How to Disable Internet Explorer

<h1 class="title" style="margin:0px 0px 12px;padding:0px 42px 0px 0px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(177,194,211);clear:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-color:rgb(253,253,253)"> <font face="Myriad Pro, Myriad Web Pro Regular, Lucida Grande, Geneva, Trebuchet MS, sans-serif" style="font-size:27px;line-height:34.984375px">W</font><font style="font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:x-small;line-height:20px;font-style:italic">hy keep Internet Explorer when you use another browser. It's just a security risk</font><font style="font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.833em;line-height:20px">.</font><br> </h1><div id="content-content" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:537.59375px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:20px;background-color:rgb(253,253,253)"><div id="node-70" class="node odd full-node node-type-article" style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px"> <div class="content" style="margin:0px;padding:20px 0px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(177,194,211)"><hr style="height:1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgb(177,194,211)"><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font><font>There's no doubt that Internet Explorer has been a prime target of attack for spyware merchants and other ill-intentioned goons. That's why many folks have turned to alternate browsers for their web surfing.</font></font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If you are using another browser and don't use Internet Explorer anymore, there's a case to be made that you should remove it from your system. It is, after all, a potential security threat so, if you don't need it, why not get rid of it?</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Except, getting rid of IE is not that easy. In fact, with later versions of Windows there's no satisfactory way of removing it completely without risking crippling Windows itself.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">That hasn't stopped folks from trying to remove IE, however, and you can find several techniques documented on various web sites. Instead of removing IE I favor the simple and safer approach of disabling it. Sure, it may not provide the same degree of security as complete removal but that's a small price to pay compared to the cost of potentially de-stabilizing Windows.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">There are several disabling techniques but I suggest the method below as it's simple, easy to reverse and doesn't interfere with the operation of the Windows Update service. Furthermore it should work with any modern version of IE.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><b>Step 1.</b> From IE select Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">  </p><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><font><b>Step 2.</b> Put a tick in the check box next to "Use a Proxy Server for your LAN ...”</font></div><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font><b>Step 3</b>. Type in "0.0.0.0" in the address box and "80" in the Port box. Don't type in the quote marks of course, just what's inside them.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font><b>Step 4</b>. Click OK.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">What you've done is set up a dummy proxy server 0.0.0.0 that goes nowhere. With these setting IE cannot make an HTML connection to the internet and vice versa. You have simply and effectively disabled IE.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">There's no magic in the 0.0.0.0 address, any dead proxy address would work just as well. I've used that particular address to keep things simple.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If you ever need to re-enable Internet Explorer start it up and select Tools/Internet Options/Connections/LAN Settings from the toolbar and un-check the box "Use a Proxy Server for your LAN ...”</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font>If you really want to remove IE more completely then you can check out these resources but, as I said, I don't recommend it.</font></p></div> </div></div>

How to Disable Internet Explorer

W hy keep Internet Explorer when you use another browser. It's just a security risk . There's no doubt that Internet Explore...

Read more »

How to Hide a Windows Folder

<div id="content-content" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:537.59375px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:20px;background-color:rgb(253,253,253)"><div id="node-136" class="node odd full-node node-type-article" style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px"> <div class="content" style="margin:0px;padding:20px 0px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(177,194,211)"><div class="g-plusone-wrapper" style="padding:0px;float:right"><div id="___plusone_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;background-color:transparent;border-style:none;float:none;line-height:normal;font-size:1px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;width:38px;height:24px"> <span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:1.5">Folder hiding is a simple way of keeping prying eyes away from your private documents.</span></div></div><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font style="font-size:10pt">From a human point of view it's a good solution; what you can't see, you don't know you want.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Encrypting a folder can have the opposite effect. The folder is visible and if access is attempted, the need to enter a password positively shouts the message that someone is trying to hide something.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">This probably explains why there are so many commercial utilities that claim they can securely hide folders.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">I use the word "claim" deliberately. It's actually quite difficult to securely hide a folder in Windows without risking creating problems in the operating system itself.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">And there can be all sorts of practical problems. For example, what happens to the hidden folder when you delete a visible folder above it in the folder tree? Will the hidden folder be backed up? Will it be scanned by your AV program? Can the files in the folder be recovered in an emergency such as a system crash?</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">These are not theoretical problems; they are real and need to be seriously considered.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font style="font-size:10pt">I've used a number of commercial folder hiding programs over the years and have ended up un-installing them all. They were simply not worth the trouble.</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font style="font-size:10pt">Instead of using complicated and expensive security utilities, I suggest you stealth your folders using a far simpler method using the Windows "hidden" attribute. And once you have hidden your folders you can then protect them using free open source encryption programs.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">The Windows hidden attribute works similarly to the more familiar "read only" attribute. It's a property of every file and folder that can be turned on or off. Let's try it.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Create a folder in My Documents and call it "test." Now copy a couple of unimportant files to the folder.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">To turn on the hidden attribute right click on the folder icon, select Properties, then the General Tab and check the Hidden box.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">The folder should disappear from My Documents. If it doesn't then you have Windows Explorer configured to display hidden files.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">To change this, select Tools / Folder options / View then check the "Do not show hidden files and folders" box. Now the test folder should disappear. To make it re-appear select the "Show hidden files and folders" option.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">So now you have a way of hiding a folder and revealing it again using your folder settings. Now I'll show you a simple trick that allows you access your hidden folder without constantly changing the folder settings. However, before I can demonstrate this we have to make the folder hidden but the files within it not-hidden.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Go to My Documents and make sure your folder "test" is visible. Open "test" and select all the files by using Control A. Now right click anywhere on the selected files and select Properties / General and uncheck the Hidden attribute. Now your folder is hidden but the files are not.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Go back to My Documents and hide the folder by changing the folder settings. Your test folder should disappear from My Documents.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Now here's the trick. Windows allows you to navigate to a hidden folder. So while in the My Documents folder, type into the address bar "\test" immediately after "My Documents" with no spaces between and hit enter.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Voila you are now in your secret "test" folder and all your documents are visible!</font></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <font style="font-size:10pt">Of course locating your private folder in My Documents is not a great idea as it will be immediately revealed should another user enable the display of hidden files. Better to stash your folder in some obscure location well away from prying eyes but easy to navigate to. Additionally, name the folder to be as uninteresting as possible.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Hiding your folder like this is fine if you only want to keep information from prying eyes but if you really want to properly protect your hidden folder you should encrypt it.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Luckily that's easy; simply use the free open source program AxCrypt:<br><a href="http://axcrypt.axantum.com/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px">http://axcrypt.axantum.com/</a></font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Using AxCrypt is dead simple so I won't explain how. AxCrypt is also near-unbreakable so make sure you don't forget your password. If you do, your data is lost forever.</font></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><font style="font-size:10pt">Using this technique you can hide and protect your folders without spending a cent and, unlike commercial folder hiding utilities, this technique is not going to potentially create a whole set of other problems.</font></p> </div></div></div>

How to Hide a Windows Folder

Folder hiding is a simple way of keeping prying eyes away from your private documents. From a human point of view it's a good solu...

Read more »

Best Free Torrent Search Engines

<div id="content-content" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:537.59375px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:20px;background-color:rgb(253,253,253)"><div id="node-498" class="node odd full-node node-type-article" style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px"> <div class="content" style="margin:0px;padding:20px 0px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(177,194,211)"><h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205)"> <u><strong>Introduction</strong></u></h2><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Used properly, bittorrent is one of the safest ways to transfer content.  The torrent file contains metadata (<a href="http://www.secure-hash-algorithm-md5-sha-1.co.uk/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">hash</a>) about the files to be shared and the bittorrent client checks content received against this metadata.  If there is any difference, the content received will be discarded.  This means that malware cannot be added to a torrent after it is active and that any data that is damaged in transmission will be discarded and re-downloaded.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">This article is part of a series of articles on bittorrent here at Gizmo's Freeware.  If you are not familiar with bittorrent, then before using this article you should read this:</p> <ul style="margin:6px 0px 12px;padding:0px"><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> <strong><a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/how-to-torrent" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">How To Use Torrents</a></strong></li></ul><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> This article is about finding the content you want.  There is a great deal of content available in bittorrent.  Over 25 PetaBytes of content is available in over 20 million active torrents.  These sites will help you narrow the results from all those torrents to find the clean, real and healthy (bittorrent-wise) torrent for the content you are looking for.</p> <h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205)"><u><strong>Public vs Private Torrent Search Sites</strong></u></h2> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">This article lists public torrent search sites, which do not require registration.  There are many private torrent search sites and it would be impossible to fairly rank them here as one would have to be a member to fully evaluate.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Many people prefer private torrent sites for the privacy (only members active on torrent), clean torrents and speed (ratio enforcement ensures a well seeded torrent).   The downside is that there are rules and regulations and sometimes overzealous administrators. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If you are interested in a private site take a look at<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/privatetorrentsites/home/getting-in-to-private-torrent-sites" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>Getting In To Private Torrent Sites</strong></a>.</p> <h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205)"><u><strong>Scam Links, Toolbars and Ads</strong></u></h2><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Unfortunately, even the best public torrent search sites have ads, scam links and toolbar downloads.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong>I strongly suggest that you use a web browser that has ad blocking capability as that will make all the ads, toolbar download and scam links disappear.</strong></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">I use<strong><a href="http://www.mozilla.org/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"> Firefox</a></strong> with the <strong><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">AdBlockPlus</a></strong>  and<strong><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus-pop-up-addon/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">AddBlockPlus PopUp</a></strong> add ons and most all scams, fake downloads and ads were invisible.   Another popular option is <strong><a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-web-browser.htm#Google-Chrome" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Chrome</a></strong> with the <strong><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">AdBlock For Chrome </a></strong>extension.  My check of Chrome with the  AdBlock addon  was that it removed ads and scam links as effectively as Firefox with its ad blocking addon.  Other browsers may have a similar feature and may be more to your liking.  There is an excellent review of the <strong><a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-web-browser.htm" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Best Free Web Browser </a></strong>here at Gizmo's Freeware.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong><u>SCAM LINKS</u></strong> Many bittorrent search sites, and some of these, have advertisers that offer "High Speed download" "Trusted Download" "Direct Download"  "Sponsored Links" or similar terms.   These should all be avoided.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><u><strong>TOOLBAR DOWNLOADS</strong></u>  Some sites deceptively put a "Download" button near the "Download Torrent" button.  Many times I have seen a new bittorrent user end up with a toolbar instead of the torrent. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><u><strong>ADS</strong></u> Some torrent search sites have a large number of ads through the pages.  Many of these are ads for questionable site and all ads should be avoided.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong>Again, if you use a web browser that has ad blocking capability, all the ads, toolbar download and scam links disappear.</strong> <strong> See <a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-web-browser.htm" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Best Free Web Browser </a>here at Gizmo's Freeware.</strong></p> <h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205);line-height:30.21875px">Torrent Search Site Features</h2><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Your goal in a public torrent search is to find a clean, real and healthy torrent for the content you want.   Google will return the most results for your search, but has no tools to narrow the search towards your goal.   It is important for a torrent search site to have a large index of torrents, but the value of these torrent search sites are the tools they have to achieve this goal.  This goal is achieved through three features:</p> <ul style="margin:6px 0px 12px;padding:0px"><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> <u><strong>Comments and Ratings</strong></u> - The first step is finding the torrent that has the clean and real content you want.  Some of these sites have torrents that have been "verified" to be clean and real.  Others have a rating system that achieves the same result.  Comments also help in this.  The rating system and comments need to have high user interaction at the site.  The "verified" rating uses a variety of confirming techniques.  Comments may also be helpful in determining the quality of the download.</li> <li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> <strong><u>Search Filters</u></strong> - Features such as Categories and versions can help to filter the results closer to the one torrent you are seeking.</li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> <u><strong>Sorting</strong></u> - The ability to sort the results of a search is used primarily to find the healthiest torrent.   On occasion sorting may be needed to filter the results to exactly what you want.  Using age, name or size sort may help in this regard.</li> </ul><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">I have added information on those sites that offer<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_URI_scheme" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">magnet links</a> as this will appeal to some users.  Sites with a <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12"> offer the alternative of a magnet link. (Thanks to Max for this suggestion).</p> <h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205);line-height:30.21875px">Torrent Search Site Listings:  General and Unique</h2> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">This listing is divided into two parts.  The General listing is of the sites that index all varieties of content.  They have large listings and will be the sites that most of you will use most of the time.  The sites listed in the General listing are also among the most popular torrent search sites.  The Unique sites are less popular and have smaller indexes, but have unique features that make them worth using in certain searches.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">I am not going to consider or discuss the scams and ads much.  If you have read the above, you will be using an ad blocker at these sites and will not see these.</p> <h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205);line-height:30.21875px">General Torrent Search Sites</h2><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> These sites are among the most popular torrent search sites and offer large indexes of torrents and helpful features to verify, filter and sort among search results.  Any one of these sites will serve your goal of finding a clean, real and healthy torrent for the content you want.<br> Since these are public torrent sites and, for the most part, allow anyone to upload, fakes can make their way into the listings.   It is important to use comments and ratings to avoid these fakes. </p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <a href="http://www.kat.ph/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong><img alt="Gizmo-top-pick" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/pc_freeware/free_online_books/gizmos-best-small.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; width: 47px; height: 52px; margin-left: 4px; margin-right: 4px; float: left;" title="Gizmo's Top Pick"></strong></a><a href="http://kickass.to/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>KAT</strong></a> <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12">  (https)  <strong><a href="http://katproxy.com/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">KATProxy</a></strong>  <strong><a href="http://kat.ph.proxy.piratenpartij.nl/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">KAT Pirate Proxy</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://come.in/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Come In</a></strong> is the top pick here at Gizmo's due to its large index of torrents and verified torrents as well as the comment, filter and sort features that they offer.   They index over 9 million torrents, including over 1 million verified torrents.  Tabs on the torrent page allow viewing of the files, trackers and comments.  KAT offers many features to help in your search, they are responsive to user feature requests and are always improving. </p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings: </em>Large listing of verified torrents.  Advanced search may be used to list only verified torrents.  Comments are very well used and are helpful in verifying as well as quality.  Number of comments and verified "crown" shown in search results.<br> Results may be filtered by categories and for videos further filtering is available by version.  Sort by size, date (age), files (number of), seeds and leeches.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <a href="https://torrentz.eu/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>Torrentz</strong></a> (<a href="http://68.71.55.20/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">68.71.55.20)</a> is another comprehensive search engine that lists over 14.5 million torrents and has almost 3 million  torrents that have been<a href="http://www.torrentz.com/search?q=" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">verified</a> to be clean.  Torrentz also has the nice feature of listing all trackers for a torrent, not just the ones embedded in the torrent file, though this is not that important in torrents now.  One drawback is that they do not host the torrent files and one must go to other sites for the download.  Be careful with the sites you choose to go to.  Try to go to first to sites that are listed here.  Their large verfied listing is an attraction.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings:</em>  are well used.  Users can verify a torrent to be clean and real or tag it as fake, virus, password or low quality.  Large listing of verified torrents and results may be filtered to show verified only.<br> Torrents may be sorted by relevance, date created, size or number of  peers (seeds and peers/leeches combined).  No category filters.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><a href="http://bitsnoop.com/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>BitSnoop</strong></a> <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12"> (<a href="http://46.19.137.82/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">46.19.137.82</a>)This is a metasearch site that indexes over 17.8 million torrents from 369 trackers.  Although they do not list a number that I could find, they appear to have a large listing of verified torrents. This site is extremely fast at returning search results.   They also have a TV Finder which lists all shows alphabetically with links to all torrents for each show.  Their filter and sort features are not as good as the above, but they do have their followers.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings</em>: They have a good number of verified torrents.  They have a "no fakes" filter for search results.  Comments are not widely used.<br> Filtering by category is decent and they have the no fakes filter.  Sort by age, seeders, name, size and rating+health.  Their TV finder is useful.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <strong><a href="http://www.torlock.com/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Torlock </a></strong> advertises that all the torrents there are verified to be clean and real.  Their listing now has over 500,000 verified torrents. A negative is the lack of comments or ratings for the quality of the content.  However, for newer users, this is a good site to start your searches to ensure a clean download.  <u>Caution:</u>  Only click on the word "torrent" on the download page.  The other links are scams.  Also do not choose a "sponsored" result. Thanks to<em>freestuffrocks</em> for this site.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings</em>:  General ratings are not necessary as all torrents are verified to be clean and real.  Comments are not generally used.  No ratings as to quality.<br> Filtering by category is available on a search.  Sorting by name, size, date uploaded, seeds and peers are available after a search.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><a href="http://thepiratebay.ac/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>ThePirateBay</strong></a> <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12">  (<a href="http://194.71.107.80/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">194.71.107.27</a>) <strong><a href="http://proxybay.info/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">ProxyBay.Info</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://come.in/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Come In</a></strong> is probably the most well known torrent search site.  They list about 3.7 million torrents.  TPB has an excellent filtering system and clean torrents can be found quickly in the search results by looking for a skull image next to the torrent.  The one drawback now is that they are switching to magnet links only and given the issues that some of the bittorrent clients have with magnet links, this is a negative.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings:  </em>PirateBay has a comments and ratings system.  They are fairly well used.  I find the comments often deteriorate into "please seed" requests, but for many torrents they are useful.  Their best feature is the use of <a href="http://forum.suprbay.org/showthread.php?tid=24415" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">colored skulls</a> to show the uploader's status.  Basically any skull for an uploader is a good sign.<em> </em><br> Excellent filtering by categories, using Other allows very detailed filters.  Sort  by type (category), name, date uploaded, size, seeds and leeches (peers) and by uploader.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> <strong><a href="http://h33t.to/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">h33t </a></strong> <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12">   after some down time, this popular site is back.  It indexes over 5 million torrents and monitors the torrents that are uploaded through their site.  As long as you stick to the torrents that are h33t uploads, you are pretty safe.  The site looked to be ad free when I disabled ABP, but on one occasion I did get a couple popups and there is a scam download link.  All in all, it is pretty clean, but I would suggest keeping ABP enabled.  There is a lot of content uploaded through the site, so you do not need to go to the other torrents listed.  The link here is to a search for h33t only content.  There is a good amount of information and screenshots provided by the site on each upload.  Thanks to<em>Philphil </em>for this suggestion.  Even though the site is just back up, there looks to be a lot of activity.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings</em>:  The h33t uploaded torrents are <strong><a href="http://fr33sp33k.h33t.com/index.php?topic=2078.msg9669#msg9669" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">checked out by staff there</a></strong>.  Other torrents are not moderated and need to be checked for comments..  Comments are not generally used.  No ratings as to quality.<br> Filtering by category is available on a search.  Sorting by name, size, date uploaded, seeds and peers are available after a search.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong><a href="http://www.torrents.to/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Torrents.to</a></strong> is a search site that culls results from a large number of torrent search sites.  Nice feature is that you can choose the sites to include in the search (this is saved in the site cookie for future use).  The results show the pages at the sites and the sites can be togggled up top.  Not my personal preference for viewing results as I prefer to see all the results at once, but this type does appeal to some users.  As usual, caution needs to be taken at the sites from which results are shown.  Thanks to<em>Nero</em>  for this site.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings:  </em>Not applicable as results are strictly from the sites chosen, where there may be comments/rating, filtering and sorting available, but there is none here.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong><a href="http://extratorrent.cc/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">ExtraTorrent </a></strong>  <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12"> (<a href="http://195.144.21.228/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">195.144.21.228</a>)has 1.5 million torrent in its listing.  It is not the largest listing, but they seem to have many of releases and no duplicates.  A good number of the torrents I checked were from a trusted or verified uploader.  Unfortunately, this is not shown  in the search results.  This site has gained popularity with a number of users on the web and is a good source.  Avoid the "Direct download" link.  As noted by<em>ChaosReigns</em> there is a good amount of information put up with each video, including screenshots, which is helpful in determining video quality.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><em>Comments and Ratings:</em>  Comments are very well used here.  Many of the torrents are uploaded by verified or trusted uploader, but this is not shown in the search results, you hhave to look on the torrent page.<br> Filtering by category is available, but is pretty basic.  Sorting by size, seeds,leeches and number of comments is available only to VIP members.</p><h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205);line-height:30.21875px"> Unique Torrent Search Sites</h2><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">These sites cater to special niche interests and stand out for their attention to that niche and their clean offerings.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><a href="https://eztv.it/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>EZTV  </strong></a>(<a href="http://185.19.104.80/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">85.19.104.80</a>) is the site for all things television.  It is the biggest and past and easiest to use for TV offerings.  In addition to torrents they have a <a href="https://eztv.it/countdown/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">countdown list</a> as to when shows are to return to original broadcasts, a <a href="https://eztv.it/showlist/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">show list</a> indicating the status of a TV show (ended; pending; airing etc.), <a href="https://eztv.it/tvnews/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">TV news</a> and a <a href="https://eztv.it/calendar/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">calendar </a>of shows being broadcast.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><a href="http://coda.fm/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>Coda.fm</strong></a> (<a href="http://107.20.145.230/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">107.20.145.230</a>)is a music albums bittorrent site.  There is a good deal of information on the artists and albums.  All listings are verified to be clean and real.  If you are looking for a public, music only, bittorrent site, then this is the place to look.  It is an ad free site.  The amount of listings is still quite small, being in the thousands.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><a href="http://take.fm/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>Take.fm</strong></a> is the sister site to Coda.fm, specializing in movies.  It is similar to Coda in layout and all of its listings are also verified to be clean and real.  At this time there appears to be just shy of 2000 listings.  Hopefully the site listings will grow as time goes by as a clean movie search site is needed in bittorrent.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong><a href="http://torrentbutler.eu/home" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">Torrent Butler</a></strong>  <img alt="magnet-link-icon" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/icon-magnet.gif" style="border-width: 0px;" width="12">   <img alt="" height="12" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/pc_freeware/free_online_books/srk-new.jpg" style="border-width: 0px;" width="31"> this site was only carrying movie torrents, but recently added <strong><a href="http://torrentbutler.eu/tv" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">TV Shows</a></strong>.  There are a lot of verified torrents/magnets listed for each listing.  The verified torrents/magnets are indicated by a green checkmark next to the download link.   Each movie comes with a video trailer and information on the movie.  Movies are sortable by genre.  The TV shows are sortable by genre and all episodes available are included under each show's listing.  Again there is a a trailer for each show and information.  Be sure to have AdBlockPlus installed as there are a couple scam links that are not visible with ABP.  Nice site give the layout and large amount of verified torrents.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><a href="http://yts.re/browse-movie" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank"><strong>YTS (f/k/a YIFY Torrents) </strong></a>This is the site of a release group that has an excellent reputation for quality rips with small file size.  All torrents are those of the release group.  All the releases here should be clean and real.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><strong><a href="http://www.nyaa.eu/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">NyaaTorrents</a></strong> is the site to check out for Anime.  The torrent links in blue are A+ in quality, meaning they are the best copy available.  The torrent links in green are from trusted uploaders. Thanks to<em>Capcapper</em> for this site.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">All of these sites have received a green rating from<a href="http://www.mywot.com/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank">WOT (Web Of Trust)</a> and only sites with a green rating from WOT will be listed here.</p> </div></div></div>

Best Free Torrent Search Engines

Introduction Used properly, bittorrent is one of the safest ways to transfer content.  The torrent file contains metadata ( hash ) about...

Read more »

32-bit and 64-bit explained

<div id="content-content" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:537.59375px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:20px;background-color:rgb(253,253,253)"><div id="node-703" class="node odd full-node node-type-article" style="margin:0px 0px 30px;padding:0px"> <div class="content" style="margin:0px;padding:20px 0px;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(177,194,211)"><div class="g-plusone-wrapper" style="padding:0px;float:right"><div id="___plusone_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;background-color:transparent;border-style:none;float:none;line-height:normal;font-size:1px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;width:38px;height:24px"> <span style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Will this 32-bit software run on my 64-bit operating system? or</span></div></div><p class="rteindent1" style="margin:0px 0px 10px 40px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Will this 64-bit software run on my computer?</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If you've asked these questions then this tutorial should help you to understand the concepts of 32-bit and 64-bit computing. We'll look at your computer system as three parts: the hardware, the operating system and the application programs. At the end we'll look at <a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/32-bit-and-64-bit-explained.htm#Common-Questions-Systems" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="Get answers to common questions about 32- and 64-bit systems">some of the common questions people have</a>.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">32-bit versus 64-bit</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">As the number of bits increases there are two important benefits.</p> <ul style="margin:6px 0px 12px;padding:0px"><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> More bits means that data can be processed in larger chunks which also means more accurately.</li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> More bits means our system can point to or address a larger number of locations in physical memory.</li></ul><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">32-bit systems were once desired because they could address (point to) 4 Gigabytes (GB) of memory in one go. Some modern applications require more than 4 GB of memory to complete their tasks so 64-bit systems are now becoming more attractive because they can potentially address up to 4 billion times that many locations.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Since 1995, when Windows 95 was introduced with support for 32-bit applications, most of the software and operating system code has been 32-bit compatible.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Here is the problem, while most of the software available today is 32-bit, the processors we buy are almost all 64-bit.</p><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25"> So how long will the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit systems take?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">The main issue is that your computer works from the hardware such as the processor (or CPU, as it is called), through the operating system (OS), to the highest level which is your applications. So the computer hardware is designed first, the matching operating systems are developed, and finally the applications appear.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">We can look back at the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit Windows on 32-bit processors. It took 10 years (from 1985 to 1995) to get a 32-bit operating system and even now, more than 15 years later, there are many people still using 16-bit Windows applications on older versions of Windows.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">The hardware and software vendors learnt from the previous transition, so the new operating systems have been released at the same time as the new processors. The problem this time is that there haven't been enough 64-bit applications. Ten years after the PC's first 64-bit processors, installs of 64-bit Windows are only now exceeding those of 32-bit Windows. Further evidence of this inertia is that you are probably reading this tutorial because you are looking to install your first 64-bit software.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Your computer system in three parts</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Now we'll look at those three components of your system. In simple terms they are three layers with the processor or CPU as the central or lowest layer and the application as the outermost or highest layer as shown below:</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"><img alt="Processor, OS and application hierarchy" src="http://www.techsupportalert.com/files/images/pc_freeware/64bit-software/32-bit-64-bit-explained-442-322.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; width: 442px; height: 322px; float: left; margin: 10px;"></p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">To run a 64-bit operating system you need support from the lower level: the 64-bit CPU.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> To run a 64-bit application you need support from all lower levels: the 64-bit OS and the 64-bit CPU.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">This simplification will be enough for us to look what happens when we mix the 32-bit and 64-bit parts. But if you want to understand the issue more deeply then you will also need to consider the hardware that supports the CPU and the device drivers that allow the OS and the applications to interface with the system hardware.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">What 32-bit and 64-bit combinations are compatible and will work together?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> This is where we get to the practicalities and can start answering common questions.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">The general rule is that 32-bit will run on a lower level 64-bit component but 64-bit does not run on a lower level 32-bit component:</p> <ul style="margin:6px 0px 12px;padding:0px"><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> A 32-bit OS will run on a 32-bit or 64-bit processor without any problem.</li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> A 32-bit application will run on a 32-bit or 64-bit OS without any problem.</li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> But a 64-bit application will only run on a 64-bit OS and a 64-bit OS will only run on a 64-bit processor.</li></ul><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">These two tables illustrate the same rule:</p> <table class="review-details" width="76%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin-bottom:10px;border-width:0px;width:536px"><tbody style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="5" valign="middle" width="76%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Table 1 — What is compatible if I have a 32-bit CPU?</strong></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Processor (CPU)</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>Operating System (OS)</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Application Program</strong></td> <td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td class="bordered rteright" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195);text-align:right"> </td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit application will only run on a 64-bit OS."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit OS will only run on a 64-bit CPU."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit OS will only run on a 64-bit CPU."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px"> </div><table class="review-details" width="76%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin-bottom:10px;border-width:0px;width:536px"><tbody style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="5" valign="middle" width="76%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Table 2 — What is compatible if I have a 64-bit CPU?</strong></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Processor (CPU)</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>Operating System (OS)</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Application Program</strong></td> <td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td class="bordered rteright" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195);text-align:right"> </td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit application will only run on a 64-bit OS."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> The main reason that 32-bit will always run on 64-bit is that the 64-bit components have been designed to work that way. So the newer 64-bit systems are backward-compatible with the 32-bit systems (which is the main reason most of us haven't moved to 64-bit software).</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">An example of backward compatibility is Windows 64-bit. It has software called WOW64 that provides compatibility by emulating a 32-bit system. See the article <a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-windows7-vista64-support-32bit-applications.htm" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px">How Windows 7 / Vista 64 Support 32-bit Applications</a> if you want to know more. One important point that is made in that article is that it is not possible to install a 32-bit device driver on a 64-bit operating system. This is because device drivers run in parallel to the operating system. The emulation is done at the operating system level so it is available to the higher layer, the application, but it is not available to the device driver which runs on the same level.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Hardware virtualization is the exception to the rule</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Another question many people have is whether a 32-bit system can run 64-bit software. As more people are looking to use 64-bit Windows they are wanting to try it out on their existing systems. So we are getting more questions about whether they can run it on their 32-bit processor or under their 32-bit OS.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Following the general rule, we would expect that you cannot run 64-bit software on a 32-bit system. Except that there is one exception called virtualization.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Virtualization creates a virtual system within the actual system. Virtualization can be achieved in hardware or software but it works best if the virtual machine is created in the system hardware. The guest operating system is not aware that there is a host operating system already running. This is the way that a 64-bit operating system can think that it is running on 64-bit hardware without being aware that there is a 32-bit operating system in the mix.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Tables 3 and 4 illustrate the result. Provided that the virtual machine can actually be created and isolated by the virtualizing software then the host OS is effectively removed from the equation, so I've grayed it out. We can now apply the general rules for a non-virtualized system to the three remaining layers.</p> <table class="review-details" width="76%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin-bottom:10px;border-width:0px;width:536px"><tbody style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="5" valign="middle" width="76%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Table 3 — What is compatible if I have a 32-bit CPU and software virtualization?</strong></td> </tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Processor (CPU)</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#808080"><strong>Host Operating System</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#808080">32-bit</font></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#808080">32-bit</font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#808080">32-bit</font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#808080">32-bit</font></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Guest Operating System</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>Application Program</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td class="bordered rteright" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195);text-align:right"> </td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit application will only run on a 64-bit (Guest) OS."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit (Guest) OS will only run on a 64-bit CPU."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit (Guest) OS will only run on a 64-bit CPU."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px"> </div><table class="review-details" width="76%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin-bottom:10px;border-width:0px;width:536px"><tbody style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="5" valign="middle" width="76%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Table 4 — What is compatible if I have a 64-bit CPU and software virtualization?</strong></td> </tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Processor (CPU)</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#808080"><strong>Host Operating System</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#808080">32/64-bit</font></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#808080">32/64-bit</font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#808080">32/64-bit</font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#808080">32/64-bit</font></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>Guest Operating System</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>Application Program</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">32-bit</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 64-bit</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td class="bordered rteright" width="28%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195);text-align:right"> </td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td> <td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><font color="#008000"><strong>Yes</strong></font></td><td align="center" class="bordered" width="12%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <a style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" title="because 64-bit application will only run on a 64-bit (Guest) OS."><font color="#FF0000"><strong>No</strong></font></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Before you hurry away to try running 64-bit in a virtual machine, you must check that your computer BIOS supports hardware virtualization. If it does not then hardware virtualization will not work even if the CPU does support it.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Emulation of the 64-bit CPU is not an option</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">All the feasible configurations that we have looked at so far have the processors (CPUs) running software that use the instruction set that is native to that processor. Running 64-bit software on a 32-bit processor doesn't work because the 64-bit instructions are not native to a 32-bit processor. But what if I could emulate a 64-bit processor using 32-bit software?</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">It is theoretically possible but practically impossible to emulate a 64-bit processor while running software on a 32-bit processor. Even if you can get non-native 64-bit emulation to work, the virtual machine that duplicates a 64-bit CPU would run very slowly because every 64-bit instruction has to be trapped and handled by the emulator. 64-bit memory pointers also have to be converted to work within the 32-bit address space.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Furthermore, my understanding is that the x86 (32-bit) processors used in PCs and Apple Macs are not able to completely emulate the x64 (64-bit) instruction set. Some 64-bit instructions cannot be trapped by the emulator. This causes the system to crash when the x86 processor tried to run those x64 instructions.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> </p><h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205);line-height:30.21875px"> <a name="Common-Questions-Systems" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px"></a>Answers to common questions about 32-bit and 64-bit systems</h2><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25"> Will a 64-bit CPU run a 32-bit program on a 64-bit version of an OS?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Yes it will. 64-bit systems are backward-compatible with their 32-bit counterparts.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Will a 64-bit OS run a 32-bit application on a 64-bit processor?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Yes it will. Again, this is because of backward compatibility.</p><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Can 64-bit applications contain 32-bit code?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Yes, many times 64-bit software will contain portions of 32-bit code.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Similarly 32-bit software (usually very old programs) can have some code in 16-bit which is why those 32-bit applications will usually fail to run properly on a 64-bit OS.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Can 16-bit applications or code run on 64-bit systems?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> No, as we said previously. 16-bit code will NOT run on 64-bit OS because the designers did not provide backward-compatibility. This is one reason why some 32-bit programs will not work on 64-bit operating systems.</p><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25"> Can a 64-bit CPU with a 32-bit host OS run a virtual machine (VM) for a 64-bit guest OS?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Yes. It all depends upon the level of virtualization.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">With software virtualization it is hardly likely to work, or if it does work it may be very slow.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Hardware virtualization will need to be supported by the CPU (e.g. with Intel-VT or AMD-V) and the BIOS.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> </p><h2 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px 0px 4px 4px;font-size:1.333em;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:rgb(202,203,205);line-height:30.21875px"> <a name="Common-Questions-Windows" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px"></a>Answers to common questions about 32- and 64-bit Windows</h2><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25"> Can I run Windows 2000 and Windows XP on a 64-bit CPU, and use old software?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Yes, a 32-bit OS (Windows 2000 or XP) will run on a 64-bit processor.You should also be able to run older 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">Is a Windows Vista or Windows 7 license key valid for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> Yes, unless you have an OEM version. If it was installed on your computer when you bought it and you only have one Windows disk then it is almost certainly an OEM version and you will have to buy the other bit version if you want it. If you have two disks, one for 32-bit Windows and one for 64-bit Windows, then you have a non-OEM version so you get to choose which bit version you will use without having to buy another license. See <a href="http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/is-a-windows-7-license-key-valid-for-both-32-bit/70d546cd-b6e3-44d8-a6c8-fd7feb7d1915" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to Microsoft forum">Microsoft Answers</a> for a discussion of these issues.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Remember, if you have only bought one license then, even if you have both bit versions on disk, you are only licensed to install and run one version on one computer.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">How do find out if my system is 64-bit?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Microsoft provide resources to help you find out such as <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows7/32-bit-and-64-bit-Windows-frequently-asked-questions" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to Microsoft FAQ on Windows 32 and 64">FAQ on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows</a> and<a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows7/taking-the-mystery-out-of-64-bit-windows" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to Microsoft">Taking the mystery our of 64-bit Windows</a>.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">I recommend that you look at downloading<a href="http://www.grc.com/securable.htm" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to GRC for Securable utility">SecurAble from Gibson Research Corporation (GRC)</a>which will tell you if you have a 64-bit processor with the useful features of hardware DEP and hardware virtualization.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">How do I migrate my 32-bit system to 64-bit Windows?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">There is no upgrade path from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows only from 64-bit Windows. You will almost certainly have to do a clean install of your 64-bit operating system, copy back your data files, and reinstall your 32-bit applications.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If you want to keep your old install then you can try dual booting or virtualization.</p><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25"> How do I run 32-bit software once I have installed 64-bit Windows?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Windows 7 64-bit provides a 32-bit compatibility mode called WOW32 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) that should run most if not all your applications. See <a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-windows7-vista64-support-32bit-applications.htm" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px">How Windows 64-bit supports 32-bit Applications</a>.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If you have 32-bit application you want to run from the Command Prompt then you need to use the WOW64 version of cmd.exe. At the Start Menu select Run and enter the following command. Note that the %systemroot% variable points to your Windows folder so this will work even if Windows is not installed on C: drive:</p> <pre class="rteindent1" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:40px;padding:0px">%systemroot%\SysWOW64\cmd.exe </pre><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">If your application won't run under Windows 64-bit then try XP Mode, Windows Virtual PC, or other<a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-virtualization-solutions.htm" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to Best Free Virtualization Solutions">virtualization solution</a>. Be aware that XP Mode reduces your system security and so it should be used as a last resort.</p> <h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">How can I tell if my application is 32-bit or 64-bit?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">There are a number of indicators of the bit type for your program but they are not definitive as you will see if you use guidelines like the following.</p> <ul style="margin:6px 0px 12px;padding:0px"><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> Windows installs your programs to these folders on your system drive:<ul style="margin:0px;padding:0px"><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> '\Program Files' for 64-bit programs</li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> '\Program Files (x86)' for 32-bit programs</li></ul></li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> In Task Manager, 32-bit processes will usually have a suffix of '*32' and 64-bit processes will not.</li></ul><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">The reason that these indicators cannot be relied upon relates to the way 64-bit Windows installs software. 64-bit install packages usually install 64-bit applications or a mixture of 32- and 64-bit components but can even install only 32-bit components.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">What determines where a component is installed is the registry setting for that component rather than the setting for the install package. Windows also assumes that all components are 32-bit unless told otherwise. This means that a 64-bit component not flagged as 64-bit will install to 32-bit folders and 32-bit registry keys but will execute as 64-bit.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">You can, with the necessary knowledge, find the information yourself but there are better solutions:</p><ul style="margin:6px 0px 12px;padding:0px"> <li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> Run a system information or audit tool such as Belarc Adviser. Just be aware that most of these types of applications are helpful but not definitive e.g. SIW, MSINFO.</li><li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> I recommend running the PowerShell script from<a href="http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/scripting/Auditing%2032-bit%20and%2064-bit%20Applications%20with%20PowerShell-136129" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to download a script to identify 32-bit and 64-bit applications">Auditing 32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications with PowerShell</a> which will list all installed applications and their bitness. Just remember to run the 64-bit script to get all versions as the 32-bit script will not have access to the 64-bit portions of the registry.</li> <li style="margin:2px 0px 2px 8px;padding:2px 0px 0px 20px;background-image:url(http://www.techsupportalert.com/themes/acquia_marina/images/sprite.png);list-style-type:none;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> If you want more detail about the modules used by a program then try <a href="http://www.dependencywalker.com/" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px" target="_blank" title="Go to the Dependency Walker site">Dependency Walker</a>, which is also part of Microsoft development tools such as Visual Studio and Visual C++.<br> As with other software running under 64-bit Windows you will get the best results if you run the 32- or 64-bit version of Dependency Walker that matches the application you want to check. Remember that Windows 64-bit restricts access to the relevant 32-bit or 64-bit portions of the registry.</li> </ul><h4 style="margin:0px 0px 14px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25">What are the differences between Windows 32-bit and 64-bit?</h4><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> I've chosen to highlight the physical and logical differences between each version of desktop Windows as shown in Table 5. This table illustrates the progressive improvement of Windows 64-bit and indicates that Windows has a long way to go before it exhausts the capabilities of 64-bit processors.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Many of the limits in the 64-bit versions of Windows are design choices rather than limitations of the 64-bit CPUs. The number of physical processors is the most obvious as Windows Server editions support many more.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Hardware is also limited by design. For example, while 64-bit AMD and Intel CPUs use 64-bit  memory pointers, the supporting chipsets only use a 52-bit physical address space (4 Petabytes) and a 48-bit virtual memory space (256 Terabytes). This is presently more than sufficient because Windows 7 64-bit only allows 192 GB of physical memory and 16 Terabytes (44-bits) of virtual memory.</p> <table class="review-details" width="100%" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin-bottom:10px;border-width:0px;width:536px"><tbody style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px"><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="7" width="100%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><a name="Windows-versions" style="color:rgb(52,82,201);margin:0px;padding:0px"></a><strong>Table 5: Physical and Logical limits for Windows Versions</strong><br> <em>Numbers in parentheses indicate extended settings that are not the default and require compatible hardware</em></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="right" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> Version:</td><td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="2" width="26%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>XP</strong></td><td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="2" width="26%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>Vista</strong></td><td align="center" class="bordered" colspan="2" width="26%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>7</strong></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="right" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">Version Bits:</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>32</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>64</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>32</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>64</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>32</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>64</strong></td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"> <td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"><strong>System:</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">  </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">  </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">  </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> </td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> Physical Processors</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">Logical Processors</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">64</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 32</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">256</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> System Cache</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">1 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 1,024 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">1 (2) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 1,024 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">1 (2) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 1,024 GB</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">Physical Memory</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 4 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">128 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 4 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">128 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 4 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">192 GB</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> Virtual Memory</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">4 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 16,384 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">4 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 16,384 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">4 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 16,384 GB</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">Kernel</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 1 (2) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">8 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">8 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">8 GB</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> <strong>User Process:</strong></td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">  </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">  </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> </td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">  </td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">Physical Memory</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 (3) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2 (4) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 (3) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">8 GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 (4) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">8 GB</td></tr><tr style="margin:0px;padding:0.1em 0.6em;border:0px"><td align="left" class="bordered" width="22%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> Virtual Memory</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2 (3) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 (8,192) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2 (3) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 (8,192) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#EEEEEE" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)">2 (4) GB</td><td align="center" bgcolor="#DDEEFF" class="bordered" width="13%" style="margin:0px;padding:3px;border:1px solid rgb(203,206,195)"> 2 (8,192) GB</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Note 1. I have used Gigabytes (GB) for consistency even though it would be convenient to convert  1,024 GB to 1 TB.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5">Note 2. I've excluded the first 64-bit version of Windows XP (2002) because it has a different architecture. It used Intel Itanium (IA-64) CPUs which had an x86 processor built-in for compatibility. It was replaced by AMD's 64-bit architecture (x86-64) which extended the x86 instruction set and worked so well that it has been licensed by Intel and other chip makers. The name is commonly shortened to x64 as it is the most common 64-bit CPU type today.</p> <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;font-size:1em;line-height:1.5"> </p></div></div></div>

32-bit and 64-bit explained

Will this 32-bit software run on my 64-bit operating system? or Will this 64-bit software run on my computer? If you've asked thes...

Read more »