I recently purchased XP Professional through my university for only $6 dollars. Obviously a bargain. My laptop now uses XP home, is it worth getting over my excessive laziness to upgrade?

the short answer... Nope.

 

longer... depends what you want to do. pro allows greater freedom in regards to networking (domains) and file access (pretty sure home doesnt let you look at system files no matter what you say or do). most users probably wouldnt even notice a difference.

I wouldn't bother.

 

I installed XP Pro over a freshly preinstalled Home just for the sake of it some time ago, but if I had been using Home for a while already I wouldn't have bothered. I doubt I've even used any of the Pro-only functions.

the short answer... Nope.

 

longer... depends what you want to do. pro allows greater freedom in regards to networking (domains) and file access (pretty sure home doesnt let you look at system files no matter what you say or do). most users probably wouldnt even notice a difference.

 

Heh :\ I'm pretty sure you can just click "Show Files" or turn off the features that causes it to make you do that :S. I'm using XP Home on my laptop, I've never had any trouble getting at the system files :S.

I'm not sure, but I don't think that's what they mean by system files. You might be thinking of program files... not the same thing.

I can get at any file I want on Home, even in the WINDOWS folder. (although it does complain the first time you try)

hmmm... maybe i was thinking of sharing files, there was something about file permissions we couldnt do when my teacher was showing us the difference. something like, you can share a folder but you can use any of the different option they allow in pro... dont really remember.

 

anyway... you probably wont notice the difference.

hmmm... maybe i was thinking of sharing files' date=' there was something about file permissions we couldnt do when my teacher was showing us the difference. something like, you can share a folder but you can use any of the different option they allow in pro... dont really remember.

 

anyway... you probably wont notice the difference.[/quote']

 

It lacks features to do with sharing files over a network and limiting which files can be shared etc...

Is XP Prof more spec demanding?

 

So for example if you have a slow machine (ie. maybe ecoli's laptop is) then would XP prof run slower than XP Home???

 

If not then you may as well upgrade, there are a few small features here and there that can be useful. Mainly, as said, in the networking region. But if it's going to slow down your laptop and you're not going to use the extra features don't bother.

I'm not sure, but I don't think that's what they mean by system files. You might be thinking of program files... not the same thing.

 

...no... I was referring to system files, ie C:\WINDOWS\??? (system32 etc).