Win7 64bit - a few questions?

mrmac

Hi folks, just bought a new laptop with Win7 Home Premium 64bit, and I'd appreciate some advice.

I intend to use this laptop through 4 more years of college, and will be installing a variety of web/app development software onto it, as and when I can afford it!
So here's what I am wondering about:

1. Is there much practical difference between Home Premium & Professional?
(I currently use Win7 Pro (32bit) on an older laptop, and find it excellent, just don't know if it's worth buying another Pro (64bit) licence.)

2. I hope to run PC Decrapifier whenever the laptop arrives, anything to be aware/fore-warned about when doing this on a Dell system?

2. I bought Office 2010 Pro (32bit) from software 4 students, can this version be used on a 64bit system, or will I need to buy another 64bit version?

3. I shall be installing a load of software onto this, VMs of Linux (Fedora14) and CentOS server setups, Expression Web, Java Development using JGrasp & Eclipse, Visual Studio for VB & C#, SQL, and hope to get Adobe Web Premium at some stage (maybe next summer); so oddly wondering if any of these actually integrate better with Win7 Pro?

I know these will be really simple questions for some folks, so any suggestions / tips will be very welcome.

TIA

ressem

1. The Windows 7 64bit Pro additions that I use are the ability to connect my computer to a domain, and the windows virtual pc "xp mode", which allows some finnicky old programs and hardware to run on the computer.

I wouldn't think it likely that it's worth paying out for the upgrade unless you are working in an office.

2. Haven't tried

3. Office 2010 32 bit works perfectly well on a 64 bit windows 7.

4. Of the list, I've got most, only Adobe Flash Builder 4.5, an optional part of web premium had problems. I installed this into XP mode on Windows 7 Pro. If you have an old xp license around, presumably you could use an alternative VM.

Fysh

Microsoft themselves have advised people to use Office 32-bit on 64-bit systems, unless you absolutely have to have a 64-bit version - have a read of this technet post to get a better idea of what reasons might make the 64-bit version worthwhile, but be aware there are also stability issues with the 64-bit version (from here: "Yes, 64-bit Office 2010 product upgrades will be available. However we strongly recommend most users install 32-bit version of Office 2010 on both 32 and 64-bit Operating Systems because currently many common add-ins for Office will not function in the 64-bit edition (...) There may be technical issues with the 64-bit version".)

In terms of the differences between Home Premium and Pro, the best thing to do is to look at the Wikipedia Page about Windows 7 - scroll down to the table comparing the different editions and you should be able to see if there's anything you really need that makes the upgrade worthwhile. I've always been happier running the Pro versions of Windows (given that they're what I've supported at work) but having recently been introduced to Win7 Starter on a netbook you'd be surprised at how much you can do with the more basic versions.

In terms of decrappification, I tend not to trust utilities for that sort of thing and prefer to do it by hand, but you'll want to remove a few bits and pieces that Dell preinstall, like the Bing Bar (FFS! Why are browser toolbars still a thing?), the Dell ControlPoint packages (I've yet to see an advantage to having them on there, and have read worrying details about what it does on being installed), and unless you're particularly keen on them PowerDVD and Roxio (again, I see no benefit to having them installed when you could use VLC and CDBurnerXP or some equivalent freeware package, but your mileage may vary).