deals on hardware than going through Dell, but the warranty part irked me because they said it would not be covered in our service contract with them after the 90 day period expired. It also makes me wonder if the backup drives they've replaced could have been used/refurbished which is why we had so many problems with them.

I'm the closest thing this small business has to a tech support department, but I profess that I am only an amateur at best. I am, however, far better than the person they used to setup their computer systems and network (don't get me started). The workstations I don't care about and I let their warranty contracts expire because I can handle any issues that come up with them. And we do have issues with them.

The server's contract is always renewed because the data on it is vital and if it were to go down, it could be over my head to get it back up and we cannot risk the chance. Because of the problems we've had in the past with it, I maintain the service contract with Dell, which means they make money off of it. A machine with possible inherent flaws (per their own outsourced techs) and which could have had a used CPU with a 90 day warranty if it were left up to them and possibly other used or refurbished parts.

Do I hate Dell, no. You may think renewing the contract is stupid, but in the long run it keeps our company from hiring a full time IT admin. Maintaining the computer system is only a very small part of my job so I don't consider myself even close to being on the level of an IT admin.

Do I think they might sell a crippled system. Yes. There's money to be made in the service contracts, but that's business. :?

 

[Stevemeister]

Yes but only in the same way a Porsche is better than a Honda Civic - both will get you from A to B and if that's all you want perfection is not essential. I run both Home and Professional - the latter is better but for the home user has a ton of stuff they'll never really need.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

The facts:

XP Home is in the "Consumer, Hardware, Multimedia, and Microsoft Dynamics" product category according to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQhttp://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy. As such, it receives mainstream support for 5 years after release or 2 years after the successor product release whichever is longer. Assuming Vista is released sometime in 2007, then XP Home will continue to have mainstream support until sometime in 2009.

XP Pro is in the "Business and Developer" product category. As such, it receives mainstream support for 5 years after release or 2 years after the successor product is released, whichever is longer. In addition to that, it then receives extended support for another 5 years following the mainstream support phase, or 2 years after the second successor product is released, whichever is longer. Thus, with a Vista release in 2007, XP Pro will go from mainstream support to extended support in 2009, with extended support until at least 2014, possibly longer if Vista's successor isn't released until after 2012.

Both mainstream and extended support phases include security updates. However, the security updates will only be available via manual download (not on the Windows update site) after the extended support phase is in effect for 2 years. (Thus, in the above example, XP Pro will have security updates on the Windows Update site until 2011, security updates available only via manual download after that). XP Home won't have an extended support phase, so security updates for XP Home would theoretically end sometime in 2009 if Vista was released in 2007.

Now that we have that cleared up, full list of differences between Home & Pro:

1. Pro includes Remote Desktop (login and take control of the desktop over the network from a remote location), Home does not. This is not to be confused with Remote Assistance, where someone else can control your desktop with your permission (both Home and Pro have this).
2. Home supports ONE physical processor (regardless of the number of cores or hyperthreads). Pro supports TWO physical processors (regardless of number of cores or hyperthreads). This means that if you have a dual-core hyperthreaded processor, XP Home will support it and show four virtual cores in Task Manager.
3. Pro has the replacement for the Windows Backup program installed by default, for Home it must be manually installed from the CD. The Pro version contains Automated System Recovery (ASR), where the backup can be used to resurrect a system that won't even boot or has to have the hard drive replaced. The Home backup program does NOT support ASR, even though there are still references to the technology in Home's version of the backup program.
4. Pro supports dynamic discs which can do software RAID 0 and RAID 1. Home does not.
5. Pro has the Windows Fax software installed automatically, for Home you must install it manually from the CD.
6. Pro has Internet Information Services 5.1/Personal Web Server, Home does not.
7. Pro supports the Encrypting Fle System, where files within certain local (not network) folders can automatically encrypt all files within. Home does not.
8. Pro supports file and folder-level security access control, home does not. (Home does support share-level access control for peer-to-peer networking).
9. Pro can be a member of a windows domain, and can be centrally managed via Active Directory. Home cannot.
10. Pro can be managed via group policy, both via the network and locally using gpedit.msc. Home does not have group policy security control.
11. Pro supports IntelliMirror software deployment and Remote Installation Services, Home does not.
12. Pro supports roaming profiles where a user can get their personal desktop settings by logging onto any machine in the domain. Home does not.
13. Pro supports multiple languages in a single install. Home can only be installed with single language support.
14. Pro supports the SysPrep tool (used to prepare machines for upgrades from an older OS to XP). Home does not.
15. Pro supports the following extra networking services: IPSec, SNMP, Simple TCP/IP services, SAP Agent, Netware client, Network monitor. Home doesn't support these.
16. There are a few differences in the default user interface: In Pro, Guest logon is disabled by default, in Home it is turned on. In Windows Explorer windows, Pro shows the address bar by default, in Home it is hidden. In Pro, there is an option to show Administrative Tools in the start menu, this is missing in Home.
17. When using peer-to-peer networking, Pro supports up to 10 connected machines. Home supports up to 5.
18. Pro supports Offline Files, Home does not.
19. Pro supports the Scheduled Tasks console, Home does not.


Under the hood, Home and Pro share the same kernel and the same inner workings. Security between the two is virtually identical if the same patches are applied.

 

[mcgruff]

Security: if I remember rightly that board comes with a hardware firewall. Broadband routers will usually have some kind of firewall component but you still need a something on the PC to stop stuff (trojans, Microsoft...) trying to get out.

A Linux distro is definitely worth a look. It probably won't replace Windows but access to all that free software and something to compare Windows against doesn't hurt. Gentoo is my favourite but for a first install Ubuntu might be easier.