Windows7 32bit vs 64bit

[Mitre]

Hi all im after some advice i am one of the few left running xp on my desktop and was thinking of upgrading to win7
whats the advantage of 64bit over32bit if any im not really a power user what one is best to go for and i understand both will wipe my programs so i will have to reinstall
any advice would be welcome

[suggsy89]

Windows 7 64-bit allows you to use more than 3gb of ram. So upgrading the ram aswell as your OS will give you a performance boost.

Make sure your CPU is 64-bit compatible before making the leap if you do.

[Trashcooky]

I agree there is little point installing 32 bit windows if you are going to buy a new copy of Win 7. If you are like me and have many programs that are XP oriented then why not consider doing a dual boot with XP and Win 7 both on the same drive like I have, although my copy of Win 7 is only 32 bit.

If you do want to dual boot then you do need to partition your hard drive first, so you need a decent sized drive to start with.
Provided your CPU is 64 bit compatible - you can find out here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... de-advisor then I am sure you won't regret going 64 bit Win 7.
Of course if you don't need XP at all then you can go for the Win 7 upgrade disk and save yourself about £40 but if you want to consider dual booting then you will need the full (clean install) disk not the upgrade one.

Win 7 can run a lot of older programs in compatibility mode but there are exceptions even with programs released by Microsoft. When I went Win 7 I lost access to a lot of my older games that I like and this is why I chose to dual boot so I can still use them when I want to. Microsoft have promised support for XP (SP3) until April 8th 2014.

The creation of the dual booting process is fairly simple, especially if your hard drive is already suitably partitioned into 2 or more appropriately sized useable areas. You must however, either already have Win XP installed, or if you are upgrading your hard-drive as well, then you must install Win XP before installing Win 7. If this appeals to you and you want more detail about how easy it is then PM me.

[Mitre]

Thanks guys will look into rhe cpu compatabilty but I didn't realise most of the older software won't work
I have a CAD program that I wouldn't want to lose and I have recently purchased office pro 2010 32bit if I go the upgrade route (32bit)would my turbocad15 still run
Ps I only have 2gb ram
Sent from my M701C using Tapatalk

[Trashcooky]

Thanks guys will look into rhe cpu compatabilty but I didn't realise most of the older software won't work
I have a CAD program that I wouldn't want to lose and I have recently purchased office pro 2010 32bit if I go the upgrade route (32bit)would my turbocad15 still run
Ps I only have 2gb ram
Sent from my M701C using Tapatalk

Its not a question of most software won't work as most of it probably will all-be-it in compatability mode but there are some that wont. Check your software here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compat ... fault.aspx If you can't find it listed then it may not work. If you have a program that MS knows doesn't work with Win 7 and you enter it for compatibility using the link above then MS wil tell you so.

Post your PC specs and some of us can tell you which might be the best way for you to go with your upgrade. There is a great little program that will tell you a lot about your PC and its free (don't you just love that?)
http://www.piriform.com/speccy/download
Post what it finds and that will help understand what your basis is to work from - you can build a half-decent PC nowadays for as little as £150.00 if you shop around.