Win 64bit program support

[shiato storm]

now that windows 64bit has been quietly released for sometime i was just wondering what the support for programs was like, for example would all my 32bit regular programs like office, PS, nero and anti-virus software still work or would I need to hunt down 64bit updates for each and everyone of them? still would like to update to 64bit system - since I have the hardware to take advantage of it...in fact, what are the advantages of going to 64bit apart from the hassle of updating everything?

[TheAnimus]

anything thats "user mode" will run fine.

anything thats kernel mode or depends on some non MS kernel mode driver, will have to of been updated.

So office of course will run fine as a 32bit program on the 64bit system.

Advantage of 64bit, well 64bit XP is effectivly server 2003 cut down, so its a better OS.
but enless you've got programs that are using the extra bits, or running out of memory at 4gig, no advantage at all.

[shaithis]

Most things will run fine. The things that won't:

WinXP/2K Device Drivers (No surprise there)
CD/DVD Emulation software (Need 64 bit versions - a few are available)
Anti-Virus (Can load a 32 bit AV client but it won't do much for you)

So far thats all that I have found that won't work (IIRC) and I have been using it since the first public beta.

As for advantages.....it feels a lot snappier then 32 bit XP. 64 Bit Programs are starting to filter out and the performance gains of some of them are outstanding (video encoding as an example)......waiting for the glut of 64 bit games tho.

[Paul Adams]

Most things will run fine. The things that won't:
...
Anti-Virus (Can load a 32 bit AV client but it won't do much for you)

Erm, you can't use 32-bit AV as it should be a kernel-mode driver so you can only install 64-bit AV which will work quite happily - I have used avast! 4.6 64-bit for a while.

[5lab]

some random stuff doesnt wrok on mine, like msn messenger and so on.. other than that it works fine in general - has done for 6 months. that said, none of my apps are actually 64 bit

[Skinleech]

Nod also do a 64bit version of their AV. Some games don't run, like Splinter Cell 3 due to Starforce protection, and drivers can be hazy for it, but all my gear runs, bar my Nokia 6680.

[shiato storm]

hmmm...think I might wait a bit to be sure the 64bit programs are well bedded in, i suppose its possible to run dual OS'...

[shaithis]

hmmm...think I might wait a bit to be sure the 64bit programs are well bedded in, i suppose its possible to run dual OS'...

Dual boot is for wusses!

[shiato storm]

or for those with data they would rather not loose and have access to all the time!