Chapter 3: Which Version?
In This Chapter
The various versions of Windows 8.1
Narrowing your choices
32-bit or 64-bit?
If you haven’t yet bought a copy of Windows, you can save yourself some headaches and more than a few bucks by buying the right version the first time. And, if you’re struggling with the 32-bit versus 64-bit debate, illumination — and possibly some help — is at hand. It’s hard to keep track of all the various versions without a scorecard. That’s where this chapter comes in.
Although Windows 8.1 comes in many versions, you likely need to be concerned about only three — and one of them isn’t really Windows. At least, it doesn’t run Windows programs.
Microsoft used to have a simple, small set of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units — what you and I would call versions) for Windows. For example, Windows XP shipped with two versions: Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional. XP Professional included features that were needed to use XP in a company, on a large corporate network.
Then the proverbial hit the fan, and within two years, there was Windows XP Starter Edition, Media Center Edition, and Tablet PC Edition — which were all available only pre-installed on new systems. In theory. XP Professional was also released in two 64-bit versions, one for Itanium and one for Itanium 2, which worked on alternate Tuesdays. Then there was the XP Professional x64 Edition . . . you get the idea. Vista didn’t make things any clearer, and Windows 7 followed in Vista’s dirty footsteps.
With Windows 8.1, everyone’s been hoping that Microsoft would finally reduce the complexity and just bring, well, uh, Windows 8.1.
It didn’t quite work out that way — in spite of what the salespeople will tell you.
Roll an 8 — Any 8
Windows 8.1 appears in five — count ’em, five — different versions. Three of those versions are available in 32-bit and 64-bit incarnations. That makes eight different versions of Windows to choose from. And if you want Windows Media Center, you only have two choices, and it’ll cost you more.
Fortunately, most people need to concern themselves with only three versions, and you can probably quickly winnow the list to one. Contemplating the 32-bit conundrum may exercise a few extra gray cells, but with a little help, you can probably figure it out easily.
In a nutshell, the five Windows versions (and targeted customer bases) look like this:
Windows 8.1 for Emerging Markets, which probably won’t concern you if you’re reading this in English. Tailored for specific countries and available only in specific languages, this is the version Microsoft will use to try to increase Windows sales in places where people just don’t buy Windows. They borrow it. Permanently.
Windows RT, quite possibly the worst name Microsoft has ever given any product, isn’t really Windows because it won’t run old-fashioned Windows programs and it doesn’t have a real Windows 7–style desktop. Windows RT is Microsoft’s iPad-wannabe, built on a completely new kind of computer, commonly called ARM. It contains the tiled interface, five customized Office-like apps (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote), File Explorer, and Internet Explorer on an ersatz desktop.
Windows 8.1 All-In-One For Dummies doesn’t cover Windows RT. The ARM version of Windows is a very different beast from the more traditional versions of Windows 8.1.
Windows 8.1 — the version you probably want — works great unless you specifically need one of the features in Windows 8.1 Pro. A big bonus for many of you: This version makes all the myriad Windows languages — 96 of them, from Afrikaans to Yoruba — available to anyone with a normal, everyday copy of Windows, at no extra cost.
Windows 8.1 Pro includes everything in Windows 8.1 plus the ability to attach the computer to a corporate domain network; the Encrypting File System and BitLocker (see the “Encrypting File System and BitLocker” sidebar, later in this chapter) for scrambling your hard drive’s data; Hyper-V for running virtual machines; and the software necessary for your computer to act as a Remote Desktop host — the “puppet” in an RD session.
You also need Windows 8.1 Pro if you want to run Windows Media Center, which is an extra-cost add-on. Not many people run WMC any more, with the Xbox filling in and extending the missing feature set. Take my advice. Get a Roku or a Chromecast — or Apple’s iTV.
An added bonus: If you want to buy Windows on Microsoft hardware, the Microsoft Surface computers come with Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows RT (but not Windows 8.1 itself). Surface computers are capable, junk-free, innovative — and pricey.
Windows 8.1 Enterprise is available only to companies that buy into Microsoft’s Software Assurance program — the (expensive) volume licensing plan that buys licenses to every modern Windows version. Enterprise offers a handful of additional features, but they don’t matter unless you’re going to buy a handful of licenses or more.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 both had “Ultimate” versions, which included absolutely everything. Win8.1 doesn’t work that way. If you want the whole enchilada, you have to pay for volume licensing and the Software Assurance program. And then you have to buy Windows Media Center.
Before you tear your hair out trying to determine whether you bought the right version, or which edition you should buy your great-aunt Ethel, rest assured that choosing the right version is much simpler than it first appears. Flip to “Narrowing the choices,” later in this chapter. If you’re considering buying a cheap version now and maybe upgrading later, I suggest that you first read “Buying the right version the first time” before you make up your mind.
Buying the right version the first time
What if you aim too low? What if you buy Windows 8.1 and decide later that you really want Windows 8.1 Professional? Be of good cheer. Switching versions ain’t as tough as you think.
Microsoft chose the feature sets assigned to each Windows version with one specific goal in mind: Maximize Microsoft profits. That’s why you find plenty of upgrade routes and plenty of opportunity to spend more money in the Add Features to Windows program (see Figure 3-1).
All it takes is a credit card and a Microsoft Account to upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Pro, or to add Windows Media Center to Win8.1 Pro. No, you can’t downgrade and get a refund. Bonus points for thinking about it, though.
Figure 3-1: Add Features to Windows 8.1, ready to take your shekels at any time, 24/7.
Upgrading is easy and cheap, but not as cheap as buying the version you want the first time. That’s also why it’s important for your financial health to get the right version from the get-go.
Add Features to Windows 8.1 counts as pure gravy for Microsoft: Follow the upgrade steps, and Windows invites you to log on to the Internet, hand over your credit card number, and upgrade on the spot. You don’t get a new box or a new CD. All you get is a new product key and a walk-through that installs the new version from media that’s already in your possession. It’s pure profit for the folks in Redmond. Smart.
Narrowing the choices
You can dismiss three Windows versions out of hand:
Windows for Emerging Markets probably isn’t even available where you live.
Windows RT 2 may be a good choice if you aren’t the least bit interested in running older Windows programs, and you can live in a very touch-centric universe, with versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote that are very different from the versions you use now. Windows RT is only available pre-installed on new computers.
Windows 8.1 Enterprise is only an option if you want to pay through the nose for five or more Windows licenses, through the Software Assurance program. Microsoft may change its mind — either lower the price for small bunches of licenses and/or make the Enterprise version available to individuals — but as of this writing, Enterprise is out of the picture for most of you.
That leaves you with plain vanilla Windows 8.1, unless you have a crying need to do one of the following:
Connect to a corporate network. If your company doesn’t give you a copy of Windows 8.1 Enterprise, you need to spend the extra bucks and buy Windows 8.1 Pro.
Run Windows Media Center. Not many people use Media Center to control their TVs anymore; the Xbox has become far more popular, and other options — Roku, Chromecast, iTV — are both cheaper and more comprehensive. But if you have a lot invested in your older Media Center, you may want to pay for it in Windows 8.1. Only Win8.1 Pro will run Media Center.
Play the role of the puppet — the host — in a Remote Desktop interaction. If you’re stuck with Remote Desktop, you have to buy Windows 8.1 Pro.
Note that you can use Remote Assistance, any time, on any Windows PC, any version. (See Book VII, Chapter 2.) This Win8.1 Pro restriction is specifically for Remote Desktop, which is commonly used inside companies, but not used that frequently in the real world.
Many businesspeople find that LogMeIn, a free alternative to Remote Desktop, does everything they need and that Remote Desktop amounts to overkill. LogMeIn lets you access and control your home or office PC from any place that has an Internet connection. Take a look at its website, www.logmein.com.
Provide added security to protect your data from prying eyes or to keep your notebook’s data safe even if it’s stolen. Start by determining whether you need Encrypting File System (EFS), BitLocker, or both (see the later sidebar “Encrypting File System and BitLocker”). Win8.1 Pro has EFS and BitLocker — with BitLocker To Go tossed in for a bit o’ lagniappe.
Run Hyper-V. Some people can benefit from running virtual machines inside Windows 8.1. If you absolutely have to get an old Windows XP program to cooperate, for example, running Hyper-V with a licensed copy of Windows XP may be the best choice. For most people, VMs are an interesting toy, but not much more.
Windows 8.1 Pro is also an excellent choice if you’re sold on the Microsoft Surface tablets. At least as of this writing, Microsoft only offers its own tablets in Windows RT and Windows 8.1 Pro versions.
In addition, you need Windows 8.1 Pro if you want to do an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate, but in-place upgrades have their own quirks. See Book I, Chapter 4 for details.
Choosing 32-Bit versus 64-Bit
If you’ve settled on, oh, Windows 8.1 as your operating system of choice, you aren’t off the hook yet. You need to decide whether you want the 32-bit flavor or the 64-bit flavor of Windows 8.1. (Similarly, Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise are available in a 32-bit model and a 64-bit model.)
Although the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows look and act the same on the surface, down in the bowels of Windows, they work quite differently. Which should you get? The question no doubt seems a bit esoteric, but just about every new PC nowadays uses the 64-bit version of Windows for good reasons:
Performance: The 32-bit flavor of Windows — the flavor that everyone was using a few years ago and many use now — has a limit on the amount of memory that Windows can use. Give or take a nip here and a tuck there, 32-bit Windows machines can see, at most, 3.4 or 3.5 gigabytes (GB) of memory. You can stick 4GB of memory into your computer, but in the 32-bit world, anything beyond 3.5GB is simply out of reach. It just sits there, unused.
The 64-bit flavor of Windows opens your computer’s memory, so Windows can see and use more than 4GB — much more, in fact. Whether you need access to all that additional memory is debatable at this point. Five years from now, chances are pretty good that 3.5GB will start to feel a bit constraining.
Although lots of technical mumbo jumbo is involved, the simple fact is that programs are getting too big, and Windows as we know it is running out of room. Although Windows can fake it by shuffling data on and off your hard drive, doing so slows your computer significantly.
Security: Security is one more good reason for running a 64-bit flavor of Windows. Microsoft enforced strict security constraints on drivers that support hardware in 64-bit machines — constraints that just couldn’t be enforced in the older, more lax (and more compatible!) 32-bit environment.
And that leads to the primary problem with 64-bit Windows: drivers. Many, many people have older hardware that simply doesn’t work in any 64-bit flavor of Windows. Their hardware isn’t supported. Hardware manufacturers sometimes decide that it isn’t worth the money to build a solid 64-bit savvy driver, to make the old hardware work with the new operating system. You, as a customer, get the short end of the stick.
Application programs are a different story altogether. The 64-bit version of Office 2010 is notorious for causing all sorts of headaches: You’re better off running 32-bit Office 2010, even on a 64-bit system (yes, 32-bit programs run just fine on a 64-bit system, by and large). Some programs can’t take advantage of the 64-bit breathing room. So all is not sweetness and light. Office 2013, on the other hand, does just fine in 32-bit or 64-bit incarnations.
Now that you know the pros and cons, you have one more thing to take into consideration: What does your PC support? To run 64-bit Windows, your computer must support 64-bit operations. If you bought your computer any time after 2005 or so, you're fine — virtually all the PCs sold since then can handle 64-bit. But if you have an older PC, here's an easy way to see whether your current computer can handle 64 bits: Go to Steve Gibson's SecurAble site, at www.grc.com/securable.htm. Follow the instructions to download and run the SecurAble program. If your computer can handle 64-bit operations, SecurAble tells you.
If you have older hardware — printers, scanners, USB modems, and the like — that you want to use with your Windows computer, do yourself a favor and stick with 32-bit Windows. It’s unlikely that you’ll start feeling the constraints of 32 bits until your current PC is long past its prime. On the other hand, if you’re starting with completely new hardware — or hardware that you bought in the past three or four years — and you plan to run your current PC for a long, long time, 64-bit Windows makes a lot of sense. You may end up cursing me when an obscure driver goes bump in the night. But in the long run, you’ll be better prepared for the future.