Lowest overhead, cheapest security for the average/beginner user with entry level PC/laptop

Amelith Nargothrond

Level 12
Thread author
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 22, 2017
587
While I agree that beginners don't need the features of Pro right from the very beginning, i will not reconsider. I have 3 main reasons for this, which i will detail below.

There are two main types of beginner users i dealt with over the course of many years:
  1. the beginner user who will stay beginner his entire life
  2. the beginner user who will evolve (up to a point anyway)
Both of these users will end up using pro features, one indirectly and one directly.

And the reasons:
  • The first one will almost always end up getting help, it's just normal. The professional offering that help will almost always end up configuring something by group policy (for example), to restrict or enforce something. It's difficult to do this with the Home (though for many things there are workarounds, but not for everything), so much more easier with the Pro. Like more control over updates, which annoys the home user and i had to deal with a lot lately.
  • The second one will occasionally end up using more advanced features, like Remote Desktop, group policy / apps that use group policy, or the more evolved, Client Hyper-V
  • But what they really both should do, especially beginners, is to learn to use BitLocker and BitLocker To Go. It is worth mentioning those times beginners use their usb flash drives to store confidential data (theirs or others'), common practice among them; and then they loose the drives, and then they panic, and then disaster. The times were Mac or Linux do not support BitLocker are gone (although some basic knowledge is required), compatibility is not a real issue anymore.

I think at the end of the day it's up to the user's choice, what he feels he needs or will need. But me, personally, will not recommend the beginner the buy the Home. I can't really know which beginner user will end up in which category, but i know from what i saw for many years, online or on-premise, is that the Pro is somehow helping both category of beginner users. But most importantly, BitLocker helps them and the others around them to stay protected.

So if anybody asks me, for sure my answer will be: go with the Pro.
 

_CyberGhosT_

Level 53
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Aug 2, 2015
4,286
i suggest them to donate some $$$ to get the paid version of Binisoft Windows Firewall Control
BiniSoft's WFC is a very smart and solid investment. I agree Umbra ;)
 

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