•• Other USB gadgets, like music players, are a little more complicated. You have to tell your computer when Windows XP is allowed to use them. To make one available to your XP world, connect it, turn it on, and then choose USBÆAttach iPod (or whatever the thing’s name is). Then, when you’re finished using it in the XP world, choose USBÆRelease iPod so you can use it in Windows 7 again. •• Exit XP Mode by clicking the Close button on the toolbar or title bar. up to speed
A Little Bit About 64 Bits Every version of Windows 7 except Starter is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. (Both come in the same package.) Right. 64-what? If you want your eyes to glaze over, you can read the details on 64-bit computing in Wikipedia. But the normal-person’s version goes like this: For decades, the roadways for memory and information passed through PCs were 32 “lanes” wide—they could manage 32 chunks of data at once. It seemed like plenty at the time. But as programs and even documents grew enormous, and computers came with the capacity to have more and more memory installed, engineers began to dream of 64-lane circuitry. To reach 64-bit nirvana, however, you need a 64-bit computer running the 64-bit version of Windows. Sometimes, you don’t have a choice. For example, if your PC comes with at least 4 gigabytes of memory, it has 64-bit Windows, like it or not. And if you buy a netbook, it probably comes with the 32-bit version. Otherwise, though, you probably have a choice. Which version should you go for? In the short term, the most visible effect of having a 64-bit computer is that you can install a lot more memory. A top-of-the-line 32-bit PC, for example, is limited to 4 GB of RAM—and only about 3 GB is actually available to your programs. That once seemed like a lot, but it’s suffocatingly small if you’re a modern video editor, game designer, or
number-crunchy engineer. On a 64-bit PC with 64-bit Windows, though, you can install just a tad bit more memory: 192 GB. (In the Home Premium version of Windows 7, the cap is 16 GB). Eventually, there may be other benefits to a 64-bit PC. Programs can be rewritten to run faster. Security can be better, too. For now, though, there are some downsides to going 64-bit. For example, much of the world’s software has yet to be rewritten as 64-bit apps. The older, 32-bit programs mostly run fine on a 64-bit machine. But some won’t run at all, and 32-bit drivers for your older hardware (sound card, graphics card, printer, and so on) may give you particular headaches. (That’s why, for example, 64-bit Windows 7 actually runs the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer—because the world’s Internet Explorer plug-ins are mostly 32-bit, and they wouldn’t work with the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer.) You can’t run 16-bit programs at all in 64-bit Windows, either (at least not without an add-on program like DOSBox). If you have taken the 64-bit plunge, you generally don’t have to know whether your apps are running in 32- or 64-bit mode; every kind of program runs in the right mode automatically. If you ever want to see how many of your apps are actually 32-bitters, though, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager; then click the Processes tab. The 32-bit programs you have open are indicated by “*32” after their names.