Win 7 32 Bit to 64 Bit

I have Win 7 32 bit under our arrangement with Donortec My Computer has failed and I need to upgrade it. I would like to move to a 64-bit system. Can I upgrade my Win 7 32-bit to Win 7 64-bit? Will this affect other programs that I have installed or is Win 7 64-bit backwards compatible to 32-bit programs? I have not been able to clarify is whether my current Win 7 Professional SP1 is 64 bit or 32 bit. Do I need to upgrade to a 64 bit version of Win 7 version to access the 8 GB RAM I will have in my upgraded system or does my current Win 7 Pro also work as a 64 bit system when in a 64 bit hardware environment?

Reply by Chris from Far Edge Pty Ltd on Wednesday, 18 April, 2012 - 12:49

Hi, There is no upgrade path - it's a full reinstall. If you have the following directories it's 64bit: c:\program files (x86)\ c:\program files\ If you only have: c:\program files\ it's 32bit. 64bit is required to use greater than 4Gb RAM. In practice you're unlikely to be able to access more than about 3.5G RAM using 32bit though. You will need to reinstall all programs. Some of these may not work with 64bit - you'll have to check with each vendor. When reinstalling Office choose the 32bit install NOT the 64bit install as unless you are working with very large spreadsheets and have custom 64bit macros then 32bit Office will be what you want. 32bit Office 2010/2007 runs fine on Win7 x64. Regard, Chris

Reply by Colin Thompson from TechBrain on Friday, 4 May, 2012 - 14:17

Hi There, Also make sure you check for compatibility of your printers and any third party hardware before going down the 64bit path. To see if your current Win7 Pro is 32 bit or 64bit, just Right Mouse Click on computer and select "Properties". If it is 64bit it will tell you next to the "System Type". Regards Colin Thompson Blue Networks & Technology