Different editions of Windows 7

Having already a mind to upgrade to Windows 7 gives birth to a new confusion. There are different editions of Windows 7 among which it’s somewhat difficult for a not-so-techno-smart user to choose the best one for him or her only.

Windows 7 comes up with six different categories – Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. But to choose the most suitable edition may seem a bit intimidating to you. Basically, you have to choose from three Windows 7 editions. Why? Let’s have a look.

First thing is first. Let’s sort out the odd-ones for your PC.

o The Starter Edition is only for less powerful machines like your netbook. It will not be available in retail stores because it is an integrated feature for upcoming netbooks.

o On the other hand, Windows 7 Home Premium will only be sold in the developing countries like India, China, Philippines etc.

o The Enterprise Edition is for business houses that opt for volume licensing.
Now your options are down to as many as three only. They are – Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate. To help you come to a decision before finally buying up one, here are some handy tips. Let’s explore the varied features of different editions.

Windows 7 Home Premium

o Windows 7 Home Premium is especially designed for home consumers with a pleasant Aero Glass consumer interface. This edition includes Windows Media Center which will facilitate you to play an extensive variety of multimedia formats and there is an inbuilt DVD creator for burning files and other tasks.

o Windows 7 Home Premium includes a backup efficacy that is capable to create full-system images (everything on your system gets a replica of itself). This feature is extremely useful tom retrieve your most-needed files or folders.

o Windows Virtual PC supports all versions of Windows 7. With Virtual PC support, you can run other operating systems also if you intend to do so. The Home Premium, however, supports up to 2 physical processors and 16 gigabytes of RAM.


Windows 7 Professional

o Windows 7 professional consists of all the features of Home Premium and some additional advanced features also. As for example, the Location Aware Printing feature enables you to choose different default printers for different networks.

o The offline files feature of this edition accumulates the network files to your local drive so that your networking never stops. The innate Windows Backup tool can backup all your data.

o The edition features remote desktop that facilitates others to get connected to your computer across the internet. The most interesting feature of Windows 7 is XP mode by which you can anytime switch over to the interface of either edition.


Windows 7 Ultimate

o This edition includes all the characteristics of Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional and also offers some exclusive features. This edition allows you to use multiple lingoes on the same machine.

o The enterprise-based features comprise coalesce Search, Direct Access, Branch Cache and a system that enables you to run UNIX applications on Windows 7.

o With Windows 7 Ultimate, you are facilitated to boot from a virtual hard drive and the new feature Bitlocker-to-go permits you to encrypt files on your PC over and above removable disks like an USB flash drive.