XP Pro or Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter Scott Egbert
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Scott Egbert

I just bought a new computer for my business. Gateway 700 GR from Bestbuy.
It came loaded with XP Home and probably some other crap.

Should I format C: and load my XP Pro or leave it alone? Is home edition
fine fro what I do?

I use this desktop for Cad, Word, Quickbooks Pro, Web Design (FrontPage
2003), Publisher, Acrobat Pro, Music (Nero and CDEX), email and internet. It
will also be the main computer that will be networked with my notebook. I
use 4 printers, a scanner,wireless router and DSL.

Scott
 
As for erasing your hard drive it great to do. It gets rid of all the
pre-installed software from the manufacture that you do not want.

If you plan on upgrading your network to a domain eventually it would be
a good idea to upgrade to pro now that way you do not have to worry
about it down the line when you cant join the xp home to a domain.

You should probably upgrade to a domain if you add another computer. Its
much easer to share files, printer, manage user accounts, and user
access to files with the domain.
 
Upgrade to a domain?
I have a website that is hosted elsewhere. I'm not sure what you meant

Scott
 
-----Original Message-----
I just bought a new computer for my business. Gateway 700 GR from Bestbuy.
It came loaded with XP Home and probably some other crap.

Should I format C: and load my XP Pro or leave it alone? Is home edition
fine fro what I do?

I use this desktop for Cad, Word, Quickbooks Pro, Web Design (FrontPage
2003), Publisher, Acrobat Pro, Music (Nero and CDEX), email and internet. It
will also be the main computer that will be networked with my notebook. I
use 4 printers, a scanner,wireless router and DSL.

Scott
Click to expand...


Installing your own XP Pro over the OEM Home will probably
void your support warranty. The time to investigate the
differences between Home and Pro was *before* you bought
a new computer.
 
He was trying to get you to get a domain server (Windows NT, 2000 or 2003
server or a DNS server as part of a router) and store all your files on the
server. This is totally not necessary for a home network system or for even
many small businesses. My home network is simply a Win XP Pro box with 4
HDDs installed as my server (up to 10 computers can connect to this box
without requiring a domain controller.) My other 4 computers (2 desktops
and 2 laptops) are running a mix of Pro and Home. I even have the two
laptops on my wireless network (since I have a dialup internet connection, I
use MSs ICS and my router/switch has the domain server turned off.) This is
secure enough as anyone that is not on my workgroup (name at least 7
letters/numbers) and that doesn't have their logon name on my server can't
access the data on the server.
 
In
Scott Egbert said:
I just bought a new computer for my business. Gateway 700 GR
from
Bestbuy. It came loaded with XP Home and probably some other
crap.
Click to expand...


"Probably some other crap"? Why do you use a word like "crap" if
you don't even know what's there?

If you have software installed you don't want, uninstall it.

Should I format C: and load my XP Pro or leave it alone? Is
home
edition fine fro what I do?
Click to expand...


"*Your* XP Pro"? You already have a copy? Is it installed on
another computer? If so, you can't do this. The rule is quite
clear. It's one copy (or one license) for each computer.
There's nothing new here. This is exactly the same rule that's
been in effect on every version of Windows starting with Windows
3.1. The only thing new with XP is that there's now an
enforcement mechanism.


I use this desktop for Cad, Word, Quickbooks Pro, Web Design
(FrontPage 2003), Publisher, Acrobat Pro, Music (Nero and
CDEX),
email and internet. It will also be the main computer that will
be
networked with my notebook. I use 4 printers, a
scanner,wireless
router and DSL.
Click to expand...


If you don't already know that you need XP Professional, it's
highly unlikely that you need it. I don't see anything in what
you describe that requires Professional. XP Professional and XP
Home are exactly the same in all respects, except that
Professional has a few features (mostly related to networking and
security) missing from Home. For most (but not all) home users
(and even many small businesses), these features aren't needed,
would never be used, and buying Professional instead of Home is a
waste of money.


For details go to



http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp



http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp



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



Also note that Professional allows ten concurrent network
connections, and Home only five.
 
Scott Egbert said:
I just bought a new computer for my business. Gateway 700 GR from Bestbuy.
It came loaded with XP Home and probably some other crap.

Should I format C: and load my XP Pro or leave it alone? Is home edition
fine fro what I do?

I use this desktop for Cad, Word, Quickbooks Pro, Web Design (FrontPage
2003), Publisher, Acrobat Pro, Music (Nero and CDEX), email and internet. It
will also be the main computer that will be networked with my notebook. I
use 4 printers, a scanner,wireless router and DSL.

Scott
Click to expand...

There is nothing on your list that would require Windows XP Pro
instead of Home.

The two versions are identical in terms of performance and stability,
and are compiled from the same source code.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp
One additional difference, which is not mentioned on these web sites
and which might be relevant if you contemplate adding several more
computers to your network, is that XP Home allows only 5 concurrent
logins to a shared resource whereas XP Pro allows 10.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
So, I can use XP home on my main computer for a network. I don't need Pro,
right?
 
In
Scott Egbert said:
So, I can use XP home on my main computer for a network. I
don't need
Pro, right?
Click to expand...


Absolutely right. I have two computers on my little network here;
one runs XP Home, the other XP Professional. Neither is the
"main" computer, they are just used by two different people.
 
Scott said:
I just bought a new computer for my business. Gateway 700 GR from Bestbuy.
It came loaded with XP Home and probably some other crap.

Should I format C: and load my XP Pro or leave it alone? Is home edition
fine fro what I do?

I use this desktop for Cad, Word, Quickbooks Pro, Web Design (FrontPage
2003), Publisher, Acrobat Pro, Music (Nero and CDEX), email and internet. It
will also be the main computer that will be networked with my notebook. I
use 4 printers, a scanner,wireless router and DSL.
Click to expand...

The only thing that occurs to me that you *might* possibly want that is
Pro only is the Internet Information server for testing your web stuff
for real. (And you could get Apache from www.apache.org, as used on
many major web sites). Or possibly, depending on your business, you
might need the more flexible control of file access permissions that are
Pro only. Mostly the extras are those needed in large corporate setups,
using domain networks for administration

See http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp
for the list of things that are in Pro only. In addition Pro will
support ten simultaneous connections in a network - Home only five

Otherwise the systems use identical code

If you decide you have real need of a Pro facility get the Pro Upgrade
CD and run it *from* the existing Home system, taking Install and
continuing with Upgrade
 
I second Ken's statement. Home will do just about everything that Pro will
do. You don't need a true server OS until you get past 10 simultaneous
logons with a Pro system or 5 for a home system. The only reason for me
using the Pro box as a server is that it will allow me to connect another 5
computers to my network as time goes by without having to expand again.
Prior to placing this home built "server" into service I used a XP Home box
as my main storage location.
 
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