Windows 7 64 bit - whats not compatible

Neilw

Hi all,

I have XP media centre installed on my PC, thinking of upgrading to 64 bit windows 7.
What applications are not compatible?
I use, firefox for surfing, grab it, adobe photoshop, have a printer and so on.

Thanks

PogMoThoin

None that I've come across and I've been using 64bit for 2 yrs, first Vista now 7. Its now time to move to 64bit as windows 7 will be the last one offering 32bit as an option, Windows 8 is going to be 64bit only

Fysh

PogMoThoin wrote: »

None that I've come across and I've been using 64bit for 2 yrs, first Vista now 7. Its now time to move to 64bit as windows 7 will be the last one offering 32bit as an option, Windows 8 is going to be 64bit only

Much as I'd like to say "Yep, you have to move to 64-bit now", Microsoft said that Vista would be the last version of Windows to have a 32-bit instance and then changed their minds in light of the popularity of netbooks in the year to 18 months ahead of Win7's launch.

It's still a good idea to move to 64-bit if you have a system that can take more than 3GB of RAM and a 64-bit processor, but check your specs and the applications you need to use before deciding to migrate.

Cool Mo D

Fysh wrote: »

Much as I'd like to say "Yep, you have to move to 64-bit now", Microsoft said that Vista would be the last version of Windows to have a 32-bit instance and then changed their minds in light of the popularity of netbooks in the year to 18 months ahead of Win7's launch.

It's still a good idea to move to 64-bit if you have a system that can take more than 3GB of RAM and a 64-bit processor, but check your specs and the applications you need to use before deciding to migrate.

For all of your hardware - check if there's a Microsoft certified driver for Vista available - any drivers that work on Vista will work on 7, and Microsoft won't certify a driver that doesn't have 64bit available since Vista.

If you don't want more than 3.5gb ram, there's really little point moving to 64bit.

jamesd

Adobe flash player is not available for 64 bit as yet and this means alot of websites will be unusable in internet explorer, so you may have to switch to a different browser.

PogMoThoin

Who uses Internet Explorer Those that do need to learn

Neilw

jamesd wrote: »

Adobe flash player is not available for 64 bit as yet and this means alot of websites will be unusable in internet explorer, so you may have to switch to a different browser.

How about firefox? I use that for all my surfing.

PC has 4gb of ram and a quad core extreme processor if that makes any difference.

PogMoThoin

Neilw wrote: »

How about firefox? I use that for all my surfing.

PC has 4gb of ram and a quad core extreme processor if that makes any difference.

Flash on Firefox is fine.

Its wise for You to go to 64bit, You'll have that pc a while and get full use of 4GB (and add more if needed)

Neilw

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Flash on Firefox is fine.

Its wise for You to go to 64bit, You'll have that pc a while and get full use of 4GB (and add more if needed)

It's just I've been told not to go 64 bit because of compatability problems.
I just wanted to know what sort of problems I would see.

Once I can use firefox, grabit, photoshop, and a few other apps I will be happy.

Are there any issues with connecting the likes of printers, cameras, external hard drives?

PogMoThoin

Neilw wrote: »

Are there any issues with connecting the likes of printers, cameras, external hard drives?

I've not had any, not for a long time, did have loads at first. Most programs will run in 32bit mode if there isn't a 64bit version

jamesd

jamesd wrote: »

Adobe flash player is not available for 64 bit as yet and this means alot of websites will be unusable in internet explorer, so you may have to switch to a different browser.

This is regularly quoted but it's not entirely true.

Yes there's no Flash Player for 64-bit for any browser, not just IE. But the 32-bit Flash Player works fine in a 32-bit browser. 64-bit versions of Windows set the 32-bit version of IE as default for this very reason.

ressem

Scanners, Printers, Bluetooth are the main headache that I've found on 64 bit windows 7. Including the expensive office types from the likes of HP and Konica Minolta.

The software for an elderly version of Sage's security dongle.

nLite for slipstreaming CDs.

If you get the Professional version, there's the ability to run a version of XP in a well integrated virtual machine. No XP license required..
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
I've found it very useful for the above.

Capt'n Midnight

ressem wrote: »

Scanners, Printers, Bluetooth are the main headache that I've found on 64 bit windows 7.

check printers for compatibility with other models that have drivers

bluetooth dongles are cheap enough

scanners , you are relying on the manufacturer for these, if they don't provide drivers in a resonable time then consider never buying their products again :mad:

fifth

No big issues all my software from 32bit vista and xp works fine.. Some issues with bluetooth yes. Haven't yet plugged in my printer/scanner..not looking forward to that.

This aside - it's worth the upgrade if you've got more than 3.5GB of ram.

DarrenMSP

jamesd wrote: »

Adobe flash player is not available for 64 bit as yet and this means alot of websites will be unusable in internet explorer, so you may have to switch to a different browser.

Flash works fines on 64bit Windows 7 with Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Win7 64bit is great, haven't found any applications that won't work on it yet.

Though make sure before you do do 64, your computer manufacture offer's 64bit drivers if you plan to use thing like gestures on your trackpad (if its supported) or shortkey buttons. as you will only get basic use drivers with Windows install and it might not have all the functionality

I had to wait nearly a year for Sony to release 64bit drivers for my Vaio.

Neilw

DarrenMSP wrote: »

Flash works fines on 64bit Windows 7 with Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Win7 64bit is great, haven't found any applications that won't work on it yet.

Though make sure before you do do 64, your computer manufacture offer's 64bit drivers if you plan to use thing like gestures on your trackpad (if its supported) or shortkey buttons. as you will only get basic use drivers with Windows install and it might not have all the functionality

I had to wait nearly a year for Sony to release 64bit drivers for my Vaio.

It's a desktop pc that was built so no support offered.

I'm going to load it up and try it anyway, thanks for your help and advice everyone