Accidental 64-bit computing
By Benny Har-Even in Editorial
Posted in Windows 7 on
After several months of running the beta of Windows 7 as my main work OS (don’t try this at home kids) I was forced yesterday to do a clean install on my system. I was down to my last three days before the beta would start shutting itself down every two hours automatically, and I thought that this probably wouldn’t be conducive to effective working on my main machine.
I had Windows 7 Release Candidate at the ready, having borrowed a USB key from one of compatriots at sister title Bit-Tech.net. The reinstall went smoothly and I installed a few apps but it was only when I checked the system properties that I realised that I’d actually installed the 64-bit version of Windows 7.
I have to admit that up to now I’ve never been brave enough to actually try it, with the thought of lack of driver support and application support seeming like too much of a headache.
As it happens though, everything I’ve installed - just worked. Everything is snappier than it was before but I can’t tell if that’s down to a clean install or due to Windows 7 64-bit being more efficient. Probably both.
It also means that for the first time I’ll be able to use the full 4GB of memory installed on this ‘ere laptop. Which is nice.
Any 64-bit issues I’ll be reporting on but I’m hoping that being at the bleeding edge of computing won’t hurt too much.
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Comment by - July 1, 2009 on 11:09 am
The driver and compatibility problems with 64-bit are largely restricted to 64-bit Windows XP. Microsoft made it a requirement that all WHQL certified Vista drivers are provided in both 32-bit and 64-bit variants. There’s also the point that with Vista and Win7, development of the 32-bit and 64-bit versions have been performed in parallel, whereas XP 64-bit came out a good few years after 32-bit XP.
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