What is the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems

Before Xiaobian, I talked to everyone about Windows
, in fact, installing Windows
is not a simple task, Win 8.1 or Win 10, is a professional version or a normal version. But there is still a problem we often don't know, whether the system is 32-bit or 64-bit.

You may have heard of 32-bit and 64-bit terms, but never really understood them. So today, Xiaobian will tell you about where these names come from and what they mean for your computing experience.

How do I determine 32-bit and 64-bit systems?

A computer architecture is 32-bit or 64-bit depending on the internal processor (CPU) of the computer. Currently, most computer processors fall into one of these two categories. 64-bit processors are more powerful than the corresponding 32-bit processors because they can store and process more information.

To understand the difference between the two, you must understand a bit about binary counting, which has only two numbers 0 or 1.

So 32-bit numbers have 2^32 possible addresses, which is 4,294,967,296. In contrast, the 64-bit capacity is 2^64, which is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616. Comparing about 4 billion bytes and 18 trillion bytes, you can understand the difference between the two.

Microsoft provides both 32-bit and 64-bit versions for each version of Windows, and we can choose between downloading or installing it.

If you are using a 64-bit processor, you will need to install a 64-bit version of Windows. Of course, the 32-bit version of Windows will also work on 64-bit processors. However, you cannot install a 64-bit version of Windows on a 32-bit processor.

There are two main differences between 32-bit and 64-bit systems when we use them. One is that the 32-bit version of Windows can only use up to 4 GB of RAM. Therefore, if you put 16 GB of RAM in a Windows 32-bit system, you can only use 4 GB of memory.

Another different place is the Program Files folder. On 32-bit versions of Windows, the application will be installed into a unique Program Files folder; on 64-bit systems there will be an additional program file (x86) folder. This is because the write software for the 32-bit architecture is quite different from the software written for 64-bit systems.

When the program needs to get some shared information, such as a DLL, you need to find the correct Program Files directory. It is called x86 in Windows 32-bit systems and x64 in 64-bit systems.

An old version of Windows, such as Windows 3.1, runs 16-bit software. The 32-bit version of Windows is backward compatible with these older programs. However, if you are using a 64-bit system, you will not be able to run the old 16-bit software. Of course, very good people will still miss the old software.

32-bit and 64-bit programs

Whenever you install some software, the vendor will provide 32-bit or 64-bit versions; some developers only provide a 32-bit version. Some programs will let you choose when installing, and some programs will automatically recognize and install them. If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, you should install the 64-bit version of the software whenever possible.

When we use Google Chrome, the speed of the x64 version may not be too satisfying. Because Google Chrome uses a 64-bit architecture to enhance security, this makes it more stable than the x86 Google Chrome.

Now we have discussed all the details of 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, so how do you know which version of Windows you are using?

There are many ways, the simplest Right click on “My Computer
”, select properties, all versions of the Windows operating system
can be viewed inside.

The processor and operating system bit sizes should match, but if they don't match, you can also upgrade. If you are running a 32-bit version of Windows 10 on a 64-bit processor, you can follow the guidelines to upgrade to x64 Windows. Users running 32-bit versions of Windows on 32-bit processors cannot upgrade.

64-bit computing is becoming the new standard, but it has also undergone a difficult development. Although there is a 64-bit version of Windows XP, compatibility has caused many users a headache. Using 64-bit systems until Windows 7 became popular.

Now developers are focused on developing 64-bit software, which will be a long-term standard.