Windows Home XP or Professional

[Magic 1]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Professional rather than Home

[tomd]

A google search ('xp pro vs home') provides a lot of information on this subject - the most straightforwarrd being on the Microsoft site, here.

[stevie21]

The difference is mostly in networking and IIS - not something the average user needs to worry about.

[vehelpfulguy]

If you are ONLY ever going to use the PC at home and not do anything complex with it then Home should be fine.

If you are going to use your PC at home, but connect to your computer site at work for example, or run any high-end business software, then I would go for Professional.

[david small]

as stated above xp home fine for home use. xp pro fine for networking, about 300 meg of unneed files go onto your computer with pro