What makes windows 7 ultimate special

It's the main version for most people, for home PCs and laptops. But ask yourself these questions: do you also take your laptop to the office? Do you need to run legacy read: old and obscure applications? Do you want automatic file backups built into Windows? If the answer to these question is yes, you should buy Windows 7 Professional. It contains all the features of Home Premium, but adds support for Domain Joining, which you may need to log on to your office's corporate network; Windows XP Mode, which makes old software that's incompatible with Windows 7 run as if it was running on XP; and Microsoft's Backup and Restore Centre, which is an integrated file and folder backup utility for automated backup of important files.

Essentially, it's for any computer that will spend half its life at your home, and the other half at the office.

If you're just the average consumer with a new PC, these are the two editions to decide between. But there are four others out there. Let's clear up what they're all about. There are a couple of versions you'll likely never even see on shelves: Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Enterprise. Most people needn't worry about these. Home Basic is a stripped-down edition to be sold in developing markets, such as China, Brazil and Thailand, where Microsoft can charge less in order to tackle rampant piracy.

It lacks perks such as Windows Media Centre and multi-touch navigation. It won't be sold on shelves in the UK, and you needn't be confused by its existence. Hope that clarifies. When I did this exercise for Windows Vista more than three years ago, I created tables to highlight the differences between editions. 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. Yes No. Thank you! Any more feedback? The more you tell us the more we can help.

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