Windows 7

emptybox

2 GB of Ram is fine for Windows 7 to run fairly smoothly.

grumpycrab

This will instantly tell you whether you have a 32/64bit cpu.
https://www.grc.com/securable.htm

gletley

Will I notice a big difference between xp and 7?
Is windows 7 as easy to use as xp?

giraffe69

Is windows 7 as easy to use as xp?

There is always the initial aggravation of changing as things can be in a different place or work in a slightly different way however after a short while I think you will find it easier and smoother to use.

esuhl

Peter999 wrote: »

Do you know how much RAM you have?, its only really worth using 64-bit if you have more tham 3GB RAM.

That's not quite true. If you want to run 64-bit applications you will need the 64-bit OS; a compatibility layer ensures you can also run 32-bit apps.

Also, the 64-bit versions of Windows are inherently more secure for several reasons: http://www.howtogeek.com/165535/why-the-64-bit-version-of-windows-is-more-secure/

A 32-bit OS can only address 4GB of memory concurrently. If you have more than 4GB memory (RAM + video memory) then you'd need a 64-bit OS to really take advantage of that. A 32-bit OS can address more than 4GB, but only by allocating different parts of memory to different application; only 4GB can be accessed at any one time.

If you have a 64-bit CPU, I can't imagine any reason why you'd want to run the 32-bit version of Windows 7.

Peter999 wrote: »

You are currently running the 32-bit version of Windows XP (it only mentions the version if you are running the 64-bit version).

Just for the OP's information, although there was a 64-bit version of Windows XP it didn't get mainstream support from hardware vendors, so consequently very, very few "normal" non-techie, consumers (if any) would have used it.

Just because you have a 32-bit version of XP, it doesn't mean that you'd have to get the 32-bit version of Windows 7... you just need to make sure you have a 64-bit CPU.

John_Gray

gletley wrote: »

I have 1.99 GB of Ram.

You should be aware that the Microsoft requires a minimum of 2 GB of RAM for 64-bit Windows 7.

If the graphics card has nicked some of your 2 GB of memory, it may be that Windows 7 64-bit would still run, but I wouldn't bother trying.

gletley

John_Gray wrote: »

You should be aware that the Microsoft requires a minimum of 2 GB of RAM for 64-bit Windows 7.

If the graphics card has nicked some of your 2 GB of memory, it may be that Windows 7 64-bit would still run, but I wouldn't bother trying.

I've bought the 32 GB, thought it would be the best bet.

home_alone

Just found out (metro paper) 95% of the worlds ATM machines are on XP.