I am having to buy a new Desktop. Dell are now offering W7 64 bit. My question. Will my legacy software (including Office 03 - I don't like Office 07) and other non MS stuff (Quiken etc, etc) work on a 64 bit computer?

Cheers

I'm running 64bit W 7, all my older non 64 bit programs installed themselves into a separate 'program files' directory and run quite happily.

GG,

Which version of W7 are you using?

Professional, mainly because I need the virtual XP facility for a couple of radio data decoding programs that wont run under vista/W7.

I wonder if the second program files exist under the home version?

I've had W7 sitting on my desk a week now wondering which version to install, having read the web a bit I'm going for the 64 bit version.

I have an XP machine on the same network so if I get 32 bit compatibility issues I'll just have that software on the XP machine.

I chickened out of 64-bit, having read the warnings about software that doesn't work and drivers that don't exist.

32-bit is working tickety-boo on both machines. A couple of minor niggles remain to iron out - I think I've got them cornered now, but they aren't in the documentation (what documentation?)

The problem for me is that it appears to be that Dell are only offering 64 bit W7

BD

AFAIK most software really doesn't care whether you've go 32 or 64 bit Windows, certainly not office ETC. The only problems I had were with the Sipgate VOIP softphone and Plantronics head set. This was due to lack of drivers, and that is generally the big problem.

If you have decrepid old scanners or really whacky equipment you used to serial cable into your DOS machine, you might be in trouble. If you are the 'normal' type of one-finger typer like me you'll probably have no issues.

All Window 7 certfied kit will need 64bit drivers, so it will become the norm soon. If your kit has Vista 64 drivers, that will work also (Probably).

The main reason for going for 64 bit is the memory addressing. If you have more than 3GB of memory, you will need 64 to access it all. I've also heard banter about increased system stability with 64 bit OSs.

Hope that helps,

CBA

CBAc & GG

Many thanks for that. I will go for the 64bit W7 when I order the replacement computer from Dell. As far as the computer working VISTA, I will probably wait for SP1 before urgrading. For the other two working XP, I will leave well alone.

BD

From MS website:

Most programs designed for a computer running a 32-bit version of Windows will work on a computer running 64-bit versions of Windows. Notable exceptions are many antivirus programs, and some hardware drivers.

Drivers designed for 32-bit versions of Windows don't work on computers running a 64-bit version of Windows. If you're trying to install a printer or other device that only has 32-bit drivers available, it won't work correctly on a 64-bit version of Windows. For information about updating drivers and troubleshooting issues with device drivers for 64-bit versions of Windows, contact the manufacturer of the device or program.

I highlighted the AV piece - you will certainly have to have a 64-bit version of your AV software as well as 64-bit drivers for peripherals.

Also, it is worth pointing out that 16-bit apps will most certainly NOT work in a 64-bit environment - the Windows-on-Windows (WOW 64) abstraction layer only works "one step" back - i.e. 32-bit on 64, 16-bit on 32.

Finally, while most 32-bit apps will run in a 64-bit environment, they will not be able to take advantage of the 64-bit OS, so will not run as efficiently as a native 64-bit app. This really is unlikely to be a problem for a single-user PC (that spends 99.99% of CPU cycles waiting for user input!), but can be a problem on servers.

SD