Windows XP Professional Versus Windows XP Home Policy Statement

The two versions of Windows XP are basically the same operating system, however Windows XP Home has fewer features than Windows XP Professional.

We recommend Windows XP Professional for Faculty and Staff who access the University network.  There are several reasons for this recommendation:

-         A computer running Windows XP Home cannot log into a domain.  Domain resources such as software or printers will not be accessible.

-         Windows XP Home expects each user to be an Administrator.  Therefore, on a shared computer, it is impossible to guarantee the confidentiality of any data on that shared machine.

-         The default installation of Windows XP Home does not include the Microsoft Backup Program.  It must be installed manually.

-         Windows XP Home does not have Automatic System Recovery (ASR) which can be used to restore your system if there is a problem with your System Files, or Registry settings with no loss of data.

Our desktop support personnel have been using XP Professional for a number of months and have attended training sessions to provide them with a solid knowledge base in this operating system.

We understand that there are new computers sold on the market that are pre-configured with XP Home and there are some students on campus already using that version.  While we are not aware of any issues that would preclude students from using XP Home, our desktop support personnel have not been trained in that version, nor do we have any machines in the IT Center running XP Home.

If you are considering the purchase of a new machine, we recommend you consider the Professional version.  For a small difference in price ($100), you will be purchasing a robust operating system, and one that we feel confident we will be able to support right here on campus.