Windows ME has just become available in the UK. Before I Decide to lash out my £40.00 (about $60) I would like to know what WindowsME gives me over and beyond Windows 98!!
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PS_Price, Go to this URL http://www.dewassoc.com/
Click the WindowME icon and go into the evaluation pages of WindowsMe. It has listed several notificable items for the concerns of upgrading to WindowsMe per user's view-point.
If you feel that helps you, please do not grade the point to me (pslh).
Please advise me in that case so as to calling Dennis/Dew_associates to accept the grading and compliments.
With all my good will. pslh
http://www.microsoft.com/w
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/pcm
check the above links for starters.
My two cents worth! I wouldn't spend the monies to upgrade for what bennies are available. I have heard it is slower and it does create some additional problems that you would need to fix if you require using any dos based applications. You have to run a patch to allow the autoexec.bat and config.sys to load. I would recommend that you wait unless you are being driven by something you require by the upgrade. More and more problems are now starting to be identified at this site from the use of the OS. IMHO. Dave
This site will give you some good thoughts to whether the upgrade is for you!http://www.ambitweb.co
Dave
PS_Price, whenever a newer version is released, a lot of pro and counter comments are always heard. It happened all the cases win3.1 versus CPM, win95 versus win3.1, win98 versus win95, win2000 versus win98/NT. Now WinMe is officially released.
I'm writing this message to you is using WinMe (IE5.5). That depends on your own personal preferences. Problems are always there even without any upgrading to any versions subjecting to hardware, softwares and users itself. Therefore, you've got to get familiar with them. Computer technology is moving extremely fast today. Moving forward with the time pace and time frame is all my experiences.
BTW, if you've got problems about WinMe, you can post them here and EE is always welcome people to have problems to ask questions. Otherwise, experts here will not have any problems to tackle and would be a very humdrum life for them all.
Please don't mind the jokes. pslh :0)
I have read a lot of articles about Upgrading to ME from Win95 of Win98.
None of these articles give a thumbs up for doing so. Most of the article suggest waiting until its second or third versioning of it.
Quite frankly what I have read indicates there is nothing really there that is worth the hassle.
I found this useful :
<a href>http://news.cnet.com/
Personally I just upgraded from 98 > ME and so far have been very happy.
The start up/shutdown is noticeably quicker and the system seems much more stable.
A lot people say you can download for free most of what Windows ME has. What they neglect to mention is that the best features of it aren't among those you can download for free. I upgraded my system last week... actually, let me be clear on this, I did a clean install on a new hard drive... and my system is running better than ever before.
My Internet connection is noticeably faster. I have a cable modem and was getting very upset over the slow transmission rates. According to computingcentral.com, my transmission rates are 10-20 times faster than before. Of course, some of that has to do with it being a clean install period, but some of that has to do with some of the fine-tuning for high-bandwidth Internet connections in ME.
Application start-up time also seems to be dramatically faster. (We'll see if that remains true after I load ALL my junk back on!)
Of course, many people absolutely love the System Restore enhancements.
All-in-all, I'd say that ME is probably more reliable than 9x and possibly a little faster in some areas (and probably slower in others). If you have reliability concerns (and no legacy hardware), I'd suggest trying ME. If you're happy with 98 and don't have many crashes, don't bother. If ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
I agree with hopperp, I haven't actually upgraded my system and probably wont because I am very happy with win98se and have virtually no problems. But, the system restoration is a very nice feature and supposedly they have taken out all the ways you could mess your computer up before, making it thus harder to crash it. The only downside I have heard is the fact that it doesn't have the dos mode anymore. However there is a download you can download that brings the dos mode back, look in a previous question on windowsME to find it. It isn't microsoft endorsed...I don't think (: and not for sure in the long run how it will work out on your system.
PS_Price,
<I do actually still run some DOS based Applications (Mainly games). CAn anyone expand on the comment that Windows ME will need a Patch to support?>
Nope, windowsMe has converged into one environment which is in quite another concept from Win98/Win98SE.
However, WindowsMe expands the ability of pif for you to "exit to dos".
You do not need to add real-mode mouse driver, sound drivers and game controllers. You can play and chat within these games.
WinMe pif let you create and edit as various different Ms-Dos environment for your games which need different settings.
One most important feature that is quite different from the win98/win98se, within the pif in editing your executables of Ms-Dos programs/games, there is a check box for [x] prevent the Ms-Dos-based programs to detecting Windows. This allows those programs free of error by not saying there is a windows running in the system.
It is much more easier for you to edit the environment by check boxes and scroll down selections for memory.
You can edit the multilanguage with code page and different keyboards by check boxes only.
For game players, it does make your life happier than using win98/win98SE.
pslh
I've just upgraded my system from Win 98 SE to Win ME.
The latter version is neither less unstable nor faster than the former. Win ME installed extremely badly and wouldn't finish its installation until I had taken out incompatible (scanner) drivers that were causing Win ME installation to switch off the PC each time I turned it on (no error message).
Win ME does offer features to real computer novices: it hides the system files better so it is less easy to crash Windows yourself, when it doesn't crash automatically anyway :)
Win ME pretends it's not based on MSDOS so has buried it six foot underground (it's still there!).
The main difference is the new layer of lipstick applied: glossy multimedia software like Moviemaker or a face-lifted media player (inspired by Winamp et al). Third party products already exist and are often more efficient.
Two advantages I have found vs Win98. Windows 95 worked well with the power-saving modes, but not Win98. Win ME seems to have corrected that. The other one depends on opinion - Win ME has tried to simplify home networking for network novices, with automised setup tools for networking (yuck) but will come in handy for computer phobics.
To conclude I advise against splashing out for Win ME, save your money to upgrade your hardware. Win ME is not equivalent in improvement from Win NT to Win2000.
If you want new thrills, why not check out Linux?
Mike
michaeladdison! Welcome to E-E! Its common courtesy to provide comments unless you know your answer is the only answer and is 300% correct and is what the questioner is looking for and will fix their problem. Please don’t take this personally, (others could let you know before I and not so diplomatically) I made the same mistake when I first arrived and someone was nice enough to point it out to me (It hurt my feelings, but I soon realized its teamwork that’s used here).
This accomplishes a couple of things:
First: it doesn't lock the question allowing more exposure to other experts allowing a faster fix (many problems require an interactive dialogue to troubleshoot them properly),
Secondly: it gives the questioner the option to make an award based on the best comment that helped the most in fixing their problem and it is also is common courtesy to other experts.
Please change your present answer to a comment. Again welcome and look forward to working with you in the future, a lot of teamwork is used at this forum, as you will see! :>) Dave
P.S. It is a great comment!
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by: SysExpertPosted on 2000-09-25 at 08:27:32ID: 4431563
Not a whole lot.
You can get most of the stuff free from the MS internet site.
Media player, IE 5.5 etc.
It is supposed to boot a little faster and have a prettier GUI. Other than that, forget it..