Windows 32 bit or 64 bit?

By Lindsay,
for most end users Windows in 32 bit ot 64 bit versions is, well, a bit of a non-event.  Most modern computers are 64 bit.  The computer properties tab shows which version is installed.  Some older computers (and especially the smaller notebooks) are 32 bit.  The main reason why it should care to you is summarised as follows:

•   64 bit is the way of the future.  Applications will be written for the 64 bit operating system, and so one day your new product XYZ version 2012 will not work on your old computer, and

• 64 bit allows for more RAM.  32 bit systems stop at 4 Gbytes RAM, 64 bits can have more RAM (as much as you can afford!).  This is important if your computer is a graphics workstation, or does a lot of computation.