These are both key features in Windows that consumers never think about, but they are essential for IT pros managing Windows machines. Domain Join will allow IT admins using Windows 8 Pro to access Active Directory, where they can set PC management and security policies through the Group Policy feature. Using Active Directory, IT pros can verify passwords and specify whether users are system administrators or normal users.

Client Hyper-V

is a virtualization technology that allows users to create virtual machines. With Windows 8 Pro, it will be available in a client version of Windows for the first time. The Hyper-V technology was previously only available in Windows Server editions.

Windows 7 Enterprise, Professional and Ultimate versions use a similar virtualization feature called Windows XP Mode, which allows users to run older XP-only applications on Windows 7 through a Microsoft virtual machine.

However, Client Hyper-V is a much more powerful virtualization tool than XP Mode and should serve Windows 8 Pro well.