Does Windows 7 64 bit make use of dual core CPU?

Question

Does Windows 64 bit make use of dual or more cores if they exist? Regardless if software is written for more cores.

Answer 1

Windows 7 (along with Vista, XP and even earlier operating systems) will make use of multiple cores. Microsoft has a per processor licensing model:

On October 19, 2004, Microsoft announced that its server software that is currently licensed on a per-processor model will continue to be licensed on a per-processor, and not on a per-core, model. This policy enables customers to recognize more performance and power from Microsoft software on a multicore processor system without incurring additional software licensing fees.

They have load balancing algorithms that ensure that if you run multiple applications they don't all get executed by just one core.