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Have you run Windows ME

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If you have run or deployed Microsoft’s latest consumer operating system, Windows Millennium Edition, I would like to hear what issues you have had with software and hardware. I would also like to hear your comments, good or bad, on Windows ME.

Topic

Windows ME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I am running ME, and I must say, I am impressed.
Before I got this pc nearly 2 years ago, the last pc I had been on was an old ZX Spectrum in 1986 – technology has lept forward, and left me well and truely behind.
This pc is a P2 400Mhz, and underW98 (which it came with), you could wait all day just for it to fire up. I had a lovely start up logo, could sit an watch it for minuets and often did. With ME, hit the power button and BANG! I am there, loading taskbar programs and the systray. Everything is easier to find – ME has all the things that W98SE should have had but didn’t. The virtual/swap area is fantastic – using nearly 2GB (I have 17Gb empty), so I dont have as many memory run outs. Problems include a file architecture that a lot of other programs dont like ( for example, WinZip 8.0 wont install – hangs the system)and some backup programs wont (my copy of ME dont have backup). I have a shut down problem at the moment (window write protection error), but I think that is due to a USB game controller software. For someone like me, self-taught (not that I know that much, but I know what I dont know, if you know what I mean)ME is a good system. It will not allow you to run 2os, unless you have two hard drives, and have themloaded on seperate drives, and switch them through BIOS (as I do), but hey, nor will 98 so I cant complain there.
I have a friend that is running W2000. He had a look at ME, and was impressed, and this bloke dont impress easily! (he is industry, and I am currently studying to be industry). Good system, well done microsoft, but hurry up and get the driver updates out – there is still a few things that willnot run on ME, but have no problems on 98.
7 out of 10 for getting it almost right,
10 out of 10 for trying.

I like it ,,,but it is not much of an up

In reply to Windows ME

WinMe runs a little better than Windows98. It doesn’t run any better than WIndows2k. It does not have as good of plug and play that WIndows2k has. It runs better and doesn’t need to be restarted as often as Windows 98….I don’t see any real reason to run it except to convert from Windows 2k for game support. That is all.

windows me

In reply to I like it ,,,but it is not much of an up

windows me is the best windows ever. faster than windows 98 and even more powerful than windows2000. windows me rules!!!!!!!!

No, 2000 is better.

In reply to windows me

how can you say that windows rules? the only reason we use it is cuz we have no choice. plus, if you knew better, 2000 benchmarks considerably higher than winme.

2k NOT better with a VIA chipset

In reply to No, 2000 is better.

On the whole, 2000 may be more stable (and potentially faster) than the 9x series – and the cluster size for NTFS is FAR superior – but don’t try running it on a newer motherboard that uses the VIA chipset. There are documented problems – and I canattest to them – random lockups left and right. There is no current solution. I dropped back to ME – still tweaking things to get the benchmarks up.

Now if they could get ME to run NTFS, THAT would be something =)

NTFS on WinME

In reply to 2k NOT better with a VIA chipset

No “on the whole” about it, NT2K is far more stable. Faster….no not really. Same old NT problem, that being the HAL. Via chipsets were problematic under Win9x too, but yes, MickeySoft should have found it before release really. NTFS could easily be run under ME, but it never will. The reason is that Microsoft have deliberately chosen to separate the Home User market from the business market.

WinME – Home use, good for games not much else

NT2K – Business, stable (in theory at least) and great for running critical services etc, but with virtually no game support. At least none specifically for gaming.

Faster? no Powerful? Unknown

In reply to windows me

Faster – Nope, I had to double my memory (now 64 meg) to get the same performance as Win98 2nd edition.
Powerful – Only had it 2 weeks – unknown.

Windows ME Sucks!

In reply to Windows ME

I must admit WinME is an improvement to 98, which really does not say much. I find the system responds better to older systems (PII,AMDK2,etc…) I created a dual boot system with Windows 2000 on an old AMD 266 and the system ran nicely, but when I experimented with the PIII 550 I was having problems with the Media player on WinME would lock up. Maybe it was a bad DLL, but whatever the case, WinME was suppose to be a non DOS based operating and Microsoft obviously couldn’t deliver. I still think Windows 2000 is far more of a superior system, especially since you can play games on the system, not like the old NT platform. Plus for all of you that run cable or dsl, Windows 2000 gives you a more secure and stable system. I’m sure you all know about the problems Win98 gave you, rest assured you will discover the same with Windows ME.

Yep, it sucks

In reply to Windows ME Sucks!

I’ve had my Athlon 600 system running stably on Win 98&2000 for more than six months now, and I’m a supporter of Microsoft, (well, mostly) but Win ME has disappointed me immensely, it rejects 70% of my software, accessories and games and has almost no modern hardware support.

In my opinion Win ME is the most user unfriendly OS released yet, it’s got months to go before it’s ready for release.

Come on Microsoft, get your act together.

ME and ATHLON

In reply to Yep, it sucks

I have Installed ME on 7 systems to date and the only thing I can say is it was not ready to be released yet seems that the systems that have the worst problems are the ATHLONS AND P3 OVER 400 ME has trashed every time I have tried to install on a large cpu system
leaving me to call a customer and explain why the system I have just built for him will not support the latest and cough cough greatest version of windows but like all things when it works it works great have had A overloaded cyrix 333 take to ME like it was a new stick of 128 with about the same increase in performance so beware be sure to back up and have your old defunct 98se ready to go back into service if anything goes wrong but if you are this far into looking at ME then you will prob upgrade no mater what anyone says just be carful,cross fingers buy whole rabbit ect ect ect and DO IT!

ME and Athlon

In reply to ME and ATHLON

I installed ME on an Athlon 500 with MSI motherboard… It trashed until I installed the required miniport driver from AMD. Now it works fine!!!

ME is still just a reworked Win98 though…

K7 800 NO PROB

In reply to ME and ATHLON

I have been running ME on a K7 800mhz with out any problems at all! I find it hard to beleve that you can not get it to run. What Mobo are you usins for the K7?. My system is all SCSI but for an IDE zip100 drive. This is the fastest system I have ever built! and I have built some FAST systems before.

750 Mhz Athlon and ASUS MB are solid

In reply to ME and ATHLON

I recently put together a dual boot WIN 2000 and WIN ME system. I used a 750Mhz and ASUS K7M motherboard. So far, both systems are solid. I basically wanted the ME for my game collection and it is fulfilling it’s role nicely. It seems to boot fast (much faster than SE), and has yet to crash. WIN 2000 does seem to have a superior plug and play, which has made the driver battle a lot easier to manage. I wish that that could have been incorporated into ME, but beggers can’t be choosers.

Duron 700 on a K7V 133 /w Me

In reply to ME and ATHLON

well it WORK’s … no Dosent… Yes It Does …. No it doesn’t… I have had Both answers to this on my system First install Was lovley… insatlled tuns of Carp and treaded it like every Tech does at home… Like a field beater till it dies… :>) well it died and i reinsatlled and IT did not goin well the second time.. but it went in OK the next two time and this time not so well.. all the VIA patches are neaded… but NOT ALL THE WINDOWS ME ONES!! some of them seem to couse more headaces then with out. As par normal with M$. I don’t know what is cosing incastent installation but … perhaps it’s time to Fdisk the thing. :>)
cheers

Power Supply and 5 USB Port Problems

In reply to Duron 700 on a K7V 133 /w Me

I have the same board with ME , 300 power, 256 mb memory 10gig in 3 physical drives, cd rom, cd burner, 100 mb zip drive, usb scanner, usb digital Cannon a20 camera, ASUS video/digital camera, HP printers including 1115 power shot which accepts compact disk digital cards.

Problems.
Can not get exept one of the in board USB ports to work sometimes. Added to that port a USB 4 port external with its own power. Put card reader in and would not work. Can not get printer 1115 to download pictures off card.
What can I do exept blow it UP !!!!

XP = not likely that ME will ever work

In reply to Yep, it sucks

With the impending release of XP, it ain’t too likely that all the missing drivers for ME will ever show up.

Other than the fact of missing drivers, therefore a lot of hardware and software shags bad, so you can’t really use the PC the way YOU would like (Whatever happened to: Where do YOU want go today? It really was: Where are going to be TAKEN today?). Well, other than all of that, Win ME is fine. Too bad we have to use it the way Redmond says we should.

Maybe so, but you’ve got the info mixed.

In reply to Windows ME Sucks!

I haven’t tried WinME yet. I probably will in the next month or so. From what I have read, I never got the message that WinME was going to be a non DOS-based operating system. About a year and a half ago, I read some preliminary reports that Microsoft was going to merge their two main operating systems, NT and Windows into a single non DOS-based operating system with the usability of Win98 and the security and stability of NT. Within the last year, however, Microsoft has said that they havechanged these plans. They said that WinME will be the last in a line of Win9x type systems, and that the next OS release will merge the two operating systems into one.

media player worked fine for me

In reply to Windows ME Sucks!

i didn’t have any problems with it, the only thing that happened, and this is only once, i got a widows protection error when i shut down. but only once. i will post more problems as i come across them.

Nice, but noted issues…

In reply to Windows ME Sucks!

Perhaps the best feature of Windows Me is the system restore feature that allows you to pick a point in history and turn your system back to that point… ie: before you installed those corrupted scanner drivers and deleted all the uninstall README.TXT files.

Me WILL tax your processor more than other versions. If you are having overheat problems (or are on the edge of overheat problems) with 98, DON’T UPGRADE! The system will crash faster than a single-prop plane with a bird nest in the converter.

As far as performance goes, Windows 98 SE and Internet Explorer 5.5 (in combination) will bench your software faster than Me (that translates into Me is slower than 98 SE).

If you would like to sacrifice speed (and it’s not a significant amount) for a more “user-friendly” experience, then Me is for you.

Windows 98 has similar feature

In reply to Nice, but noted issues…

I just can’t remember what it is called.

All of you people..??

In reply to Windows ME Sucks!

I don’t understand some of you people. Everyone sits there and all they do is bust on Microsoft. But the real issue here is that, if it weren’t for Microsoft, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE A JOB IN THE COMPUTER FIELD. Re-think things when you are biting the hand that feeds you..

Eddie

I don’t know about you…

In reply to All of you people..??

…but when I started in systems, Microsoft had just gone into business.

They are definitely not, and never been, the “hand that feeds me”.

Surely you’re not saying “if not for Microsoft there would be no computer industry”? If you are, then please go back to school and learn about REAL systems (I am not talking about the multi-media company).

Are You Sure?

In reply to Windows ME

I must be doing something wrong as I have a dual boot win98 and win2K. You have to install Win2K on top of Win98 because Win98 over writes the Win2K bootup. I also have BeOS on the same disk: technically that’s three OS’s on the one disk.

Are You Sure?

In reply to Windows ME

I must be doing something wrong as I have a dual boot win98 and win2K. You have to install Win2K on top of Win98 because Win98 over writes the Win2K bootup. I also have BeOS on the same disk: technically that’s three OS’s on the one disk.

I’m running 2 OS’s :WinMe and Win2000

In reply to Windows ME

I’ve been able to set up my system with no problems dual booting winMe and 2000 on same hard drive with 2 partitions. You do though need to install WinMe 1st then 2000. I’ve heard that the Me backup is on the cdrom. You just need to look for it and install it.

Some good some Bad

In reply to Windows ME

I have a copy of WME which was brought from the US by a friend for me when he went O/S recently, as ME (to the best of my knowlege) has not yet been released for general consumption in Australia I feel very priveleged to be one of the early users ofthis Software.

Although it is definitely a better package than Win95/98 I still find some of the lack of features frustrating to say the least.

Some of the third party software can be abysmally slow or not work at all with protection error faults, but overall is still an improvement on anything else I have used.

The uncluttered nature of the workspace is a treat when using it for multitasking and Video rendering seems to be a little less time consuming (though this may be due to other factors as well)

I must say I think it quite a good platform overall and would reccommend it to most new users.

Some good some bad

In reply to Some good some Bad

A large part of the issues with third party software I believe come from the Windows File Protection feaure. This feature, which we first witnessed in Win2K, keeps dlls from being overwritten by third party software. If they do get overwritten, Windows simply replaces them with the original system files. Microsoft tried to go for stability this time around, finally, and focus less on compatability.

Re: Some good some bad

In reply to Some good some bad

Sooo… I load Windows ME, load, say, my DVD player that worked fine in W98, and 15 min into the movie I get a Windows Protection Error and I have to re-boot. THAT is more stable??? I will agree they focused less on compatability.

Re: Re: Some good some bad

In reply to Re: Some good some bad

Obviously as with all software and hardware, some things work, some don’t. I do know many people that run ME and have DVD players installed that work fine. You might need a newer version of the DVD software or a firmware update or ?

Good luck….

Windows ME

In reply to Windows ME

I was reading on cnet and they were saying that Windows ME ran aplications slower than 98 do you or has anyone else found this to be true?

Windows ME and the upgrade

In reply to Windows ME

If you are running win98 se, you should consider doing a fresh install, as usual with any MS product, you would be much better off. All you need to do the complete install from the upgrade disk is your old win98se disk to prove you actually have it, it will ask for it during the install. I started using ME as an upgrade about Beta3 and had loads of problems, varying from blue screens to just not booting. I did a fresh install and it has been running fine since the final release came out. Lots of improvements in this version as well. Overall I would recommend it.

Help!

In reply to Windows ME

I need a boot disk for Windows ME. Can you help? Thanks

Windows ME 7/10

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I am not an in-industry person,just a wanna be. My system is a P2 400, it was brought off the shelf (not again from this manufacturer, but live and learn).It came with W98 on it, and I had enough time to make a brew, waiting for it to fire up.I loaded ME on, had some problems initaly, as I was trying to load it onto a different hard drive to 98( trying to get a dual OS)and it wouldnt have it until I went in to BIOS and had a play. Now, in the time it used to take for the system info to come up,BANG! ME is loaded and asking for my password! Programs run faster – it has better virtual and swap allocations than 98 (I have nearly 2Gb being used as virtual/swap)loading times are drastically reduced and the system suffers from less hangs in general. Closing programs can take longer – I assume its because of tne virtual size, but hey, if it loads fast? I comes with a better suit of consumer tools – the DVD player is right snazzy – although had me tearing my hair out for a while as I didnt know that ME had one. The help function actually is a help, its better constructed and easier to use (although you can still get lost in it).It has everything that W98SE should of had, but didnt. Its user friendly, but not without its problems.
It has a built in folder compressor which works like WinZip – but it wont compress individual files, and Winzip wont even install. There are a few programs and applications that willnot run on ME (OK, they are mainly games, but some utilities are included). Some one has put a lot of thought into it, and has done a reasonable job. I get less system hangs with ME than 98, which is a good thing. I used to have to restart the machine every couple of hours to advoid hangs. It does load a lot of background applications, and occupies a lot of space, but I am relativly happy with it.
I only wish that my ISP could get their act together – but hey, thats the British!

ME and software

In reply to Windows ME 7/10

I have the OEM release of Windows Me. I have had a few minor issues trying to get software installed but once they did install they worked fine. I have Winzip 8.0 running great. Office 2000 would not install on the preview release of ME but I even got that to install with the OEM release. Now I wish 3DFx would get it’s act together and build their tools software for the Voodoo3 3000 for ME. My S-Video out won’t work without them. But I had no trouble with any of my other hardware. Even the software for my UPS loaded fine. DUN also seems to be a lot cleaner and more user friendly.

waste of money

In reply to ME and software

I upgraded last night. Now my cable modem doesn’t work. Cable modem tech supprot couldn’t figure it out. Microsoft want $30 to just talk about it. Not to mention it looks just like 95 and 98. I coun’t find much difference at all. If you’re thinking about upgrading, don’t! Spend you $100 on ram.

cable modem doesn’t work

In reply to waste of money

What’s the problem with your cable modem? I installed ME with no problem at all. Are you using a NIC? Have you installed the NIC driver?
Overall ME is great for me. I don’t know what is everybody complaining about.

Cable Modem

In reply to cable modem doesn’t work

I have a cable Modem to and I have found that my trans speeds have gone up way up! I also use a Netopia R9100 Router for my Firewall and connection sharing.

Cable modem problem? Nah!

In reply to cable modem doesn’t work

I bought a new machine for my brother, and the supplier loaded ME on it without consulting me (don’t you hate that?! I ordered W98). As I have to support him remotely I was angry about this at first, but found it to be more stable and more acceptingof some of the devices I installed. During the runup phase I connected it to my cable modem and it worked first go with no problems, so I suspect you have a problem at your end – sorry!

So far (about 3 months) there have been no OS problems at all (plenty of novice-user problems though!)

My overall opinion? Pretty good, but a pretty high price to pay for what is essentially a small upgrade from W98SE. Certainly more stable and cosmetically slightly improved.

Personally, I’ll probably stick to W2K on my main machine, but I’ll probably use ME on my games PC for compatibility reasons.

WinME Tech Support

In reply to waste of money

If WinME upgrade was purchased at retail, Microsoft will give 90 days FREE support. They only charge for tech support after the 90 days (fom the date of the first call) has expired. Try it! Of course if this is a pirated version, well you only get what you pay for.

Windows Me OEM Experience

In reply to ME and software

Windows Me OEM runs great. I did have a few gliches, HP Colorado driver missing ( driver which work for win 9x and win 2000 won’t work, no Diamond drivers on CD, Internet Connection Sharing is set up to share the Internet Connection on the Win ME machine with other workstations on the network but I cannot get a Netscape 4.75 browser to work.
All in all I think Windows ME is very solid.

Running Windows ME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Windows ME is not a bad piece of software, it has good graphical and network improvements over Windows 98 but it is still to heavily bugged to contemplate using over a long period of time. Half the programms I use do not work properly on Windows MEeven though I have updated them all to the new versions.

I don’t get it!?

In reply to Running Windows ME

What did I do wrong? I have EVERY program that I use running GREAT! I use AutoCAD 2000, Adobe Photoshop 5.5, Flash4, Fireworks, Pagemill, and other apps that require alot of resources to run. BTW the My ME is an OEM Copy.

Scary, isn’t it?

In reply to I don’t get it!?

I also have found myself in the small percentage of those who have had no real problems with Win Me. I have installed both OEM and upgrades. No problems wiht the 35-40 I have set up. Why is that…? Read the book people.

Running Windows ME

In reply to Running Windows ME

I recently installed Windows ME and so far I love it. It hasn’t froze up on me yet,it has a restore feature that is wonderful , and so far no shutdown nor startup problems. I would recommend it over Windows 98 or 98se.

Running Windows ME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Windows ME is not a bad piece of software, it has good graphical and network improvements over Windows 98 but it is still to heavily bugged to contemplate using over a long period of time. Half the programms I use do not work properly on Windows MEeven though I have updated them all to the new versions.

running Windows ME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

It’s pretty fast (faster then 98) but I still find it user un-friendly. Why? Well if you don’t know zip about windows there’s a not a real guide just like in win95 to help you through it. On the other hand it has some good solutions for troubleshooting. Especially networking solutions.

I will wait…

In reply to running Windows ME

I’m not running Windows ME and based on what I’ve heard so far I probably will never do. Seems like its better to hold on to Win98 until MS delivers a better replacement.

I heard MS will come up with Whistler in 2001 which looks like it will be a worhty replacement to Win98 -a combination of the stabilty of Win2000 and the multimedia features of Win98-. We’ll see…

Keep in mind

In reply to I will wait…

MS products are expected to run on all kinds of junk. If you have a decent machine with quality ram and quality chipset, you will like ME. It is extremely fast and stable. Actually, I have never had any stability problems with 98 and my machine runs24/7 without reboots. I am a systems integrator and find ME to be an excellent OS…so far.

Windows Me

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Yes, I have got Windows Me. It is not bad nor it is good but average.
Although the Media Player is fun.

Windows ME – My experience and solution

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I ran windows ME and had never read about it not really supporting older legacy/DOS programs… It didn’t support the necessary files= statement in the config.sys or wherever it now puts it.

In addition, there are, as with windows 98, Explorer 4.01 more layers of ‘features’ – hah!

so, after trying 2000 pro, millenium and ’98 – all for goodly lengths of time – I’ve reinstalled my system using windows 95 RelB, explorer 5.5 – bypassing 4.01 and that active desktop/toolbar nonsense, office 2000 and …. to paraphrase tony the tiger – it’s great !!!

just think – no more upgrades ……

Windows ME – My experience and solution

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I ran windows ME and had never read about it not really supporting older legacy/DOS programs… It didn’t support the necessary files= statement in the config.sys or wherever it now puts it.

In addition, there are, as with windows 98 and Explorer 4.01 more layers of – ‘features’ – hah!

so, after trying 2000 pro, millenium and ’98 – all for goodly lengths of time – I’ve reinstalled my system using windows 95 RelB, explorer 5.5 – bypassing 4.01 and that active desktop/toolbar nonsense, office 2000 and …. to paraphrase tony the tiger – it’s great !!!

just think – no more upgrades ……

been there, done that

In reply to Windows ME – My experience and solution

my 3 personal pc’s all run win95, two have 95b one has 95c. All with ie 5.5. I have used the others and still do at work. I just really like the stability the win95 machines have to offer. These are little workhorses that run and run.(could use the energizer bunny here)

Deffinatly for Newbies…

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

From what I have experienced running Windows Me is that it is the all around best OS for Newbies. Myself personaly I found the over abundance of wizards that you have to run before you can do such simple things as set up shares and such. I think I will be sticking with Windows 98 for now. Definatly not worthy of the money being that there really isn’t that many new features but if your getting it with a new pc and like wizards it’s the way to go…

have you run windows me

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I am using the OEM version and If you like, to have Windows Protection write errors, display device not supported, scandisk to run each time you cold boot, (after a normal shutdown), So much junk running in the backgound, PC Health ( effects defrag and Scandisk ), Damn Video keeps popping up even after deleting it from Schedualed, Much of the software which runs fine under Windows 98SE, seems to have compabiable problems with ME, other software just won’t work at all. Device drivers support forME not in existant, well at least I have not found a source, Mfg or elsewhere. Boot is slow, even tho I have ASUS P2B-LS with 256MB and 600 Intel CPU, Ultra fast Hard drives and Geforce 256 DDR 64mb video.
So in conclusion, before trying ME take an inventory of all hardware (device drivers) software (check with MFG’s ) before you installing. OH….I use Kensington Mice and MouseWorks does not funtion with ME, but does work only as a Generic PS2 mouse. Of couse the list goes on on on…and on.
thanks for taking the time to read and have fun.

More reliable than 98, but worse P&P

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I am dual booting ME and WIN2K on an old ThinkPad 770 (P 266). I found it boot up faster and runs more reliable than 98. The problem I run into is plug & play hardware support. I have to manually load the video driver. Furtunately ME takes the videodriver. But when I try to do the same for the modem. No matter I do, it won’t work. However, Win2k automatically detect and load both video and modem driver.

Beware of internal modem driver problems

In reply to More reliable than 98, but worse P&P

Looks good and went over the top of win 98 ok. My internal LTmodem initially worked but when I tried to reinstall it it fell over and the supplier does not have drivers as yet.

Running from Windows Me

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I, like a zillion other suckers out there, purchased a “retail” copy of Windows ME. Silly me, I thought that the latest and greatest OS would support the latest and greatest hardware.

It’s the latest and greatest alright, Microsoft’s latest and greatest attempt at getting the average consumer to BETA test it’s software.

Like I have said all along, know what yo

In reply to Running from Windows Me

I don’t know what you are trying to run, but I would assume from your posting that you really need to forget the pc and get a playstation. Seriously, the problem generally isn’t in Win Me, the problem is in the end-user not being aware of what they’ve got. Learn before you burn, if all else fails, read the directions.

Windows ME isn’t for me

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I ran windows millenium edition for about 2 days. I have a few machines that I use at work as test beds for software. I installed windows Millenium edition on one of them. Basically it crashed more often than windows 98se, and the only major difference was that it *wanted* to look like windows 2000 (but lacked in the important issues like the task manager, etc) and it had that system repair function. Windows 2000 is much more reliable, but still crashes once in a while. If you don’t play games or need a stable operating system stick with NT 4. (But the no-games-under-winnt4 rumors I have read in this thread is false… the really good games like starcraft and diablo2 work fine.) I personally use windows 2000 professional on my network at home, and I am pleased with it.

NT40

In reply to Windows ME isn’t for me

You know, I had NT4.0 at home and loved it. Ran all the programs I wanted to with no real problems. The only reason I changed it (2000 now) is because it did not support USB, and I have had problems getting drivers and getting USB working with 2000 anyway (my Lexmark printer is still buggy with 2000). Very tempting to just go back to NT40 and let MS work out all the bugs for a couple of years. 🙂 Jackie

ME is Junk – WIN2k is the way to go

In reply to NT40

ME is an afterthought. Win98SE was supposed to be the last full version of 98, ME was supposed to be a 98Lite for home use, sort of a like “bob” if ask me. People bitched and moaned so MS “fixed” ME to have the same features that came with SE. I don’t think it worked. MS doesn’t want anybody to use 9x anymore, it’s a support nightmare and it isn’t designed to work with AD, and it confuses the choice of which OS to run. NT4 has always been more stable than 9x, you couldn’t do as much mutimedia/game stuff, but for a Business system -NT Rocks-. I changed over 200 desktops form 9x to NT4 and dropped my call count by 3/4. Now I’m just getting up to speed on Win2k but all I can say is WOW it relly works well. It’s faster than 98 and most of my games work, plus it comes with all the drivers I needed, either that or the old NT4 drivers worked. Don’t buy ME it’s a waste of time.. 9x is dead

MK

RE:Windows ME isn’t for me

In reply to Windows ME isn’t for me

Yes, exaxctly!
Did you get SP1 for WIN2k yet? It helps.

Mark

re: re: Windows ME isn’t for me

In reply to RE:Windows ME isn’t for me

Yes, I have sp1 for win2k. It helps with some issues but my computer takes a long time to shut down now, and some processes (usually explorer but sometimes a fax thing) hang on shutdown. Nothing is perfect I guess… 🙂

Experiences with Win ME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

My first experience with Window ME was when I started as a beta tester back in February, 2000. Even in it’s early beta days, I found ME to be preferable over 98. The beta program was fairly aggressive in trying to find and resolve as many bugs as possible. More stable than 98 (especially now that I am running a non-beta version), ME will still hang when pushed by power users.

To date, my favorite feature introduced is the System Restore. This allows you to take a snap-shot of your current system before you perform an upgrade (software or hardware). If the upgrade goes awry, you can roll the system back to your snap-shot. I have yet to have an unsuccessful restore, having purposely wiped out drivers, software packages, and even parts of the registry. I’m sure there are limits, but this is sure to please anyone wishing to undertake risky modifications to their machine.

I think ME is going to make a good OS, especially for the home user, but don’t count on dedicated Linux and Mac users to rethink their platforms.

Probably the BEST

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Windows Melliniu edition is probably the best OS which Microsoft has released till now. The best of Multimedia experience and Internet makes it the favorite OS of the world.

Everone should try to use it.

Windows ME, its ok..

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I’ve installed Windows ME on a P3/650 laptop. The installation was simple, it recongnized all of my hardware. The only difference that I seen with this OS is that you can expand your control panel, my docs and dialup networking at the start menu.You can also switch between your dialup settings (vpn,etc..). So far, what little changes that I see makes the OS user friendly. If you like games, this is the OS for you.

ME – more MS Bugs

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I had it installed on my system for around 6 hours before deciding I was wasting my time. Firstly the modem drivers were only working intermittently, while ME kept insinting that I also have a Standard 28,800 in my system!! Secondly – and I’ve heard others complain about this same thing – there is a bug in the desktop refresh API which sometimes means it can take 2-3 seconds for a window to minimise, maximise or resize. Not good Microsoft.

I’m going back to old faithful – dual boot between 98OS2 and NT4 Workstation. When MS have released a few service packs for ME and 2000 I may look again, but maybe not…

Your SYSTEM not Win ME

In reply to ME – more MS Bugs

Win ME is running real smooth on clean installs. You can’t use CABS like before or dump ME over Win 98, like they say you can.
But I am running WIN ME on 2 networked PC’s, without a single error on the clean install and multiple errors on the one I dumped ME on over 98SE. Try to reload on a clean H.D.
Good Luck.

Been there, done that…

In reply to Your SYSTEM not Win ME

I never upgrade an operating system, I always fdisk and format fresh. I did the same with Windows ME and it crashed every few seconds. I wasn’t able to install some programs because their setup.exe crashed. I tried it on two different machines aswell with similar problems. For users who like windows 98 and use it, Windows ME is probably great. However, for users like me who can’t stand 98 for whatever reason, Windows ME doesn’t really improve anything.

The real story

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

As with any OS, there will be the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. There will be those who like it and those who don’t.
I remember all the negative hits ole’ NT 4.0 took on the chin, like “can’t play games on NT” or that it was not multimedia friendly. Nonsense! I have taken the time, a lot of time…to master NT and I will be the first to say that it is very ready to take you for a ride. You just have to learn its ways. Windows ME is the same, as is all the other Microsoft OS’s.
My advice is that if you want to know how WinME will work for you, then try it.

In conclusion, I could bust up W2K all day and say that it sucks, but at the same time there is many things I like about it. I have the fortune of playing with it awhile before I have to deploy it on the large scale.

Isn’t playing with a new system and seeing what its got, I mean c’mon thats where the fun is.

Enjoy…
BIAXIDENT

Windows ME and SCSI

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I am using ME on a new system that I built. I have (2) 9.1 SCSI2WU HD’s, (1) 40x CD-Rom and (1) 8x4x32 CDRW, an AMD 800mhz K7 and 256meg of memory, running on a Gigabyte 7IX mobo. The only problem I am having is with the ACPI. I setup the monitor toturn off after 15 mins. but when I check it in the morning I see a blinking cursor in the upper right hand conner. the only other problem I am haveing is with a USB hub that I bought it is from Focus the model is FH-660 it is a six port hub that go’s into the front of the case. No drivers and I have two friends that have the same one and it works fine.
I have to tell you though I love what MS has done with this OS I have not had a faster system and I have had some REALLY FAST SYSTEMS!!

Internet Connection Sharing

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Running ME on a network and using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). On boot I get an error Inetsw95 caused error in SSPIFIKT.DLL, Inetsw95 closed. This seems to prevent proper communication of Windows 95 clients trying to access server for access to the Internet. Any ideas.

Works for Me!!!

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I’ve ran WinMe RC1 and RC2 and had minimal issues (drivers). But when I Preinstalled the retail version, I was amazed. Startup and shutdown were outstanding. I’m looking forward to working with WinMe for a long while. For someone like me who builds personal computer as a business, it really saves on time for me. I can say I’m impressed with this version.

Like it so far

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Just deployed it on a new system. Initial setup was fast and flawless. Moved the calendar and time to the front of the install, which I liked. Set the new machine into an existing network and it immediately setup all shares on the net including printers. The bootup time was drastically faster than 98. I’m impressed.

Can’t boot in dos mode

In reply to Like it so far

I have used ME for a long time now, and I am satisfied with this “OS”. The problem bigin when I used Partition Magic 5.0 and moved and rezized som of my Linux/SWAP/Fat32 partitions.
Parition Magic could not execute the changes I made because WinME would not boot in Dos mode. What can I do to solve this problem, do I have to boot from My floppy ?

enough from all of the whiners

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I have windows ME and it works great. For those of you who have installed ME and had problems with software, drivers, etc…Well…a person would have to be pretty foolish to install a new operating system without checking with the suppliers of your software, drivers etc… to make sure that they will run on the operating system that you are upgrading to. Don’t blame Microsoft for problems with your ancient drivers and hunk-of-junk pieced together PC’s.

Reply To: Have you run Windows ME

In reply to enough from all of the whiners

I personally have used Windows Me factory installed on a computer straight from Dell. The Dimension T800r. Out of the box it took a few days before Windows Me started acting up. I’m not ‘whining’ but just stating the plain facts. Don’t assume that everyone’s problems are due to bad hardware or old drivers.. the operating system is a big part. Congrats if you can keep it running but for what I do with my pc, WinMe doesn’t cut it.

Me too

In reply to Reply To: Have you run Windows ME

I agree that for what I use an OS for WinME doesn’t rate (neither did win 98). I love Win2000 Pro and will stick with it until I find something better.

Amen. But let’s not forget knowledge…

In reply to enough from all of the whiners

How many of those who are whining have bothered to READ THE BOOK? All too often, people will get a disk and stick it in the slot right off the bat. Who cares what it does? I am still using an almost stock Compaq with an AMD K6 processor, 512KB L2 Cache, 128 MB RAM (I said ALMOST stock). Me works great. I installed over Win 98 Beta with no problems… Don’t forget to deffrag your system prior to installing though. HAVE A HAPPY.

Windows ME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I have tried installing ME on 3 different systems. I have only been able to get it installed on one of the three. The other 2 systems get hung up when trying to validate the Noga Tech NT1003.sys driver. I have downloaded the upgrade to this driver from the specified web location to no avail. One the one system I did get it on it seems to work pretty good. A friend of mine that installed it reported that his system would lock up if he listened to a music cd then tried surfing the web.

So far, only a couple of problems …

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Installation was okay, except that it kept getting a Windows Protection Fault. Once I removed my Webcam drivers, It worked beautifully. Much faster than 98se, but I’ll wait until the 1st patch release before I give an opinion or recommend it to someone.

Windows Me – The bad Windows.

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I ran Windows Me for a few days and had noticed a few changes in the Disk Format feature. MS has removed the system file copying and out it with the Start Disk Option. BAD MOVE. If you are working on a laptop with Floppy or CD ROM, and your computercrashes, you are out of luck if you want to format the hard drive with system files. This option is gone. My CD copy of Windows Me was not bootable. How are you going to the Start Disk create option if your computer is dead. Better hang on to the old DOS boot disks with CD ROm support.
The Win98 Drivers, some of them, are not compatible with Me. The OS runs better than Win98 but can confuse new users and old Win98 Users. One thing that I found bad was the first time start screen with the video of Me. You can not close it. My experience with Me has been unpleasent for now.

Sure you can,

In reply to Windows Me – The bad Windows.

go to the upper right hand corner and click.That will close the video.

Yes

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I fine that most of the fetures are better then windows 98 or 95. I love the system restore with it. I also like the disabled fetures. It is easier to make a computer operate and better for the home user.

dial-up and TCP/IP on Windows Me

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I install and uninstall Windows ME twice. The support for the program, at least for the moment, before the release is $30.00.
I install ME over 98second ed., and the problems start when I try run my MSN (ISP). I call MSN support and after changing network settings, dial up settings, etc… we could’nt get it to work. Then they pass the bull to Windows ME technical support. The problem is that I don’t want to paid.
Why if MSN is working fine under Win98, doesn’t want to work with Windows ME?? (The broswer can’t open any page).
And I don’t like the solution of fdisk and start from 0.
PS. I have alot of complains of customer who have Windows Me and can’t open a web page like me.

Reply To: Have you run Windows ME

In reply to dial-up and TCP/IP on Windows Me

I had the problem with Win2000 Pro. It seemed to be a DNS problem. I could get on the web from a long distance # but no local #’s would do. I knocked heads with the DNS expert at earthlink tech support and he instructed me to use special DNS settings that worked like a charm. Hope this helps.

Help with DNS

In reply to Reply To: Have you run Windows ME

Hey, i just got a new laptop preloaded with WIN2k, set it up for dial-in to a secured server, can get on with my RAS but cannot access the internet or see other servers on the domain. I am stuck, used to working with NT, so am a bit lost here. Tried every different configuration i could. No help, even worse the folks who run the PDC, havent used WIN2k yet, so they cannot help. Any ideas?? please email them to me, taracat86@hotmail.com. Thanks

Windows Me TCP/IP Protocol

In reply to dial-up and TCP/IP on Windows Me

Me’s TCP/IP protocol stack is a tab differenct than Win95/98. It is built more closely to the NT stack. Therefore is communicates over the network a bit quicker. Unfortunately, if you upgrade from Win98, you will have to remove all instances of TCP/IP from the Network Properties, reboot, and re-add TCP/IP there. That usually cures the problem.

Same Thing Here….

In reply to dial-up and TCP/IP on Windows Me

Hey! You and I have the same problm, only MINE is a little bit more aggrivated. It used to work fine under Win 98SE, but then it wouldn’t work under ME. Now, my modem says that there is no dialtone, which is not true because I talk on the phone all the time. I also have DSL, so it’s not like I have no internet access, but I would still like to have my dialup working. PLEASE HELP!

my limited experience with WinME

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I just bought a p3/800 with winME included, so far my normal shutdown/hard crash ratio is pretty much 1:1. Not bad considering it’s windows, but what bothers me is that most of the crashes happened when i wasn’t even trying to do anything unusuallystressful on the system. Generally when i get a pc or change the os/gui i try all kinds of different combinations of operations to get it to blow up on me so i can see what it can handle and what it can’t, and after a couple weeks of having to re-install fairly regularly i get to a point where i feel comfortable using the system and get a feel for it’s boudaries. With winME on this newer machine(my previous was a p2/233) i find it somewhat more difficult to force a crash, but i’ve also had the system freeze solid while doing such mundane things as playing a cd or writing a document, with nothing else running that isn’t standard background operation. The system does get to a usable desktop much faster than the machines running win98 i’veseen, but still not as fast as win95b(i can’t believe i almost called it “good ole win95”, but compared to 98…) So far it seems to me that if you are comparing it to win98 you’ll like it, but compared to 95b you’ll hate it.

ME is great

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I have been running ME for about 4 weeks now, I loaded a machine with everything I could think of, NIC,modem,sound card,parallel card, scsi card,video card, ME found all the drivers. Please note could not get ATI Rage Fury VC working. SB Live only works when DOS drivers not installed

ME is GREAT

In reply to ME is great

ME supports more drivers then ever before on on hardware side. One major feature of the plug and play in the ME is that when ME finds new ahrdware and asks for drivers in the cd. Me will scan deep inside the Cd-rom looking for the drivers. Unlike in98 if the folder is in a different directory in the CD it will not seek it unless you point the folder out to it. So, Me is Much lot Easier.

Tapesh

‘ME’ “M”uch “E”asier for EVERYBODY.

In reply to ME is GREAT

I definately agree with you, the plug and play in ‘ME’ is exceptional. I can’t stand ’98 with it’s missing .vxd files and the like. It never finds any hardware, and if it does your usually shocked. Too many bugs on installation and the lack of plug and play on ’98 make it a no-brainer for upgrading. For all you people who say tbey don’t like wizards and whatever, stop trying to be supreme computer wizards. Everyone can change share files but if it has a wizard to do so, who CARES? Stop complaining. No I don’t work for Microsoft but it just kills me to see everyone have SOMETHING to complain about. Everyone always said Windows 95 and 98 were buggy “Plug and Pray”.. Now they finally come out with something good and people knock that too.. don’t understand..

Need a boot disk. Please help.

In reply to ME is great

I need a boot disk for Windows ME. Is there a site where I can download one? Thanks

There’s a lot better OS around!

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Sincerely i would not recommend to change from W98 to WinME, it’s still unsupported by many manufacturers, there’s a lot of equipment out there that is still unrecognized by ME. i’ve installed it on my machine (Dual PIII 600, 512Mb Ram, 68Gb HD)it recognized most of the equipment but it got buggy with the sound card and Graphics cards, i’ve went to the specific sites of each one of them to see if there was any knowm problem and nothing was reported, later i’ve find out that i was not the only one with that kind of problems. in my point of view, it’s just an bad upgrade from w98(fully supported), it was delivered to the public before it was supported by most of the manufacturers. but in my honest opinion i’m still faithfull to my Linux… inormaly use Win just to play some games or just to work with J++/VisualC++/VBasic.

System Restore Archives vs. Virus’

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

Out of curiosity, I loaded Me onto a spare system I had ind then loaded “Ecar”, which is a program to simulate a virus to check antivirus software… once a restore point has been established on your Me system, your antivirus software cannot touch it in the restore archives. I have found though, that restore archives are only temperary… they will remove themselves through time. After a while this archived virus will disappear. If anyone finds a better way to get at it and remove the archive manually, please share with the rest of us.
Merry Christmas
Wayne

Watch your vid drivers!

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I have WinME on 2 networked systems at home. The good point: Seamless Internet Connection Sharing – just follow an easy wizard and go.

Bad point: After installing ME I was unable to use DirectX for any games. The systems would hang. Big Red Switch time! To fix this on system “A” I needed to update the ATI Rage Pro drivers. On system “B” I had to install the reference drivers for the Monster I card.

Additionally, I plug in my Win2K laptop to this net and it connects with no setup at all, but that’s probably a function of W2K rather than ME.

I have and had to take it off…

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I have had win Me on my pc and I have a hp scanjet3400C, well the box on the scanner said it was compitable with Me but it’s not and so I had to do a clean format and install win 98, because the scanner would not work at all, even with the hp patches…

Win ME + OEM = trouble

In reply to Have you run Windows ME

I bought an IBM Ispirati for the family to use late last fall. It shipped with ME. It runs fine, as long as we do not load anything else on it.

Even something simple, which I would expect should run, like a game from Microsoft themselves (namely: Age of Empires). It either hangs the computer, or completely crashes it. I have identified the cause, being a conflict with the Microsoft supplied sound driver. The “solution” according to both IBM and MS is: don’t run that game.

No, I do not recommend WinME for any system. As an upgrade you WILL run into driver incompatibilities. As an OEM solution, you can NOT be confident that you can stray from the OEM config (including simple APPS).

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