W7 64 bit or 32 bit

[beerdrinker]

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

[green granite]

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.

[Jimmy Macintosh]

GG,

Which version of W7 are you using?

[green granite]

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

[Jimmy Macintosh]

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.

[Keef]

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?)

[beerdrinker]

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

[beerdrinker]

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

[Saab Dastard]

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