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Most Popular. New Releases. Desktop Enhancements. Networking Software. Trending from CNET. Visit Site. Premium Upgrade. This time around, I decided that producing a monster feature table is the wrong way to present this information. I start with a master list of features common to all editions, followed by high-level feature lists that describe the unique features added with each upgrade level.
With Windows 7, Microsoft has actually put together a basic feature set that makes sense across the board with a consistent upgrade strategy to move between versions based on your requirements and your budget. Every edition of Windows 7 contains all features of the previous edition, eliminating artificial divisions between consumer and business features. That makes the Anytime Upgrade strategy very clean and easy. One caution in reading this post: Microsoft has already made at least one major change from the Windows 7 RC, dropping the three-app limit from Windows Starter.
Windows 7 offers a fairly broad set of features across the board, with a lineup that is far more consistent than in Windows Vista or Windows XP. This page contains a list of features you can count on being able to use in every edition. Windows 7 Starter and Home Basic. Windows 7 Home Premium. This is the entry-level edition for most consumers. It has the full Aero interface, Windows Media Center, and a few interesting surprises depending on your hardware. Windows 7 Professional.
After a brief name change to Business edition in the Vista era, the preferred upgrade for businesses and enthusiasts returns to its roots, name-wise. The feature set is long and interesting, with the ability to run a Remote Desktop server, encrypt files, make network folders available offline, and join a Windows domain. Oh, and did I mention a licensed virtual copy of Windows XP for those one or two pesky legacy apps?
Two different names for essentially the same product. Enterprise edition is the same product, packaged separately for volume license customers who buy the Software Assurance program; they also get access for an additional license fee to the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. Next: Which features are in every edition?
The Windows Search components are also shared with all editions. A handful of shell enhancements are found in all editions: Aero Snap move a window to the edge of the screen to resize it automatically , jump lists, and Desktop Gadgets are in every edition. The Aero interface—with its live taskbar previews, glass effects, and Flip3D—are missing from Starter edition. Home Basic uses the weird Windows Standard interface, which contains some Aero features taskbar previews but lacks the glass effects.
Touch support is available only in the premium editions. Included applications: Internet Explorer 8 is, of course, in every Windows 7 edition. Note to the European Union: it can also be removed from every edition. Surprisingly, the Windows Fax and Scan utility, previously available only in business editions, is now a consistent part of Windows 7, as is the high-end PowerShell scripting engine for administrators. The significantly less annoying update to User Account Control works the same in Starter as it does in Ultimate.
Two huge changes in this category show that Microsoft really was listening to its critics: The Backup program provides full functionality in every edition, allowing you to create a system image and do file backups to an external hard drive or rewritable media in Vista, system image backups were possible only in Business edition. In addition, the Previous Versions feature now works in all editions.
This feature allows you to recover earlier versions of a file from automatic system restore points Apple has a similar feature, slicker but less powerful, in Time Machine. Oh, and you can make a System Repair Disc any time with any edition.
Networking: There are no apparent differences between editions in terms of the number of permitted SMB network connections; in practical terms, up to 10 PCs or devices can connect simultaneously to a Windows 7 client machine. There are also minor differences in how different editions enable the new HomeGroup feature and major differences in domain connectivity. Next: Has Starter edition gotten a bad rap? User interface: Windows 7 Starter offers the Windows 7 Basic interface only.
Starter edition also offers only the barest menu of personalization features. In the RC builds, for example, there is no user-accessible way to change the desktop background or system sounds. On my test notebook with 3GB of RAM, after I allowed the system to run for a period of time and chug through any scheduled tasks, it used MB of memory at idle. The noteworthy omission is lack of DVD support. As I noted in the introduction, the biggest change Microsoft has announced since it made the RC publicly available is the removal of the three-application limit for Starter edition.
So killing that restriction is a smart decision. The most striking difference is the lack of personalization options for some UI elements. Windows Vista Home Basic was the entry-level edition in the lineup for customers in the U. Sorry, folks: Windows 7 Home Basic is available only in so-called emerging markets, at prices that make sense in those markets but would be insanely low if converted to US dollars, yen, or euros. Assuming it follows the Vista Starter edition rules , it will not be available in the U.
The user interface takes some explaining. With a name like Windows 7 Home Basic, you would expect it to use the Windows Basic interface, just like Starter edition. It uses the Windows 7 Standard interface, which is not available in any other edition.
It is distinctly more feature-rich than Starter edition, offering Windows Mobility Center and some personalization features, like the option to change the desktop background. It does permit Fast User Switching, but it specifically lacks many of the signature features of Windows 7 Home Premium, such as support for multitouch and Tablet PC hardware.
Just be sure to set your expectations accordingly. Next: What's new in Home Premium edition? That feature is unavailable in Starter edition. It also allows you to connect to multiple monitors and includes Windows Mobility Center, a central location for managing power, display, network, and other settings on a notebook PC.
User interface: You get the full Aero interface, including themes, glass borders, taskbar previews, Aero Peek, Flip 3D, Aero Shake, and desktop slide shows. Personalization features include a Control Panel for changing desktop backgrounds, window colors, and sound schemes; this same interface allows you to save these settings as a theme for reuse on the same PC or a theme pack which can be shared with other computers.
Digital media: This category is where the premium features really kick in. This is also the first edition in the Windows 7 family that allows you to stream media from Windows Media Player to other PCs or devices over a local network or over the Internet. Interestingly, this edition does include some well-hidden advanced networking features, including a full copy of Internet Information Services and Internet Connection Sharing.
As you might guess from the name, the unique new features in Windows 7 Professional are aimed mostly at small businesses and, to a lesser extent, enterprises. Advanced networking: If your network is built around a Windows domain, you need Professional edition or higher. This is the least expensive Windows 7 edition that can join a domain.
This edition also includes the capability to allow Remote Desktop access to your computer from the network. By right-clicking a file or a folder on a network server and clicking Always Available Offline, you tell Windows to add that file or folder to your local cache, synchronize it when necessary, and index the cached files locally.
The upshot is that your files are available even when your computer is disconnected from the network. For a more detailed look at Offline Files, see this post. The other advanced feature found only in this edition is support for Encrypting File System, which enables strong encryption of files on NTFS-formatted volumes. Backup to network: The Windows Backup program offers the same set of features in all editions. Professional edition adds the option to store backed-up files and system images to a network location instead of limiting you to local hard drives and removable media.
This option has some limitations, though. The most notable one is that only a single system image can be stored on a network location. If you create a new system image, it replaces the old one. System images stored locally on an external USB hard drive, for example are much better for this task, because they can store multiple incremental images, allowing you to store as many backups as the hard drive will hold.
It has some strict and confusing hardware requirements , and in operation can be a little confusing. Presentation tools: If you live and die by PowerPoint, two features in this edition will be of interest to you. The other is Presentation mode, an option in Windows Mobility Center that automatically kicks in when you connect to a projector and shuts down your instant messaging program, disables your screen saver, and suppresses system messages—all of the interruptions that professional presenters dread the most.
For businesses with domain networks, this is the only edition really worth considering. Enthusiasts will probably also find it attractive, if only for the Remote Desktop host capability.
The real target for this edition is enterprise customers, who get the same edition under a different name.
