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Best Free Windows 64-bit Software
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Best Free Windows 64-bit Software - Page Index
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 8. Internet and eMail |
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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
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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 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, 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Version numbers match Firefox versions.
Further Resources:
Migration Tools
Technical Details for CPU compatibility and excluded Firefox features
Requires 5.5 MB download of 64-bit Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
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Comments
Dear RikMayell,
I am so glad that you are a contributor here. I have learned so much from your comments and explainations of different products.
Please keep up the great work!
Sincerely,
Dennis S. Primm
Dennis,
Thank you for the positive feedback, and for taking the time to read my contributions.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Nice to see 7-Zip and PeaZip! Both are also available as PortableApps' portable applications (PeaZip has also a natively portable package) in order to bring those applications on a thumbdrive and similar.
I just come accross this site, I belive that I will get solution to my problem.
Im using Vista with sony laptop and I want window 7 or XP on the system, how do I do this?
1.where can I download the sofware "turn vista to window 7"?
2. How do I pertition my hard disk?
Thanks for your assistance,
Kay
It's not wise to publicly list your email address, you could end up receiving all sorts of things!
Kay,
Questions like this are best posted in the forum, you need to register but that only takes a minute or two.
In answer,
1. To move from Vista to Windows 7 you will need to purchase the appropriate upgrade license for the Vista that you have. The product is already Released To Manufacturing (RTM), and is due to be made available to the general public on the 22nd October. I'm fairly sure it's available to preorder from many of the on-line sites.
2. To create a new partition on your existing C drive proceed as follows:
(a) Open the Control Panel, double click Administrative Tools, Computer Management, and select Disk Management from the left hand pane of the Computer Management dialog box.
(b) Right click on the partition you want to shrink in order to free up space and select Shrink Volume from the context menu.
(c) Windows will tell by how much the partition can be shrunk, adjust this as a appropriate and then click on OK. Note that if the value reported by Windows is very low it's likely your existing partition is nearly full or is badly fragmented. If this the case refer to:
Best Free Disk De-fragmenter
and/or
Best Free Disk Space Analyzer
(d) Once the shrink operation has completed you can use the Disk Manager to create new partitions or, if installing an additional OS allow the installation routine to do it.
Hope that helps.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
re: Firewalls
I am quite satisfied using Privatefirewall 6 from PrivacyWare,Inc; both in Win Vista and Win 7, since OnlineArmor Firewall does not work in Win 7. It's worth a look:
http://www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html
The overall response in this forum thread
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/security/1504-privatefire...
suggests Comodo Internet Security is a better bet. I am more than happy with CIS and will continue to recommended it as top pick for Windows 7 / Vista 64.
Remember though that it's what works for you that really counts.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
I agree having had difficulties with OnLine Armor but being very pleased with Comodo even though you have to work a bit harder for a while.
Agreed. I ran CIS (full suite) extensively on Vista Ultimate x64 and it was faultless. I recently changed to Bullguard so I could be running this during the site offer period and day by day now issues began to arise. I'm not blaming Bullguard because I have been in contact with their tech guys and we've narrowed it down to a software conflict. Unfortunately I need this PC fully functional for my site work here and just don't have the time to nail this down. Consequently Bullguard went yesterday and CIS came back on. I wasn't too impressed with the additional 100mb+ required to reload the AV database but all in all my PC is exactly back to how it was before. You could not have said this about CIS even a few months ago on any system which just demonstrates how far this software has progressed.
I second CIS which unbelievably for me has so far given less issues on Ultimate 64 than it did on XP! I was previously a great fan of Privatefirewall but something appears to have been "lost" during the upgrade process. The real key with CIS is not to wind it up too tightly unless you can't possibly live outside of a maximum security environment. This will reduce the chances of hitting any instability a lot. I do activate the Protocol Analysis but otherwise I don't ask it to do any more than I really need.
Auslogics freeware should be mentioned.
Auslogics main business is shareware although they do, as you point out, offer cut down freeware versions of some of their products. All Auslogics software is 32 bit and, in my opinion, none of their products offer any benefit over others identified in the review.
If you feel a particular product has been unfairly left out then post the details and I'll be happy to check it out.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Comodo Internet Security (CIS)
Fails to install on Windows 7 RTM, ive tried every possible install method, i dont have UAC or driver signing mode enabled so this shouldnt cause an issue.
Win 7 RTM 64bit
Just so other folks know.
Two Questions.
1. Is your PC in good condition prior to installation of CIS or any other security program be it antivirus or firewall?
2. Where did you downloaded it from?
These problems with Windows 7, CIS, and other security products, which occurred during the transition from release candidate to final product, have long since been resolved.
If you find you are unable to install a security product under the release version of Windows 7 you should ensure that your PC is free from malware. Check here for help on how to do this. If your PC is malware free check with the supplier of the product for further information or post in the forum where someone will be happy to try and help.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
I installed it on Win 7 RTM x64 without a problem.
This problem seems to come and go, I've never been able to pin down the exact cause.
To workaround the problem:
1. Create an icon on your desktop that points to the CIS installation routine.
2. Right click on the icon and select Properties.
3. Click on the Compatibility tab and select 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)'
Ensure that 'Run this program as an administrator' is selected under Privilege Mode and then click on OK.
If you double click on your newly created icon you should find that CIS installs okay. After a reboot it will function normally.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Nice article, thanks.
Could you clarify one point for me please.
When you say, "If you decide to use a third party disk defragmenter, don't be tempted to disable the built in Windows 7 / Vista 64 disk defragmenter.", does this include merely turning off the defrag scheduler, or are you referring to another more permanent way of disabling it?
Cheers.
You should leave the Windows Defragmentation tool untouched. I suggest you check when the Windows tool is due to run via the Task Scheduler and ensure that you don't run any other defragmentation tool on the same day.
Under Vista and Windows 7, ReadyBoot (sic) monitors the files loaded during the last 5 system boots and generates a boot plan that is independent of the Prefetch plan in C:\WINDOWS\PREFETCH\LAYOUT.INI. When the Windows disk defrag tool runs it has access to this ReadyBoot information and adjusts file layouts accordingly.
I'm still working my way through the Windows 7 Software Development Kit, but have yet to find any means for third party applications to access this information.
There is one thing that I came across recently that I found rather odd. Mark Russinovich of SysInternals fame, and now Technical Fellow at Microsoft, stated in one of his interviews that the Windows defragmentation tool runs every three days to process ReadyBoot information. As it normally only runs once a week this would suggest it is being launched from elsewhere?
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Interesting, thanks.
I'm currently using MyDefrag, so it's not ideal to have Windows defragmenter stepping in from time to time and changing things around (potentially undoing some of the optimization performed by MyDefrag). Although I still would like to benefit from ReadyBoot of course.
From what Mark Russinovich said, it seems that maybe ReadyBoot optimization is performed independently of scheduled defragmentation. In which case, I'm tempted to setup Windows scheduler to run monthly, and in the middle of the night so that it never actually runs (my PC is usually always shut down overnight). The fact that the ReadyBoot process runs every 3 days also makes it sound very much like the built-in Windows XP boot time optimization process which runs independently of defragmentation if I'm not mistaken.
Addition: Of course I may still not get the full benefits of ReadyBoot if MyDefrag optimization undoes it!
I run MyDefrag as well and share your concerns.
I'm currently waiting for the latest copy of the book co-authored by Mark to be delivered (I'm sure you know the one I mean.) Hopefully it will shed more light on this issue. If so, I'll update the review accordingly.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
your review is great you forgot comodo system cleaner(free).
Moderator comment : reference to shareware/commercial software removed.
The comments in this Wilder's thread http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=235664 would suggest this software should be approached with caution.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
You can find more freeware and shareware for win7 at
Thank you for that, I will take a look.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
hi iam having 64 bit windowsvista home prieum edition i cannot install .net software and sql database so what i have to do
As MC has pointed out, your best chance of resolving the issues you have is by posting in the forum. I would add that you should include in your post the version of .NET installed on your machine, the version of .NET required by the software you are trying to install, and also which SQL database product you are trying to use.
Rik Mayell - Category Editor
Mostly the editors deal with support issues like this in the forum as the posts need to be sequential. If you register and post again here you'll be guaranteed to receive a personalized response.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/freeware-forum/general-computer-support/
nice work Rik Mayell.....thumbs up!!
BTW....Foxit Reader is also a good PDF reading freeware
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/download.php