How do I tell which version of Windows XP I have?

The easiest way is to press the [Windows] key and the [Pause Break] keys together (roughly the bottom left and top right keys on the keyboard).

Or, if you don’t have a Windows Key, you can go into Control Panel and open the System Control Panel.

Alternatively, you can right click on the My Computer icon, either on the Desktop or in the start menu and click properties.

Doing one of these things will open the “System Properties” page which will tell you a lot of things about your computer including what Version of Windows you are running. Windows XP comes in two main Editions, Home and Professional, though Media Centre is another one that crops up occasionally. The service pack level is also listed, and will hopefully read “Service Pack 3″ as at October 2008. If it reads something else, you probably should run Windows Update

How do I tell which version of Windows Vista I have?

Again, the easiest way is to press the [Windows] key and the [Pause Break] keys together, or, you can go to the Start Menu, click on Control Panel and open the “System” Control Panel, or right click on the Computer icon, either on the Desktop or in the Start menu and click properties.

Again you will see the “System” page which will allow you to view basic information about your computer.

Vista comes in a range of editions from Home Basic, Home Premium, Business to Ultimate Edition. I’ll review the differences in a follow up post.

Again, the service pack level is listed, and will hopefully read “Service Pack 1″ as at October 2008. (with Service Pack 2 due towards the end of 2008 or early 2009) If it reads something else, you probably should run Windows Update

Tags: Vista, Windows, XP

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Blog, Customer Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.