Everything downloading as 32 bit?

Sorry if this is an extremely nooby question. I've switched from Vista to Mac for 5 years, and now to Win8

Hi. I recently purchased a Sager laptop. Here are the exact specs per my reseller email (LPC-Digital)


1 x 15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Super MATTE Type

1 x 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.40 GHz)

1 x 750GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Drive

1 x 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 2 X 4GB

1 x 8X DVD±R/RW/4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software

1 x FREE UPS Ground (CONUS Only)

1 x Genuine Microsoft Windows® 8 64-Bit Edition

1 x Internal 802.11 B+G+N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth Combo Module

1 x LIFETIME Limited Labor and 1 Year Premium** Parts Warranty

1 x Non-RAID Storage

1 x NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory

1 x Removable 6 cell smart Lithium-Ion battery pack 62.16Wh

1 x Sager Branding

1 x Sager NP7352 (Clevo W350ST)

1 x Stock Standard Thermal Compound


Everything works with few minor hiccups, but I've noticed that a lot of programs i've downloaded were for 32bit (x86). They were from the kind of sites that detect it for you. Why is that? In my hard drive, it says "program files x86" and then "program files." I looked up the specifications under My Computer Properties and it says 64bit. I am running startisback ( a program that adds a start button along with other enhancements) if that makes a difference.

Thanks a lot.

 

As long as your system says 64 Bit Operating System then you have 64 Bit.

Program Files is for 64 Bit Programs
Program Files (x86) is for 32 Bit Programs

For the newly initiated it seems a little confusing. A lot of programs still run in the 32 Bit space. Things like Java detection will recommend 32 Bit until you want to change your browser into 64 Bit Mode. Office is recommended to run as 32 Bit unless you're willing to accept some limitations that come with 64 Bit.

The world is very much still 32 Bit, but getting better.

 

More or less what rcb.to.ca said. A lot of programs default to the 32-bit version simply because it's the more widely-used, and thus the more widely-tested, and probably, the most stable. And in a lot of those cases, there isn't really any practical benefit to switching to 64-bit. If the 32-bit version will run everything you can throw at it and runs as fast or essentially as fast, there's not really a downside to running it over the 64-bit version, other than the philosophical downside of not running the 64-bit version when you can. Sometimes the 32-bit version is even faster... I recall that IE9 (?) was considerably faster in its 32-bit version at certain tasks. Whether that's still the case with current versions of IE, I couldn't tell you, as I don't use IE much. Backwards compatibility with add-ons is another reason for 32-bit often being recommended over 64-bit versions.

 

Yeah - in the earlier days there wasn't an Adobe Flash Player plugin for IE 64 Bit - actually there was a beta. Nonetheless, they have one now. I'm using IE10 and it is structurally different enough that I can't use 64 Bit on a couple sites that I depend on because of compatibility reasons so I stay in 32 Bit mode. Even further, I can get quickly frustrated if I forget to put the browser in compatibility mode for the site as they are still maintaining compatibility for IE9 Browser and lower. I'm sure they'll catch up but the backward support is necessary for customers who refuse to upgrade until forced. I've been there (Completely skipped Vista).
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Gitt,

The OS is still processing everything it can at 64 Bit. And all the advantages are still with it.

 

The folders Program Files and Program Files x86 are just there to make it easy for a user to distinguish which programs installed as 32-bit and which installed as 64-bit. I haven't heard of a program that is x64 installing in the x86 folder, but technically, it could happen and in the end, the root folder doesn't matter, if it's 64-bit it will run in 64-bit.

As rcb and others have said, there are programs that simply don't have a 64-bit versions (no need to have one), others that will default to the 32-bit version unless specifically asked to for maximum compatibility.

In the early days of MS Office 2010, the 64-bit version was rather buggy and unstable so the 32-bit version was the logical choice. Having a 64-bit executable allows the program to use more than 4 GB of RAM for one thing and most programs won't even hit that. Most web browsers are 32-bit by default. IE has a 64-bit version, Firefox will default to 32-bit, so will Opera, not sure about Chrome as I don't use that one.

If you want to know which program is 32-bit, open the task manager and you'll know right away.

Right now, the main benefit of 64-bit is that the OS can address more than 4 GB of RAM even if the 32-bit programs it runs are themselves limited to 4 GB. There aren't that many programs that go over 4 GB of RAM either, the only one that I personally use and that I have gone over 4 GB with is not what the average Joe would use (FEM simulation software).

 

Ok. Thanks a lot for the clarification, guys.