Windows ME memories

[wesbed]

I had Windows ME a couple of years ago. It was humming along just fine till, one day, it said it lost its Registry. The operating system died completely after popping the Registry message. I installed WIN2000 leading up to WINxp. My computer has been running per expectations ever since the replacement of WINme.

Today, I'm spending some time replacing WINme with WINxp on a friend's computer. My friend's copy of WINme, after two years of service, has lost its Registry.

Anybody else still using the piece of shit software code-named Windows ME? Got any great WINme stories to tell? You know, the type of story where you're using WINme, all is well, then suddenly, all is not well, and you did nothing to cause it?

Yeah, time to update to WINxp or Linux. I've never been a Mac person and know not much about the Macs. Friends of mine who use the Macintosh system seem to appreciate it greatly.

[Rooster_Ties]

OK, I'll come out of hiding and admit that I've been using ME (and I still use it!!) - cuz that's what came on my PC when I bought it (circa early 2000). My PC locks up a fair bit (upwards of once or twice a day - but then I'm on it all day, many times), and my hunch is that it's somehow related to my firewall (the free firewall by Zonelabs, per the suggestion of someone here on the board).

About 50% of the times that my PC locks up, right after I reboot, the firewall indicates no internet connection is available, and I end up having reboot again a second time. Sometimes I get the blue-screen-of-death, but often my screen and mouse-pointer just freezes. Often the lock-ups happen when I have multiple browser windows open, or when I've been surfing for quite a long time with the same brower window, after having been to several dozen different pages (like when go kill an hour on eBay, and look at page after page after page of listings).

When I'm actually working with a document of some sort (in Word, for instance), the mantra on my machine is 'save' early, and 'save' very often.

Anybody here think my trouble is actually ME?? (I mean "Windows ME" -- though my trouble could just as easily be me. )

OK, granted, ME probably sucks, and it probably isn't doing me any good - that's probably true. BUT, is XP really all that much more stable?? I mean, enough to merit an upgrade, and (presumably) needing to upgrade other software products too (Office, etc...)???

Yeah, I'm probably just being lazy by not upgrading things. But my concern is that while things are far from perfect now -- that I'll encounter new issues (conflicts, whatever) with XP, that I'll have trouble resolving on my own -- and I guess maybe I think I'll be happier with the problems I'm currently having, than dealing with all the new problems I think I might have. ( How irrational is that!!! )

Oh, by the way, for what it's worth - I connect to the internet via cable modem, via Time Warner Cable ("Road Runner"). I do run virus protection software (Norton), and I know the automatic virus-defintion updates are happening regularly - so I don't think it's a virus that causing my lock-ups. But who knows what "tons of surfing" can do in terms of potential software/OS corruption (and screwing with registry entries).

I know, I should probably know more about this stuff than I do (hell, I've got a damn 4-year degree in Computer Science that I got nearly 15 years ago), but to tell the truth - I have about zero interest in the technical aspects of computers, software, OS, and troubleshooting. I just plain suck at most of that, and all of my work-experience in IT was on the 'soft' side, doing business-requirements gathering, spec-writing, end-user training, and other more "non-technical" IT stuff.

Edited March 21, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[street singer]

Anyone using ME should spend some time over at this website...

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winme

I've had this OS on a machine at work for the last couple of years. This website helped TREMENDOUSLY.

[wesbed]

Anybody here think my trouble is actually ME?? (I mean "Windows ME")

Errr.... yes, Yes, and YES. WINme is not a good operating system. It's known to crash often, lose settings, even lose its own registry.

I have WIN2000 on my Desktop computer and WINxp on my laptop. My Desktop crashed often and without warning when it had WINme on it. It has crashed only three times since I installed WIN2000 (about 2.5 years ago). My laptop has crashed NEVER since I purchased it in October of the year 2002 (with WINxp).

WIN2000 and WINxp use the newer Windows NT kernel. Which, from my experience, is far superior to the older kernel used in WIN95, WIN98, and WINme.

I'd not blame Zonelabs for the frequent lockups on your system. Zonealarm seems fine when running the NT kernel. I'd place a majority of the blame on WINme. In my opinion, you'd be surprised, amazed, and enlightened at how often the more current versions of Windows DON'T lockup.

The question still remains, however, is WINxp really worth the extra expense (when you could be spending that same money on new jazz CDs )? Is your computer's hardware able to efficiently run WINxp?

[BERIGAN]

Rooster, I never had ME(Wait, don't stop reading!) But I had 98 for a few years, and had all kinds of problems like you mention. Having to re-boot several times a day, freezing up if I looked at the monitor funny...got a new computer in 2002, with XP, and I NEVER have it freeze up! Ok, perhaps I could count on 1 hand the times it has freezed up, but better than 1 or 2 times a day, EVERY day!

My

[vibes]

BUT, is XP really all that much more stable?? I mean, enough to merit an upgrade, and (presumably) needing to upgrade other software products too (Office, etc...)???

Yes, it is that much more stable and it is definitely worth the upgrade. If you do decide to upgrade, make sure your computer has at least 256MB of RAM and that you do a clean install, rather than just overwriting ME. If you decide to do the clean install, all you'll need is your ME CD-ROM to prove that you own a previous Microsoft OS.

Like wesbed said, XP is based on the Win NT kernel, and it is far more stable. I've been running XP on my computers since 2001 and have no complaints. My computers have rarely locked up, and even if they do lock up for a few minutes, I can usually close the problem program without shutting down the entire computer. Another nice thing is that I can leave my computers running for days without having to restart. I could never do that with 95/98/ME.

Oh, and upgrading to XP doesn't mean necessarily that you have to upgrade all your software. I still use Office 2000 on XP and don't have any problems with it.

Edited March 21, 2004 by vibes

[Jazzmoose]

Interesting thread. I have ME, and of course, numerous problems with lock up, bad shut downs, etc. I've blamed the piece of shit computer (I'll still never fall for this "eMachine" bullshit again; I'll go to Dell or something...), viruses, the dial up, etc.; never occured to me to blame the OS. Hmmm....

[7/4]

Yep. It's the OS.

I upgraded all the machines I deal with from 98 to XP. Very stable OS.

[couw]

you will want to turn some knobs, pull some levers, and push some buttons with XP. It is a true radio-free-Gates if you don't. I am amazed at the amount of times this OS wants to contact with the outside world. Then there is a default user that you get for free. Bill tells us it's harmless, something to do with future applications, OEM, blahblahblah. I'd trust it as far as I can throw it. Delete the spooky non-existent user I'd say. Every user has standard Administrator rights with XP, so that includes this one with the funny long name with all the numbers in it. Nice target for a hacker.

That's why we still use 2000: also stable and it allows a little more control over the uninformed actions of co-workers and -users.