Best Free Windows 64-bit Software

Best Free Windows 64-bit Software - Page Index
Page 1. Introduction and What's New Page 2. Home and Office Page 3. Image View and Edit Page 4. Multimedia	Page 5. Disk and File Page 6. Desktop and GUI Page 7. Security and Privacy Page 8. Internet and eMail	Page 9. Network, Website & Server Page 10. Programming Page 11. Education and The Arts Page 12. Games
8. Internet and eMail
Browser Email

Best Free Windows 64-bit Browser

Now is a good time to try a 64-bit browser. Just don't get rid of your 32-bit browser until you are sure that you can do without it.

64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7 and 8 include both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Internet Explorer, version 8 in the case of Windows 7, version 10 for Windows 8. The 32-bit versions of Firefox, Google Chrome, and Opera also work without a hitch under both operating systems.

For a many months I have used all the browsers. I rate them similarly to the 32-bit versions (see Best Free Web Browser). Although my personal preference is for Firefox and its derivatives, your preference is likely to be determined by what you use in a 32-bit version. On my systems, the 64-bit versions seem smoother and faster than the 32-bit versions when running on 64-bit Windows but they are usually no faster than their 32-bit versions running on 32-bit Windows.

The issues are the same for all 64-bit versions, they use more memory and they may not be able to run your favourite 32-bit add-on or plug-in. However, the main roadblocks to using 64-bit browsers have been removed:

• the software is much more stable and delivers noticeable improvements in performance;
• many add-ons are available
• plug-ins are now available for download in 64-bit versions:
  • Adobe's Flash Player
  • Sun's Java Runtime Environment for Firefox and Internet Explorer
  • Microsoft Silverlight 5 RC Developer Runtime (x64) for Windows
• There is now a real choice with four 64-bit web browsers: Internet Explore, Opera and the Firefox-derived Pale Moon and Waterfox.

    Pale Moon

Pale Moon is a fast version of Firefox optimized to run on newer hardware. Speed is increased by optimizing the compiled program through removing support for older processors, utilising the features of newer processors, and configuring some features differently. The main difference you will notice is that the user interface is slightly different retaining some of the older placements.

Compatibility is maintained by using only 'unmodified Firefox code' but removing some 'less useful' features which don't affect the ability to display web pages correctly. Useful features that are removed are: accessibility features - if you need them you won't want this browser; and parental controls - see Best Free Internet Safety Check which describes how parental controls improve browsing safety. You will also lose crash support because Pale Moon does not have the same infrastructure as Firefox.

Pale Moon installation was easy but a separate utility has to be downloaded to migrate my Firefox settings. One benefit of 100% Firefox source code is that I can use Firefox Sync which synchronizes Firefox history, bookmarks, etc on different platforms. I'm using it to synchronize 32-bit Firefox, 64-bit Firefox and 64-bit Pale Moon so I don't lose any of my work while I'm evaluating them.

     Waterfox

Waterfox, like Pale Moon, is an optimized 64-bit version of Firefox that doesn't remove major components. It appears to be faster than Pale Moon but has one annoying feature:"Waterfox uses the same profile that Firefox does. If you uninstall Waterfox make sure you don't have the remove personal data box ticked!".

     Opera

Opera might well be my main browser if it wasn't so aggressive at making itself the default. With smaller market share, I guess that they try harder to overcome conservatism and inertia that keeps Opera off more desktops.

    Internet Explorer

While Internet Explorer 64-bit is a very good browser, I don't using it much because I have had more problems with the websites I rely upon and work on. Even so, I enjoyed using it as it was also noticeably smoother and faster than the 32-bit version.

    Google Chrome

Even with four 64-bit browsers to choos from, 32-bit Chrome Chrome is still a very attractive product with features that you might consider essential like multiple user profiles.

  Best Free Windows 64-bit Email

Microsoft offer no real 64-bit solution for the latest versions of Windows:

• Windows 8 Mail is a Modern UI application but it is very limited. If you use it, you will have to complement it with webmail or another email program.
• Windows 7 does not include an email client.
• Windows Vista 64 has a 64-bit version of Windows Mail which makes it Microsoft's only competent 64-bit email client.

    Earlybird

Thunderbird is our recommended client for the 32-bit Windows desktop but Mozilla's only 64-bit version is the unsupported beta Earlybird. It is good enough to use but be warned that you may strike problems although I haven't ... yet.

Unfortunately, moving from your existing email client to 64-bit Thunderbird 3 can be quite a challenge. Users moving from Thunderbird 2 under Windows 7 and Vista 64 will need to use two third party freeware products, MozBackup and MailStore Home. Migration from Outlook is relatively simple under Vista 64 using the import function. This approach doesn't work under Windows 7 due to changes in the registration of MAPI entries which no one appears to want to acknowledge or address.