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#21
I should have added that what the above means is that , with 4GB of memory on 32 bit windows, only 3.3 - 3.5 GB is usable.
In addition, programs running on 32 bit windows are limited to 2GB of memory. This is because windows reserves 4G of virtual memory for the operating system. With 64 bit this is not a limit.
I don;t think there is any upside to using Windows 32 bit. The only reason anyone would is if they have very old legacy software that won't run under 64 bit even under comparability mode, which there are none I know of that would affect an average user. 32 bit programs as a whole run under 64 bit windows just fine.