Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - Windows 10 - switch from 64-bit to 32-bit
Thread: Windows 10 - switch from 64-bit to 32-bit
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Old 02-13-2021, 08:02 AM
Malsua Malsua is offline
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Originally Posted by davephan View Post
I suggest that you back up that computer with Acronis True image, before you attempt to reinstall Windows. Acronis True image is not free, but it’s cheap, compared to losing everything on your computer. Everyone should be backing up their computers, but sadly almost no one backs up their computers. I worked in the IT industry for decades, and I recovered Windows servers when the servers failed and needed to be recovered. Eventually, every computer will fail. It could be sooner, or later. If you don’t have a backup, all your documents and photos will be lost forever. Windows has a backup method that is free and built in. Sadly, the built in Windows recovery software fails to recover the computer, when you need to recover! That’s why 3rd party backup software, like Acronis True Image exists.

Sometimes, Windows Activation can be a problem. You can almost always get around that problem is you activate Windows by telephone. You will be asked to type in 9 six number blocks into your phone. Then you will be given 9 six digit blocks to enter into your computer. Take a clear photo of the numbers you are given, so you can reuse those Windows Activation numbers in the future if needed. However, it does work to Activate Windows by telephone on the same computer, over an over. After you are done working on the computer, verify that Windows is Activated. If Windows isn’t Activated, your computer will only stay powered on for one hour, before it powers off by itself.
Just for what it's worth, as part of my job I used true Image for a long long time, I want to say starting back about 2004. It just worked.

At some point in the last 3-4 years it started not working. It wouldn't boot to the media, the images wouldn't boot, it wouldn't recognize drivers, etc. It became unreliable.

I found a different tool. Macrium reflect. It's free for individual use and for cloning drives. It works. Every time. Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free Also, it makes the image while you're booted into the OS! You don't have to boot to a dos loader or some linux loader or whatever. It really is a great tool. I have no connection to this company other than using this software so I'm not trying to foist some malware on you. Get Macrium and try it, you'll thank me later .