Then, click the Windows-y down arrow with a “64” on it, like so:Īfter the 64-bit installer is done downloading, close Thunderbird.
On the next page, scrolls down and find your preferred language.
Instead of clicking the Free Download button, click Systems & Languages underneath it: I expected a huge increase in RAM usage, but nope! It’s quite lean and mean even though it’s 64-bit. You can read more about that trick in my earlier article: Quick Fix: Thunderbird hangs when deleting any messageĪnd as for memory usage, it’s maybe 10% more than before. That’s a welcome change from the increasingly sluggish experience that recent versions of Tbird have brought us.Įven my regular maintenance involving repairing and compacting folders is MUCH faster. Well, for starters, I immediately saw that it’s noticeably faster! Switching folders, opening mails, filtering folders with lots of e-mail, compacting folders, repairing folders… everything just zooms. That sounds good to me! My experience of 64-bit Thunderbird In fact, when 64-bit Firefox came out awhile ago, Mozilla itself touted that it was faster and crashed 39% less. And generally speaking, it means that the 64-bit version of any application will probably be a bit zippier, even though it might use a bit more RAM. Now, generally speaking, both of those reasons are good ones. 64-bit apps run natively, without the WOW64 “translation layer” than lets 32-bit apps run on 64-bit Windows.64-bit apps can access WAAAAY more memory.There are 2 primary reasons why 64-bit apps are better than 32-bit apps: There’s a lot of nonsense out there about the benefits of 64-bit applications. I guess that means it’s ready! Why you want 64-bit Tbird While it’s difficult to tell due to the severe lack of info available, it appears that 64-bit Thunderbird is now “mainstream” or “official” or whatever you want to call it.
So, how do you go 64-bit with Thunderbird? And why would you want to?īeginning with Thunderbird version 68, the 64-bit download of the program is no longer hidden.
There’s only one problem: the default version you can download from Mozilla’s web site is still 32-bit.įirefox – and pretty much every other piece of software out there – went 64-bit a long time ago. For those of us who don’t like webmail because storing all our data in the The Cloud just seems like a Really Bad Idea, the best e-mail program available for puters is Thunderbird.