an unusual question....
 

i'm not sure how to put this in a way that makes sense......

but here goes nothing......

what does the 32-bit or 16-bit part refer to when talking about an operating system? for example..... windows xp home is 32-bit, xp pro is 64-bit

could anyone kinda clue me in as to what thats about and what it effects?

Different instruction sets. You know processors have instruction sets (or at least I hope you know that)

the x86 instruction set (most common processors these days) is 32-bit. The 32-bit OS's are complied to use the x86 instruction sets

the new processors supports new instruction set, that is 64-bit. Pentium processors that are 64-bit (and just 64-bit) must have an operating system complied that supports these new instruction sets.

however AMD 64-bit processors support both 32, and 64 bit instruction sets, so you can use 32-bit (98, 2k, 32-bit XP) and 64-bit OS's

ooooooooooooh okie that makes more sense now :) thank you