What are advantages are disadvantages of 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

When we are going to install an operating system, application software or hardware driver, we will come across the terms 32-bit and 64-bit.


Then, what is meant by the terms 32-bit and 64-bit? 

Well, for those of you who are still a little confused, in this article we will try to get to know more about the meaning and differences of 32-bit and 64-bit.


The terms 32-bit and 64-bit actually refer to the ability of the CPU or Computer Processor to handle bits of information.
In a processor, there is a temporary data storage area called a register which is used to speed up the process of executing information. The designation bit refers to the width of the register, so a 64-bit register can hold more data than a 32-bit register. A 32-bit processor can only process 32 digits at a time.


The size of the register width is very influential, especially in terms of memory utilization (RAM). A CPU with a 32-bit register, has 2 to the 32 addresses in its register so that the memory that can be accessed is limited to only 4GB of RAM. In theory, a 64-bit CPU can work with a memory capacity of up to 17 million GB, while also being able to handle tasks up to two times faster.

So what is the relationship between the 32-bit and 64-bit Processor architectures with the operating system we are using?

To maximize computer performance, of course we have to adjust the version of the operating system with the type of processor. For example, if our processor is 64-bit, we recommend that when installing the operating system we choose the 64-bit version. Starting from the Windows XP operating system, there is already a 64-bit version. What we should know is that we can install a 32-bit operating system on a 64-bit processor but not vice versa, we can't install a 64-bit operating system on a computer with a 32-bit processor.

How do I know if the CPU Supports 32-bit and 64-bit?

There are various ways to find out whether our Processor supports 32-bit or 64-bit. Here I will only explain 2 ways, namely:

1. By looking at the information in System Properties, for example in Windows 7 it can be seen by:

Right-click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop or Start menu
Select Properties, a window will appear with a display like the following:

2. By using the Securable software. This application is very small in size only 115 KB, just run the application and the results will immediately be seen whether your Processor supports 64-bit or not, here is how it looks, on my laptop.

Weaknesses of 64-bit Operating Systems

As mentioned above, one of the advantages of using a 64-bit version of the operating system, for example, the Windows 7 64-bit operating system, is that we can maximize memory usage. If you use the 32-bit version of Windows 7, Windows will only recognize 4GB of RAM (even though the installed RAM is 8GB for example) which in practice often only reads around 3.25GB. Meanwhile, when using Windows 7 64-bit, the amount of memory installed will be fully utilized. In addition, data processing will feel faster when using the 64-bit version of Windows.

The drawback of this 64-bit version of the operating system may lie in the applications that we will install, where usually there are some software which can only run on 32-bit Windows only. Likewise with the hardware drivers used, there are still many old hardware drivers that only provide drivers for 32-bit versions of windows, so if our windows is 64-bit it will be difficult to find a compatible replacement driver.

Thus a little discussion about the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit systems, how to find out whether our Processor supports 64-bit along with the advantages and disadvantages of 64-bit systems.