Knowing if your copy of Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit becomes very important when installing device drivers for your hardware and choosing between certain kinds of software.

Because x64 processors are backwards-compatible, you can install and run 32-bit as well as 64bit versions of Windows onto them. Of course, if you bought an x64 computer from a major manufacturer ...

If your version of Windows is 64-bit, you're able to install both 32-bit and 64-bit software programs, so there are two different "Program Files" folders on your computer.