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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
No products from Iobit will be included on our site, because their site has got unsatisfactory WOT ratings. We do not feature products from such sites.
I read that WOT has listed some sites as bad when they are, in fact, not. What say you?
There are lots of types of bad collected under WOT's rating: malware and other security risks, fraud, bad customer service, child safety, ethics, etc. So my answer is a qualified 'Yes'.
WOT has the same problem as all reputation rating systems. It is the equivalent of website scanners getting false positives. It is difficult to avoid because a website can be hacked, then flagged as bad, then repaired, but it will remain flagged as bad until it is proved good.
If you want to visit a "bad" site check why it is flagged as bad because it might not be an internet security risk. It could be flagged bad for child safety or unhappy customers or simply because people don't like the views expressed on the site (mainly for political and religious sites).
In part, you can set WOT options to adjust what is included in the bad rating for your system.
You can also double-check security issues by using online scanners and meta-raters, such as VirusTotal.
This is not the right place to be going into more detail about WOT. So if you have more questions about this either then I'm happy to answer them in forums or in the comments for the relevant articles, which you could also read for more info about WOT:
Best Free Internet Safety Check
Best Free Internet Safety Check - Supplement.
Remah - Category Editor
Thank you for that detailed reply. My comment was based on Thundercloud's complaint that they (WOT) had given them a bad rating. I trust Thundercloud a lot, and use many of their tips and suggested sites. I will follow your advice and see why they were so designated.
Thanks again,
Bill
Bill, Thanks for bringing this up and connecting the dots for me. I read their article earlier this week but hadn't connected Thundercloud with Cloud Eight.
In their 2009 article 'Why we cannot recommend WOT any longer' they had a tantrum because WOT gave them a bad rating. Apparently they never checked what happened. WOT uses trusted third-party sources and the rating was based on Cloud Eight's blacklisting in hphosts. See hphosts response from December 9, 2009. Apparently, Hphosts only blacklisted it because it was provided by their trusted third-party malwareURL.
As I said previously, find out why. It usually pays to be specific with your questions.
PS The false positive was corrected at source and today, two years later, WOT, hphosts or malwareURL do not have negative ratings or listings for Thundercloud.com.
Malwarebytes is great and has been a life-saver for me. However, I'd hesitate to describe the free version as 'fast'. Not when a full scan takes 14 hours to get through my 450 GB of stuff.
[Moderator's note : Part about commercial version removed]
Pale Moon is a 64-bit (as also 32-bit) browser based on Firefox. In my system it works flawlessly along with 64-bit Java and Flash downloaded from Adobe Labs. 20 odd add-ons I use all work too. Highly recommended.
Thanks for that suggestion.
this is my first trip here but it is execellent and I intend to help them in some way as much as they have helped me.
IMHO, Multi Commander (http://multicommander.com/) is better than Double Commander, it has 32/64-bit version and the developer response very quickly for questions in the forum.
Thanks, I'll have a look at it.
I've been looking for an Explorer replacement that works well in x64 Windows basically since Windows 7 came out and I've tried them all, the best one I've found is FreeCommander XE (preview version of the next version of FreeCommander). It had a few bugs in the last version that made it kind of unusable (sorting by modified-by date didn't work), that's been fixed now and I love it.
Is there a toolbar available for 64 bit internet explorer/Windows 7
Some form of changelog would be nice. At least what's new.
As a member of our editing team you have access to the revisions log which details these changes (if completed :)) In this case it's so far just a change of editor and nothing else.
To members/visitors, we have no way to prevent this type of change or minor amendments from designating an article as "updated". Many editors do now include a changelog though and we are always looking at better ways to keep people informed.
Yes, a change log will be one of the first changes I make.
This whole article could use an updating as much of it seems dated. But can we get a review on the 64 bit version of Firefox http://wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com/Firefox:Download. Currently using chrome on my netbook with win 7 64 bit home premium and wondering if it's worth the switch back to FF just for the 64 bit advantage.
Thanks
Now reviewed. There is no recent 64-bit production release but I'd still recommend a look at the development releases for those who are interested. Otherwise try Pale Moon 64-bit which is faster but with less browsing security.
Brolly,
IMHO, if you want to use firefox only, without much need of plugins, you may want to try 64 bit browser.
When I tried, I did not find 64 bit version for some of the plugins that I wanted to use. So, I switched back to the 32 bit version.
Browser, Office suite, FTP client and Editors/IDE are most frequently used software for me. Would like to have opera in 64 bit also.
The above list doesn't contain any media player. Please do recommend some Media player which is a 64 bit program. i came across Media Player Classic .EXE and Portable version with K lite Codec Pack Both are 64 Bit version. I thought these programs can be added in above list.
I'd recommend vlc media player bcoz its light weight and runs smoothly while sleeking. It can stream videos from the internet that real player can do and do a lot more. I guess there's no 64-bit version but 32-bit version works quite fine.
I just discovered and have been using Pot Player x64. Nice feature rich player.
is there any software enabling me to use an application in 32bit and in a 64bit OS?
Ex: i tried installing Pocket oxford dict software in windows7 but its not working(works well in xp), is there any means that i could do so?
You could use this link to download windows xp mode for windows 7 http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
Before going to the link try to right click on the desktop shortcut and click on properties. Now click on compatibility and select the compatibility mode.
Hello,
I'm not sure whether to go with 32 or 64Bit Win 7.
Looking at Core i5 with 4Gb of Ram and 1Gb graphics.
But I've heard that 32bit programs will run slower on a 64bit OS than on a 32Bit OS.
Can you confirm that?
Cheers,
Larry
You can run almost any 32-bit program on Windows Vista or 7 64-bit. With 4GB of RAM (or more!), you will want 64-bit, as the 32-bit memory addressing will leave you with less than 3GB of that memory available (your 1GB video card will "map" over 1GB of your "system" RAM, and devices (your IDE controller, USB ports - almost everything in Device Manager) "map" over more memory, reducing the available RAM usable in Windows (it doesn't "use" the memory, just the address space). Using a 64-bit operating system removes the "4GB total address space" restriction, and all 4GB of your RAM will be available for use. (In fact, I'd recommend getting 8GB of RAM for a really fast system; RAM is pretty cheap right now.)
Dear Larry,
Use 64-bit operating systems and use native 64-bit programs, if you can not find native 64-bit programs, use 32/64-bit compatible programs, if you can not find 32/64-bit compatible programs use 32-bit programs.
Open Task Manager and see them *32 marked as 32-bit programs. Don't use 32-bit programs if they are not necessary.
Your computer is very goood, you have to run 64-bit operating systems.
Cheers,
Levent
this site is very usefull, for the one who is not an expert of computer. i love this site.
i love gizmos
I found a new and good native 64 bit program by your web site.
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