A Little Change

As mentioned in my previous post, I switched up to Windows 7. While it is a 64 bit OS, most of what I wanted functioned somewhat smoothly. It was until recently that I had felt a need to change things.

I had always had the impression that running a 32 bit program in a 64 bit environment is less resource efficient. Although simply asking around had confirmed this, I have yet bothered to Google it myself.

The first most obvious thing that came into mind when thinking about program efficiency is of course video playback. Specifically, High-Definition video playback.

Previously Preferred: KMPlayer

Now Using: Media Player Classic (64 bit)

After some light research, and making some simple mistakes, I decided to install K-Lite Codec Pack 64 bit version. Then through trial and error I was finally able to make my machine play 1080p videos without a loss of quality smoothly. Though there is still some tearing, the end results were very satisfying.

The second issue that bugged me the most is my file manager. Using a 32 bit file manager in a 64 bit environment had a very obvious difference when right clicking.

Previous Preferred: NexusFile

Using Now: Q-Dir (64 bit)

While it lacks the cosmetic qualities that NexusFile holds, it has its various good qualities. Although I would prefer NexusFile much more, Q-Dir is a very good replacement until a 64 bit version of NexusFile comes out. Boasting up to 4 panels for file exploring and coupled with tabbed view, it truly is meant for a power user.

Third, internet browsing. Currently still using Firefox and Chrome. Chrome's dev channel is finally not crashing so hard on me now but with orbit integration missing from it, I might just stay in Firefox a little while longer.

Both these internet browsers lack an official 64 bit version. Unofficial releases were said to be much better and efficient but the lack of my beloved addons would be severely saddening.

The most recent change to these two is the addition of a little plugin called Xmarks for both browsers. With this enabled, I am now able to sync bookmarks effortlessly between both browsers or any other browser that I may need to use in the future which is not from my machine. Also a great way to backup if considering reformatting or if a virus destroys your machine.

That's pretty much all that has changed in my machine so far. Just replacing some programs with more efficient programs. Hoping to not see a *32 symbol behind any of the processes in my task manager in the future.

Links:
K-Lite Codec Pack 64 bit
Q-Dir
Xmarks
NexusFile