Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows 7 > Heads-up: Internet Explorer 32- vs 64-bit

Heads-up: Internet Explorer 32- vs 64-bit

Forum Windows 7 : Heads-up: Internet Explorer 32- vs 64-bit

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!

News

Ask the community Add a reply

Bottom Search this thread

Just thought I'd pass this along -

I installed Windows 7/64 RC1 the same day it was released to the public, first performing a clean install on en empty drive and later an upgrade install over Vista Ultimate/64 on another drive.

Last night, I happened to notice that the Start menu contains two entries for IE, "Internet Explorer" and "Internet Explorer (64-bit)". One thing led to another, and I quickly found that the IE taskbar icon (from which I habitually start IE) was pointing to the 32-bit version, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe". Thinking this might be a quirk of the upgrade install, I rebooted to the clean install and found the identical situation.

After some quick testing, it is clear that the 64-bit version (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe) is a great deal faster. So, I right-clicked the taskbar IE (32-bit) icon and selected "Unpin this program from taskbar." Then, in the Start menu, right-click the IE (64-bit) entry and select "Pin to Taskbar."

Y'all might want to do the same.

Add a reply

On the other hand, apparently Adobe does not yet have a Flash player for 64-bit browsers...

Reply to 55795642

Yep - the 64 bit is nice, but a lot of the standard browser plugins don't work properly on the x64 version.

Of course, I just use firefox...

------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 7
Reply to cjl

Since Adobe Flash is used more for advertisements than anything else (or so it seems), I find that I am getting along just fine without it.

Reply to 55795642

Of course its faster. Adobe flash works fine with my Vista64, didn't for the first year but it does now.

But really, who uses Internet Explorer? Firefox is faster and more secure.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ P965/Q6700@3.2 8MB HD4850 OC Edition
4GB Corsair XMS 800
Vista64/Win7
Fatality 550w/Antec 300
Reply to zipzoomflyhigh

zipzoomflyhigh wrote :

Of course its faster. Adobe flash works fine with my Vista64, didn't for the first year but it does now.

But really, who uses Internet Explorer? Firefox is faster and more secure.

Adobe does not have a Flash Player which works with 64-bit browsers. Operating systems yes, browsers no. If it works for you, it is because you are running the 32-bit version of IE, not the 64-bit version as previously described.

See http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/6b3af6c9.html

I know this is still current because any attempt to install the flash player in IE64 automatically redirects to the above page.

Reply to 55795642

I dont use IE at all. The flash ads seem to work fine on my system. They didnt for some time after I upgraded to Vista65, but they have for the last year.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by zipzoomflyhigh on 05-18-2009 at 02:50:01 PM

------------------------------ P965/Q6700@3.2 8MB HD4850 OC Edition
4GB Corsair XMS 800
Vista64/Win7
Fatality 550w/Antec 300
Reply to zipzoomflyhigh

zipzoomflyhigh wrote :

I dont use IE at all. The flash ads seem to work fine on my system. They didnt for some time after I upgraded to Vista65, but they have for the last year.

Well, as I said, this is not about 32-bit vs 64-bit operating systems but about 32-bit vs 64-bit browsers.

Vista/64 and Windows 7/64 come with two versions of IE, a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version. Adobe's current Flash Player does not work with, nor can it even be installed, on the 64-bit version of IE.

As wonderful as Firefox is, it is a 32-bit browser designed for 32-bit operating systems and runs in a 32-bit shell when installed on a 64-bit OS such as Vista/64.

Reply to 55795642

Yes your right about 32bit shell on Firefox, forgot about that. Why dont they have a 64 bit Firefox?

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ P965/Q6700@3.2 8MB HD4850 OC Edition
4GB Corsair XMS 800
Vista64/Win7
Fatality 550w/Antec 300
Reply to zipzoomflyhigh

Probably because they know Adobe's Flash player won't run on it.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to 55795642

55795642 wrote :

Probably because they know Adobe's Flash player won't run on it.

...which is entirely the fault of ADOBE: Three years after 64 bit Vista, and ADOBE still haven't created a 64 bit version of their flash player.

------------------------------ Which Chip? Well, it depends on which set of thieving b@stardz you choose to support: The ones who use insider trading to enrich themselves while running their company into the ground, or the ones who illegally pay vendors to not support the first group.
Reply to Scotteq

64-bit? Who needs 64-bit? Why waste time and money developing 64-bit applications - it'll never catch on!

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to 55795642

zipzoomflyhigh wrote :

Yes your right about 32bit shell on Firefox, forgot about that. Why dont they have a 64 bit Firefox?

They do - It's called 'Minefield'

http://news.cnet.com/think-firefox [...] minefield/
http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/09/ [...] an-chrome/

http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minefield/

Not quite fully baked yet, but I can tell you it works fine on my computer.

55795642 wrote :

64-bit? Who needs 64-bit? Why waste time and money developing 64-bit applications - it'll never catch on!

Quote :

After some quick testing, it is clear that the 64-bit version (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe) is a great deal faster. So, I right-clicked the taskbar IE (32-bit) icon and selected "Unpin this program from taskbar." Then, in the Start menu, right-click the IE (64-bit) entry and select "Pin to Taskbar."

Y'all might want to do the same.

Sorry, I was teasing. In the mode of Bill Gates supposedly once proclaiming, "Why would anyone ever need more than 640kb or memory?"

Reply to 55795642

Plus Firefox 64-bit is the default browser on 64-bit versions of Linux. If you want Adobe Flash you either have to install the 32-bit version of Firefox or download and install an alpha version of the 64-bit Flash player. I have yet been able to do either one, but apparently some have got the alpha working.

------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
Reply to Zoron

Link to Flash 64 FAQ: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies [...] 0/faq.html

Boy, you gotta love those guys:

Quote :

When will 64-bit versions of Flash Player for Windows and Mac be available?

We expect to provide native support for 64-bit platforms in an upcoming major release of Flash Player. Windows, Macintosh and Linux players will ship at the same time.

So, is that gonna be, like, um, in 2009? 2011? Perhaps in the year 2525?

Reply to 55795642

Ask the community Add a reply

Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows 7 > Heads-up: Internet Explorer 32- vs 64-bit

Go to:

Help |
Forum rules

There are 705 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Page generated in 0.443 seconds

Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel

Focus On

Heads-up: Internet Explorer 32- vs 64-bit

Forum Windows 7 : Heads-up: Internet Explorer 32- vs 64-bit

Please mind