Windows 7 32-bit vs 64-bit

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Bikerza

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I have both versions installed and was wondering what the difference between these 2 product are besides the 32/64-bit coding.

I have noticed om my 32-bit version the network connections icon looks like a little square computer screen with a cable of sorts on the left side. This is however the same icon used on my laptop (64-bit) for connecting to my power outlet. The network connection on my 64-bit version looks more like the bar-type signal strength indicator on a cell phone.
Just curious.
 
There is not much difference i think but for the 2 main reasons i use 64 bit:

Not many virus's on a 64 bit OS
Can see 4 gb of memory and beyond.
 
viruses are program based mostly and are typically bothered much whether its on a x64 or x32 machine. and since windows has such excellent features such as compatibility with 32 bit applications built in i would not bet much on that as virus protection.

mostly the differences are limited to the drivers ( which must be written for 64bit) and the amount of memory that can be addressed. it also provides a performance boost on applications that process a a lot of data if they are written for 64 bit.
 
the 64 bit can use more ram. can load apps slightly faster, even 32 bit apps! I'm liking mine big time!
 
To infect a 64 bit windows OS though you need a 64 bit capable virus, just because 64 bit can run 32 bit does not mean 32 bit virus's will infect a 64 bit OS in my opinion.
 
A 64 bit OS will indeed load apps faster than a 32 bit, but only if those apps are written in 32 bit. If a 64 bit OS needs to run a 32 bit application, it runs it using a 32 bit emulator called WOW64 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64 - so in fact, there will be a performance loss running 32 bit apps on a 64 bit OS. Don't take my word for it though, run 3dmark, for example, on your 64 bit OS then on a 32 bit OS (I did this booting off my second HDD). The 32 bit OS will score higher than the 64 bit one. If however, you have an application that is written in 64 bit, then yes, it will be faster.
 
People still run it 32-bit? Damn, thats soo..hmm... Dark ages? :)
 
hammell said:
A 64 bit OS will indeed load apps faster than a 32 bit, but only if those apps are written in 32 bit. If a 64 bit OS needs to run a 32 bit application, it runs it using a 32 bit emulator called WOW64 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64 - so in fact, there will be a performance loss running 32 bit apps on a 64 bit OS. Don't take my word for it though, run 3dmark, for example, on your 64 bit OS then on a 32 bit OS (I did this booting off my second HDD). The 32 bit OS will score higher than the 64 bit one. If however, you have an application that is written in 64 bit, then yes, it will be faster.
Click to expand...

You'd never notice a 32-bit performance decrease using WOW64 in the real world (assuming you're using a rig which actually "needs" 64-bit, i.e. 4GB of RAM or more etc). 3DMark is superfluous.
 
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