David M Williams
Sunday, 30 August 2009 08:21
IT Industry -
Development
Page 2 of 3
Pleasantly, the answer is you may well be able to. If your computer is not more than a few years old you might actually be surprised to learn you have a 64-bit processor even though you are running the regular 32-bit version of Windows.
There is a terrific utility called
SecurAble which will tell you right away if your processor is 64-bit, and consequently if you are able to load a 64-bit operating system.
While at it, SecurAble informs if you have hardware DEP – Date Execution Prevention – support and built-in hardware virtualisation. This last item is particularly relevant if you would like to take advantage of
Windows 7’s Windows XP Mode (XPM) which implements a virtual Windows XP computer integrated within a running Windows 7 environment.
Run that program; within mere moments you will know if a 64-bit Windows 7 path is possible for you. Assuming the answer is positive, the next big issue is whether doing so will adversely affect you.
I’ve performed several Windows 7 installations already. I set up a new Windows 7 partition on my home desktop computer. Years ago I might have upgraded the existing installation but Windows Vista ruined that. Being an early adopter, I first installed Windows Vista as soon as it was available to MSDN subscribers.
I soon found that nVidia’s drivers weren’t ready, that Flash did not work, that many programs were simply incompatible. This wasn’t solely my experience; it was that of many people. In the USA disgruntled nVidia purchasers pursued the option of a
class action lawsuit against the graphics chip maker because they had purchased products labelled “Designed for Windows Vista” only to find the drivers upon release were bug-ridden.
Actually, my own needs are fairly meagre (apart from lots of RAM and disk space!) with my primary applications being e-mail, a word processor, web browser, spreadsheet and some programming and database tools. The biggest issue was that my young children’s Dora the Explorer “Click & Create” games did not work. As such, and even though Windows Vista’s driver and software support subsequently improved, I’ve maintained a Windows XP partition for the family and had separate Vista (as well as Linux) bootable partitions.
So, I made a new Windows 7 partition and it installed and ran perfectly. Loading on Office and Visual Studio and SQL Server as well as tools and programs from non-Microsoft vendors all worked without effort and the boot time was noticeably faster than under Vista.
Next, I performed an upgrade from Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit to Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit on my ASUS Lamborghini laptop. After the speed and ease of the previous Windows 7 installation I was surprised by how long this took, although all my settings and documents were completely preserved.
Yet, despite this, the resulting system was unusable which prompted me to turn to 64-bit for help.
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