Initially, the bit depth is a characteristic of the computer's central processor, which determines the amount of information it processes per cycle. This parameter affects the speed of the system and the ability to use more advanced hardware with the processor. To take full advantage of the hardware capabilities, software is being created that specializes in working with hardware of a certain bit depth. You can find out the bitness of operating systems by means of the OS itself.
Necessary
Windows OS
Instructions
Step 1
If you are using Windows 7 or Vista, open the main menu and select the "Control Panel" item. In the panel window, click the link "System and Security", and then click on the inscription "System" to access the desired applet. You can launch it in another way - for example, press the Win key, type "sis" and select the "System" link in the list of search results. Or you can use the hotkeys Win + Pause.
Step 2
In the Control Panel applet window, under the heading "View Basic Information About Your Computer," find the "System" section, and in it, the line that begins with "System Type". After the colon in this line, the bit depth of your OS version is indicated.
Step 3
You can find out this data using another OS component. To launch it, open the main menu of the system, type three letters "sis" on the keyboard and press Enter. This will launch the component with the title "System Information". On the main tab, which bears the same name, find the "Type" line in the "Element" column. The second column - "Value" - will contain the information you need. It is usually given in English. If you find the inscription X86-based PC there, it means that the computer is using a 32-bit operating system. A 64-bit system is labeled X64-based PC.
Step 4
In Windows XP, the system component described in the previous step is also there, but you will have to open it through the program launch dialog. Expand the main menu, select Run, then type winmsd.exe and click on the OK button. The method of determination here is exactly the same as in the previous method - the "Type" field must contain the number 64 for a 64-bit OS or 86 for a 32-bit OS.
Step 5
In the XP version, you can also use this option: press the key combination Win + R, then type sysdm.cpl and press the Enter key. In the window that opens, go to the "General" tab and read the inscription under the heading "System" - if the OS name does not mention 64-bit (x64 Edition), then the system is 32-bit.
