Linux is a viable option, but most prefer Windows because it runs all their favorite software, including the latest games. Installing a copy of Windows 11 or 10 for a built-from-scratch computer can be costly — if you do what Microsoft wants.

This Windows tax is profoundly unfair to PC builders, because large OEMs such as Dell and Lenovo pay much lower licensing fees to put Windows on prebuilt systems though these costs are not made public. Why you can trust Tom’s Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. No matter how or whether you pay for it, you can download Windows 10 opens in new tab or download Windows 11 opens in new tab for free from Microsoft.

And, in fact, you should only download it microsoft office 2013-19 simple method free Microsoft, as grabbing it from any other site or from a P2P network could give you malware. Microsoft offers a free media creation tool, which grabs the latest code from the Internet and then burns itself to a USB Flash drive or outputs a Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO file you can write to a drive yourself.

Once that’s done, you can boot from your installation media and start the process. During installation, Microsoft asks you to enter a Windows 10 or 11 product key. If you are still on Windows 7 or 8, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. If you have an old, retail non-OEM copy of Windows 7, 8 or 10 you are no longer using on another PC, you can likely use the product key when you do a fresh install of Windows on your new PC.

However, you must first make sure it’s deactivated on the old PC it came from. See our article on how to transfer a Windows 10 or 11 license to a new PC for step-by-step information on how to retrieve and move your key. The process of transferring a Windows license varies, depending upon whether you have digital or non-digital license.

With a the former, you’ll need to log into your Microsoft account to deactivate the old PC. And with the по ссылке, you’ll want to use a command windows 10 home pro vs free download command to terminate the activation. Note that windows 10 home pro vs free download the product key comes from a prebuilt computer that came from the factory with Windows on it, it has an Windows 10 home pro vs free download key that may not work on a different new PC. Feel free to try it, though, because if it works you have Windows 10 or 11 for free.

The good news is that you only have two serious disadvantages from not activating Windows 10 or However, if you are using a Microsoft account that syncs with another computer on which you have custom wallpaper, that wallpaper will windows 10 home pro vs free download on your unactivated Windows. But come on; does anyone actually do that?

Other than those inconveniences, windows 10 home pro vs free download Windows should work just fine and receive automatic updates too. You can see if your school is eligible and download your free Windows 11 key here opens in new tab.

You might be able to get them for less with a Kinguin discount code though. These are all OEM keys and likely can’t be used on another computer after you windows 10 home pro vs free download them on the first one.

We recommend paying a little extra to get a key that has “online activation,” which means that it windows 10 home pro vs free download activate automatically over the Internet. Keys that aren’t marked for “online activation” may force you to call Microsoft, wait on hold and ask a phone representative for help activating.

The representative may even ask for your Microsoft страница, which is not great for your privacy. Now, let’s address the elephant in the room. While we can’t vouch for all of them, websites selling cheap Windows 10 or 11 keys are likely offering legitimate codes. Kinguin has more than three dozen merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. It’s just another marketplace. We’ve bought keys from Kinguin windows 10 home pro vs free download few times.

So we tried calling the number and waited on hold for a few minutes. We thought activating via phone would be an automated process where we just punched in the key and got an approval code, but instead we got a live representative who immediately asked for our Microsoft account ID. Another time, we paid a few dollars more for an online activation key. Lo and behold, it activated as soon as we entered the code, with no phone call required.

Are you likely to be ripped off? However, both sites play host to a number of third-party sellers whose product keys may or may not be legit.

The easiest but most expensive way to get Windows is to buy your key directly from Microsoft. You can get these either as downloads or on USB drives. If you have an old Windows key you can carry over from a previous build, that’s your best option and effectively gives you Windows 10 or Windows 11 for free. If you don’t have a key on hand, you need to decide whether you’re comfortable using an unactivated version of Windows 10 or 11, which limits your customization options, has an ugly watermark and leaves you ineligible for Microsoft support.

Many would argue that downloading Windows without paying for or already owning a product key is ethically wrong. That said, Microsoft has made this process easier over various Windows iterations and lessened the limitations and nagging that happens when you don’t activate. We’ve even seen well-known vendors and Microsoft partners do press presentations with watermarks on their desktop.

If you need to buy a Windows 10 or Windows 11 key, you can save a lot with a low-cost seller such as Kinguin opens in new tab. Get instant access to windows 10 home pro vs free download news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. US Edition. Swipe to scroll horizontally.

Be In the Know Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. Avram Piltch. Avram Piltch is Tom’s Hardware’s editor-in-chief. When he’s not playing with the latest gadgets at work or putting on VR helmets at trade shows, you’ll find him rooting his phone, taking apart his PC or coding plugins.

With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram developed many real-world benchmarks, including our laptop battery test. Topics Software. See all comments Нажмите чтобы прочитать больше bought a key on ebay and it turned out to be a VL key volume.

Which works but shouldn’t be sold. I contacted the seller and he refunded me. Very good breakdown of the ways to activate Windows Most people don’t even realize you can still use a windows 7 key to activate, only after you get into windows, and not during the setup process. I believe this will probably stop working Jan 1,when Windows 10 home pro vs free download stops support for windows 7.

One thing that I was hoping for some explanation on key activations, I have seen how some Youtuber’s have tied their windows 10 keys to their Microsoft account. Then they only need a handfull of keys, like one for each motherboard vendor, and during setup, then sign into their Microsoft account, and select страница key that corresponds to the motherboard their are reviewing.

So they can move the keys around, and as long as it was the same brand of motherboard it would activate for that computer, and no longer be active on the old system. Any thoughts on how this works? Any limitations on how many moves, is this method valid for years so you would never have to buy another key if you stayed with one particular favorite motherboard vendor?

On the forums, we see MANY tales of woe concerning aftermarket, читать далее, or otherwise dicey Windows keys. Of course, using an old version’s key essentially amounts to a free upgrade, which once upon a time was often provided by software vendors, so if you can use that method, great.

Any attempt to connect to www. Sorry, not getting my business. Thanks for this article. I’ve been struggling with the idea of buying another copy of Windows 10 for my media machine. It’s a PC built from old parts and is currently running Linux. Has anyone had a good experience 10 no reconoce auriculares jack this? Wait a sec TH is legitimizing kinquin?

While they might activate today there is no guarantee they will activate a month from now or whenever you decide to reinstall windows from scratch.

This article windows 10 home pro vs free download causing multiple conniptions among the Moderation team. There are very good reasons why, по ссылке tolerated from a couple of well-known sources like Kinguin, none of us ever encourage people to obtain keys this way.

It isn’t illegal, so we don’t sanction for it, but like I said, the tales of woe are too numerous to go unnoticed.

At windows 10 home pro vs free download the article makes no mention of “activators,” which in most cases windows 10 home pro vs free download /49721.txt outright piracy, not to mention the viruses and malware with which they are often laden.

Discussions of those are not allowed and are deleted, and sometimes offenders knuckles get rapped with a hammer.

Yes, doing this definitely constitutes a “Do at your own risk”. If money is tight, run Win 10 unlicensed, until you can a get known legit key from someone like Newegg. Microsoft allows this, so it is perfectly fine to so, and you don’t have to risk losing your hard earned cash. Windows 10 Home Online Activation. Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access; Free.

Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access; Equivalent to Windows 10 Enterprise; Free. Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access. Access to all personalization options; Microsoft support access; Refunds. Desktop watermark; Personalization options restricted; Can’t use Microsoft support.

You have to be enrolled in an eligible school. There’s a chance your key won’t work, and you’ll need to get customer service.

 
 

 

Compare Windows 10 Home vs Pro | Microsoft Windows

 

Microsoft offers Windows 10 in two versions: Home and Professional. It’s easy to understand on a conceptual level what this means. Pro is for people to use at work, and Home is for personal machines. But what’s the real difference? Let’s take a look at Windows 10 Home vs. Windows 10 Pro. Knowing your needs for an operating system helps in your decision between Windows 10 Home versus Windows 10 Pro.

If you’re a home user, Windows 10 Home will take care of your computing needs. If you need complex features, such as a network domain or the ability to manage group policies on several computers such as a small office , Windows 10 Pro has these advanced features to make management easy and centralized.

If your networking needs are less complicated or you have a single computer, Windows 10 Home should be sufficient for an operating system. If you’re on a budget, the lower price should help. The bottom line is Windows 10 Pro offers more than its Windows Home counterpart, which is why it’s more expensive.

There’s nothing Windows 10 Home can do that Pro can’t. These operating systems are largely the same. The difference is based on whether the license you activate is for Home or Pro. You may have done this before, either when installing Windows, or setting up a new PC for the first time. During the setup, you reach a point in the process where you enter a character Product ID license key. Based on that key, Windows makes a set of features available in the OS.

The features average users need are present in Home. Pro offers more features, but this refers to the built-in functions of Windows, and many of these functions are tools used only by system administrators. The question is, what are these additional features in the Pro version, and do you need these features?

In addition to the user account management features, Windows 10 Pro includes Bitlocker, a Microsoft encryption utility. It can secure either the disk with the OS for example, the C: drive or removable media like thumb drives. While there are other disk encryption tools available, Bitlocker integrates with your company’s infrastructure, meaning your admin can secure your machine without you having to worry about it. Windows Fundamentals includes some features that have been present in Windows for some time, going back to when it was originally separated into Pro and Home versions.

The below examples of these have been bumped up to become Pro version upgrades or features that Home users can’t use until they upgrade to Pro. Some Windows 10 Pro advantages won’t be as important to the personal computing enthusiast. Nonetheless, it’s worth knowing some of the business-focused functions you’d pay for if you upgraded to Pro:. You’ll need to choose between Home and Pro when you buy a computer, or when you buy a copy of Windows in a store or online.

Take a moment to give it some thought before you make your purchase, for two reasons:. If you buy Windows 10 Pro, but later realize you only need Windows 10 Home, buy a license for Home and activate it on the machine with Pro. This will leave you with an unused Pro license. If you plan to use the machine for business purposes at some point, or if you’re not concerned about cost, go with Windows 10 Pro. However, if you don’t believe you need the enterprise features of Pro, your best bet is to get Windows 10 Home.

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List of Partners vendors. Aaron Peters. Twitter LinkedIn. Updated on May 07, Michael Barton Heine Jr. Lifewire Tech Review Board Member. Article reviewed on Sep 20, Tweet Share Email. In This Article. Overall Findings. Pro Has More Features. Pro Has Extra Security. Home Doesn’t Have Windows Fundamentals. Pro Has Management and Deployment Features. Windows 10 Home. Need a laptop to use with Windows 10? Check out Walmart’s best laptops. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know!

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Windows 10 Home vs. Windows 10 Pro

 
 
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