Windows 10 is Microsoft latest operating system for personal computers, superseding Windows 8, 7 and and XP to name a few.

Your operating system is the environment in which you operate in. One way to look at it is, your operating system is the Earth and your programs are the cities.

Your programs sit in your operating system.

Windows 10 Home vs Pro

For most people, Windows 10 home will be good enough by itself and probably comes with enough features to make most people happy – it also probably come pre-installed on a new PC or Laptop.

Windows 10 comes in many different versions, from Home to Pro and Enterprise, Education etc.

You might not want or need the extra benefits Windows 10 brings, but if you choose to upgrade which costs $99 you will enjoy such features as Active Directory, Remote Desktop, and Windows Defender Device Guard and BitLocker etc.

All these features can increase security, speed and improve of existing features.

Active Directory – Gives your computer the ability to join a domain which does a lot of different things from syncing all your data, enforcing policies on your computer and network, accessing software etc.

If you have every used a school or office network and logged onto one computer and all your files have followed you, and then logged off that computer and onto another and all your files are there, its probably because your computer is on a domain using active directory.

Remote Desktop – This allows you to set your computer up kind of like a server, which you can access your desktop from anywhere as if you were sitting directly behind it using it.

Bitlocker – Bitlocker is a security feature created by Microsoft for some of its operating systems which allows you to basically lock up your whole volume.

If someone takes your hard drive out of your computer and put it another another machine they can still not access your data without knowing and entering your encryption password.

Upgrading to Window 10 Pro for free

When you buy Windows 10 Home, your computer actually has all the Windows 10 Pro features built into it. However, all these features are locked until you pay the $99 (works more of an unlock type feature, rather than an upgrade).

But if you wanted to upgrade to Windows Pro for free there is away.

If you have an older computer lying around, or your the one you are using now which has a Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate Key, this also include Windows 8 and 8.1 Pro, you can use that same key again to get a free upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro.