Without a doubt, each user of a personal computer or laptop should understand very well how to find out if a 64- or 32-bit system is installed on him. This is an important skill and should not be ignored.
Actually, if you don’t know how to determine the capacity of Windows, you can’t forget about usability, because in the best case the potential of this operating system will be used only partially, which indirectly means a loss of money and time.
Background
Many “experienced” computer owners still remember the days when all central processors were microchips with 32-bit addressing of instructions. It is worth noting that in reality the computing cores could easily operate even with 128 bit data, however, the features of the internal structure imposed a number of limitations. That is why processor manufacturers (AMD and Intel) decided to introduce 64-bit solutions to the market through minor modifications to the chip logic.
The famous Athlon 64x2 in terms of architecture and performance turned out to be so successful that gradually 64-bit technologies appeared in every second home computer. It remained the case for small - adapted applications. So there was a version of the
operating system designed to work with 32- and 64-bit processors. Soon, the market began to offer relevant third-party programs. From that moment on, an important question for users became: “How do I know if a 64- or 32-bit system is installed on a computer?”.
System and Applications
It would seem that everything is obvious - the 64-bit operating system runs on a 64-bit processor, and 32-bit on the corresponding one. In practice, the ability to run 32-bit programs on a 64-bit processor is often used, so the above "evidence", alas, is not. As a result, many users began to have a logical question: how do I know if a 64- or 32-bit system is installed on a computer? It was especially difficult for beginners who had recently bought a computer with a pre-installed operating system.
Understanding how to find out whether a 64- or 32-bit system is necessary in order to correctly select applications. So, with the appropriate OS and processor, it is more preferable to use exactly 64-bit programs - they optimally use RAM and also work faster.
Determination methods
There are several ways to find out which system is installed. For users who have installed the Windows version from the infamous Vista to the modern G8, just click the mouse a couple of times: Start - Computer - right-click menu - Properties. In the window that appears there is a line "System Type", where the bit depth is indicated.
The next option is based on the information module from the DirectX library package. It is necessary to press the combination of buttons Win + R and type dxdiag (do not forget to "execute", Enter). The line "Operating system" will indicate the bit rate.
And, of course, you can not ignore third-party applications. For example, after downloading the test version of AIDA64 and running the program, in it you need to select the "Operating System" section, then the tab with the same name, and read about the bit size in the "Type of OS kernel" line.