Windows 10 Pro

With Windows 10 Pro, you've got a great business partner. It has all the features of Windows 10 Home, plus important business functionality for encryption, remote log-in, creating virtual machines, and more. Get fast start-ups, a familiar yet expanded Start menu, and great new ways to get stuff done, plus innovative features like an all-new browser built for online action and Cortana, the more personal digital assistant.

Windows 10 Home vs Windows 10 Pro

What do you get with Windows 10 Pro

The Pro edition of Windows 10, in addition to all of Home edition's features, offers sophisticated connectivity and privacy tools such as Domain Join, Group Policy Management, Bitlocker, Enterprise Mode Internet Explorer (EMIE), Assigned Access 8.1, Remote Desktop, Client Hyper-V, and Direct Access.

Assigned Access 8.1, for instance, allows you to lock user accounts and prevent them from accessing specific apps. BitLocker, on the other hand, is one of the most powerful disk-encryption tools on Windows. It lets you encrypt your external USB-drives. You also get tools that facilitate seamless connectivity while joining Azure Active Directory, and a Business Store for Windows 10.

BitLocker

BitLocker is encryption software which allows security-conscious users to fully secure their drives from potential hackers. In Windows 10 Pro Microsoft has made some fine adjustments to the service.

‘With BitLocker,’ explains Joe Belfiore, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Operating Systems Group, ‘the end user faces an all or nothing decision for the entire drive to be encrypted, and it doesn’t provide very much flexibility in the way files move around. We’re solving those problems.’

The new iteration of BitLocker allows users to encrypt individual files and keep them alongside unencrypted ones.  Plus they can now be used in the same way on USB sticks, improving the way in which files can be shared between those with the proper clearance to read them.

Remote Desktop Connection

Both Windows 10 Home and Pro can start Remote Desktop Connection sessions, but only PCs running Windows 10 Pro can be remotely controlled. Windows 10 Home machines can only be assisted remotely, and this is mainly for an expert to show a home user how to change settings, for example.

Windows Update for Business

In Windows 10 Pro you get the option to defer updates, but this option doesn't really exist in Home. Microsoft forces patches and updates to Home machines automatically. You can stop them for a few hours, but that's it.

It's designed to prevent buggy updates from affecting business PCs, and updates can be put off for several months.

Hyper-V

Virtualisation is another benefit of Windows 10 Pro, although few will want to use it. It's like having a built-in VirtualBox, although you'll still have to install Hyper-V on Windows 10 Pro manually. You'll also need to have a CPU which supports virtualisation.

Business features

Group Policy Management and access to the Windows 10 Business Store are other features reserved for Windows 10 Pro. Microsoft also lists the ability to join Azure Active Directory, with a single sign-on to cloud hosted apps.

Only Windows 10 Pro support joining (or creating) a domain, which allows PCs to be added to a corporate network. With Windows 10 Home, you can't do this and you're pushed to use a Microsoft account rather than a local user account.

Assigned Access lets a sysadmin restrict a Windows tablet to run only a certain app (a very specific benefit which will apply to only a few).

Windows 10 Pro offers a lot more than what we mentioned here. More information about the product can be found at microsoft.com. Buy it today!