We propose an all orders beta function for ordinary Yang-Mills theories with or without fermions inspired by the Novikov-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov beta function of N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories. The beta function allows us to bound the conformal window. When restricting to one adjoint Weyl fermion we show how the proposed beta function matches the one of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The running of the pure Yang-Mills coupling is computed and the deviation from the two loop result is presented. We then compare the deviation with the one obtained from lattice data also with respect to the two loop running.

17 pages and 3 figures. References Added