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On my Win7 x64 PC, by default IE(32-bit) shortcut is available on my Taskbar.

Today, I noticed that there is a IE(64-bit) shortcut link on Start->All Programs. I started and verified Help->About that this is a 64-bit of Internet Explorer.

What are the reasons to use Internet Explorer 64-bit? Is there any way I can compare the performance of 32-bit and 64-bit browsers?

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There is no good reason to use Internet Explorer. Period. – Benjamin Dobson Jan 16 '10 at 23:33
@Benjamin you couldn't have said it any better! – JL. Jun 4 '10 at 9:42
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closed as not constructive by random♦ Sep 19 '11 at 3:55

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4 Answers

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The 64-bit version of IE can only host native 64-bit ActiveX controls and other 64-bit Web page objects. The 32-bit version can't. You won't see a significant performance difference so I wouldn't bother benchmarking them, I think it's mainly there for developers to start making their apps compatible with 64-bit IE as most things are moving towards 64-bit.

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Does this mean that it will pickup appropriate JRE(32/64-bit) based on which IE you are running? – kamleshrao Nov 18 '09 at 5:05
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If you have it installed it should – John T Nov 18 '09 at 5:20
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up vote 2 down vote

The only reason i can think of is if you happen to be browsing websites that require MORE then 3GB's of your systems RAM. From my experiences with Internet Explorer(x64) its highly incompatible with most websites due to no support for x64 plugins/activeX controls at the moment.

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"Most websites" require plugins/activeX controls? – Ken Jan 17 '10 at 0:57
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up vote 0 down vote

What I find with the 64-bit IE8 is that you cannot download Adobe Flash.

For about a year my wife and sister complained that IE8 crashed alot, but mine never did. Last week I discovered that I had been using a 64-bit version and they the 32-bit version (different machines). Last week I switched to the 32-bit version - to install Adobe Flash Player. Now I find my IE crashes ocassionally.

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You used IE without flash for so long? Why didn't you just use something else, Firefox or Chrome. – alex Nov 18 '09 at 10:14
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Flash isn't necessary for the internet to work you know! – Rich Bradshaw Nov 18 '09 at 11:28
Lynx is still a usable browser! – Phoshi Nov 18 '09 at 11:56
That was a good observation. Sometimes I too feel that IE8 (32) is sometimes slower and crashes. I have not seen any such behavior with Firefox(32). – kamleshrao Nov 18 '09 at 13:57
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up vote 0 down vote

There would only be 1 of two reasons. If you have a poor x86-64 (32-bit supporting) processor is shit or if it is and there is a Flash game that demands alot (Flash is 64-bit from the 5th of feb 2010)

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