I have got 2 Windows XP netbooks bought last year. one is an Acer Aspire One,the other is an MSI Wind.They both have 1GB of ram and run Windows XP Home Edition 32 bit. Which came with the netbooks when I bought them. But most versions of Windows XP are 32 bit and so are most versions of Windows Vista. So why do you need to upgrade? I also have Windows 7 32 bit only and Windows 8 32 bit. And I myself will never install 64 bit Windows. Because most of the software from Windows XP and Windows Vista that I have installed on Windows 7 and Windows 8. Is not compatible with 64 bit but it is with 32 bit. The games from Windows XP,Solitaire and Hearts etc and also Windows 95 games,Microsoft Entertainment Pack games,won't work on 64 bit. They only work on 32 bit. And on Windows 8 32 bit you can run 16 bit applications,like the Windows 95 games. But you cannot on 64 bit Windows 8. Also 64 bit is slow, I read. So you are better off to install 32 bit Windows 8 and Windows 7. A lot of big Windows 7 laptops come with 64 bit Windows 7. But if the laptop has 32 bit drivers,you can install 32 bit Windows 7 as a custom install. All windows 7 full installation CDs come with 32 bit and 64 bit CDs. So when you install Windows just use the 32bit CD. 32 bit windows is much more flexible than 64 bit. And it can run on netboks and other older hardware. But 64 bit can't. Andrea Borman.
Hi Andrea, I'll soon get 16 GB ram with my new rig because my current config is too limited for what I do now (virtualization, sql, heavy multitasking etc). 32bits OSs are limited by design to 4GB but in reality you have only 3~3.5 available for your applications. In fact, I think that M$ should drop 32bit OSs entirely by now. All hardware is here and is 64bit capable for a long time. If you still have 32 bits apps that doesn't work on wow64, you have the possiblity to virtualize them or dual boot, so that's mostly a non issue.
Well the Windows XP and Windows Vista software that I am running on Windows 7 and Windows 8 is-Windows Movie Maker 2.1 from Windows XP,Windows XP Microsoft games,Pinball,Solitaire and the others. And the Windows Vista sidebar from Windows Vista,Windows Mail and Windows Calendar also from Windows Vista. And also many others. I have installed the programs from both Windows XP and Windows Vista by transferring the program files from my Windows XP and windows Vista computer onto my Windows 7 and Windows 8 computer. That is the only way to do it, as you cannot just download Windows Movie Maker 2.1 or Windows mail from the internet. But if you have Windows XP or Windows Vista or a computer with those operating systems.You can run most programs from Windows XP and Windows Vista on Windows 7 and Windows 8 by copying the files over. But the Windows XP and Windows Vista I have is 32 bit and I have got 32bit Windows 7 and Windows 8. But I don't think that my Windows XP or Windows Vista programs would work on 64 bit Windows 7 or 64 bit Windows 8. And also the Microsoft Entertainment Pack games for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 are 16 bit. And so they only work on 32 bit but not 64 bit. But they work on 32bit Windows 7 and 32 bit Windows 8. And as I have only got netbooks, 64 bit is not an option anyway. As you need at least 2GB of ram to run 64 bit. And my netbooks only have 1GB of ram. Andrea Borman.
@Andrea I don't know which applications you use, but most applications works perfectly fine on 64 bits. The games you mention are already installed in Windows 7 x64 as default. You also mention x64 bit is slow, which is possible if your computer don't meet the requirements. Generally speaking x64 bits applications performs better than x32 bits. RAM is dirt cheap now these days, and there's no reason to avoid buying it if your computer needs it. 32-bits OS should've been thrown away long ago. Anyway we'll see with the Release Preview in june, if the metro and dekstop experience is more "connected" now. I found it annoying, that the metro application of IE is different from the desktop application. To be honest, i really hope Microsoft managed to pull this off. Metro UI is a fresh breath into modern OS, this is the kind of change i want.
No they are not. The games on Windows 7,Solitaire,Hearts,FreeCell,Minesweeper are different to the Windows XP versions. A lot of people prefer the Windows XP version of Solitaire and the other games. That comes with Windows XP, to the new version that is on Windows Vista and 7. But you can install and run the Windows XP version of Solitaire,Hearts,Spider Solitaire,FreeCell,Minesweeper and Pinball alongside the Windows 7 versions on Windows 7 and Windows Vista. And also on Windows 8. You need only to have a Windows XP computer or have Windows XP installed in duel boot.To copy the files from Windows XP to Windows 7,Windows Vista and Windows 8. The Windows 95 games from Microsoft Entertainment Pack are 16 bit. And so they will only work on 32 bit Windows. But the 32 bit Windows 8 which I have got has support for 16 bit apps.And so does 32 bit Windows XP,Windows Vista and Windows 7. And no,I have never used 64 bit Windows. I just read that it was slow.Andrea Borman.
Andrea, I just wanted to clarify that 64 bit Windows is much faster than 32 bit Windows - especially when using apps that are coded to take advantage of 64 bit OSs. I totally agree with anti-t and eslu that 32 bit OSs should have already gone by the wayside years ago. I understand that your netbooks don't have the RAM and hardware to run 64 bit Windows. That is totally understandable and I would be running Windows XP 32 bit myself on them. But, the beauty of being able to utilize more than 4GBs of RAM is simply reason enough for me to use 64 bit Windows. I guess it depends on your current hardware and software needs. I understand your situation and why you run 32 bit Windows. But, if you ever make the switch down the road you won't be sorry if your system can handle 8 or 16GBs of RAM.
anti-t, I truly loved Windows XP and really though that it was the best OS ever from M$. Only recently, around 6 months ago, did I finally try Windows 7. After the BS that M$ tried to pawn off on us with Vista, I was very hesitant to trust any new version of Windows. It is just my 2 cents, but I think that you will love Windows 7 even more than XP (especially after getting used to it for a bit). There is nothing wrong with XP, it's just that whatever positives it has, Windows 7 also has and then some. You are correct that people are still using XP or Windows 7, and that will not change in the near future. M$ has guaranteed that fact by coding that repulsive monstrosity called Windows 8.
I agree with you all the way. People should avoid Windows 8 like the plague and send a message to M$ that we will not use a dilapidated OS.........period. Either they get their act together and make it right (what the user base wants), or they will be boycotted. Thank you for enlightening me on this point. Just another very strong reason for me to NEVER use Windows 8. I wasn't aware of this until I read your post and then used Google. And M$, as always, wants users to PAY for Media Center via an upgrade - hogwash! And even more insulting is M$ rationale for not bundling WMC with Windows 8. According to a PC World article dated May 4th, 2012 by Ian Paul - "Microsoft said part of the reason for dumping DVD playback by default were due to concerns from manufacturing partners over the costs associated with media decoder licensing. But it's unclear whether those codec savings will be passed on to consumers or would even make a noticeable dent in the price of a single device in the first place." Hah! Just more hot air from the insidious M$. Such an insult to our intellects
Well I cannot have 64 bit Windows on my netbooks because they only have 32 bit drivers. and also they only have 1GB ram. But the reason why I buy netbooks is because they have 32 bit Windows. If I were to buy a brand new big laptop now,it would come with Windows 7 64 bit not 32 bit. Although two years ago they were selling new big Windows 7 laptops with 32 bit. Now they only have 32 bit Windows on netbooks.Unless you buy a second hand or reconditioned laptop. I could buy a new 64 bit Windows 7 laptop and do a clean install of 32bit Windows 7. But if it is a 64 bit laptop,it may not have the 32 bit drivers. Although some laptops have both 32 bit and 64 bit drivers. I recently got another netbook with 32 bit Windows 7.It had Windows 7 Starter but I did a clean install of Windows 7 Home premium 32 bit. And it now runs like a full sized computer. But at least when I buy netbooks, I know that they will have 32 bit drivers.And I can then install any 32 bit version of Windows I want to. And even the old desktop computers ran 32 bit Windows XP and 32 bit Windows Vista. Not 64 bit.Andrea Borman.
Hi mate One, if not the best os M$ did (at the time) was, I think, Windows 2000. I used it a lot, then came XP based on it. Concerning Windows seven, I dual boot the 64 bit version since it cames out as well as XP, Mac OS X and sometimes linux. But it will become my main OS soon because of this 4gb memory issue. It has also many advantages, like booting from a vhd, supporting trim function of ssd's (got a nice deal on a M4 128Gb recently), better video drivers (VDDM) and many applications now require Windows 7 to run (Lightroom 4, visual studio 2012...) I really believe that, under the hood (the core), windows 8 is not that bad. But it has one of the biggest problem ever called Metro. Metro is designed for tablets not for mouse and keyboard. As a power user, I find this new start screen really disruptive and not acceptable by my standards (early Amiga user inside ) If windows 8 fail like vista, thats Metro's fault. Peoples don't like that kind of changes. I've seen it with M$ office and it's new interface ! What's that ? get my word and excel back, please !
I am not an expert by any means but I used many an OS and for quite a while, amongst them plenty of Windows variants and so here's my 2p worth of... Windows, as Yen explained, is not going very far with W8, since the kernel has not been improved dramatically - just a tiny bit... The real changes in SW (OS-wise) I saw were with changes in HW - from XP to Vista. It's just that early Vista was complete crap, more or less... But W7 was its continuation and that is the best OS on the planet... sadly... as I would like to say this for Ubuntu or iGolaware or some such OS... Look, I am old enough to remember how loadsa people hated XP when it came out, that it was humongous and slow and tasking and demanded stronger HW and whatnot... Now, the same story, more or less... "Ooooo, changes... YUK!" We have also seen it with Ubuntu, when they moved away from Gnome, even though they meant to simplify it, so people would easily find whatever they need... Ergo, we all "get it" over time and drop our guard as we get familiar with it and find the way to make it work for us and with understanding it - comes appreciation, if the OS is not too bad [like, for instance W95, which was serious crap, with loadsa blue screens of death etc.]... People are frequently spiritually lazy, at least a bit, and "better the Devil you know" kinda attitude is easier for them, so... However, as the HW changes, so will the attitudes... Mark my words! Just give it time... Plus, W8 will change, as they [m$] always do... But the key issue here is profit! Selling new HW and SW for it! Forcing everybody to go along... And that ought to change with better competition, which requires better competitors - I really hope Ubuntu gets its act together and gets HW manufacturers somehow to co-operate with them and write the drivers... Then, maybe...
@anti-t, Yes, Metro will kill Windows 8 in and of itself. But, I also hate the predatory activation BS M$ is pulling with Windows 8 for OEM, and also their ARM version that will not allow Mozilla, Chrome, etc... I am sure that SSD will fly with your new Windows 7 64 bit setup. Enjoy
I agree with you about M$ being heavily profit driven. But, they are also ever so monopolistic and Windows 8 really makes that evident. I agree and hope with you that competitors snatch this opportunity to give M$ a kick in the a** And regarding Windows 7, it is an awesome OS and I also hate to admit it. But it's the truth.
I don't even look at Win8 as being a desktop OS, I look at it as being a competitor to Android/iOS on mobile devices, in that role it does quite nicely. It's horrendous when using a mouse, but like I said I pretty much view this as Microsoft getting out of the desktop OS market entirely. For desktop usage you get to either switch to OSX/Linux or use Win7 as long as it's viable.
Windows 8 SUCKS, I personally liked XP best of all versions of Windows, although I am using Windows 7.
I have no Idea, I'm still in 7 and plan to stay in 7 till the fat lady sings! NO I'm not going to sing! Femmy
@cadcad Windows XP was awesome and I only switched away from it to Windows 7 about 6 months ago. And yes, Windows 8 truly sucks!
Microsoft should seriously rethink abt windows 8's interface...... May be it would be full of features or Speed ( I Really don't Know Abt that) but as Far As Interface is concern it's not so good (may be some ppl find this rude but this is my personal opinion)