WinME: How bad is it?

[Kenneth]

I was hoping that someone could clear up some questions regarding WinMe. Here is the situation:

The computer belonging to my sister and her husband is in the process of dying, and I was getting ready to build a new one for them. They use their computer for e-mail, web surfing, Microsoft Office, and other low-power apps (i.e. a Bird Watcher's database). The computer I am building for them is an Athlon 650, with 128 mb ram and a 40 gig HD (hand me down parts from my old computer). I had figured that WinME would be ideal for them. They don't have to worry about the extra overhead since none of the programs they run require a lot of processing power, and the system restore feature will be usefull for them (they have had some bad experiences loosing data).

However after I ordered a copy, they expressed some concern about it. They have heard some bad things about WinME's stability and program compatibility. My questions are:

1. Does WinME have stability problems? If so, how bad?

2. Does WinME have program compatibility problems? If so, how bad?

3. If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, is there anything I can do to set there machine up better?

Thanx in advance.

 

[Noriaki]

I have found WinME to be a bit unstable, though probably no worse than Win98SE. But I've had some compatibility problems with various pieces of hardware....sound cards, a network card or two...and I think a video card.

I don't know, I don't think WinME should be that bad for them.

I'd personally put Win2000 on a computer like that, the only possible weakness to Win2k is gaming (and I don't think that's a weakness either), but WinME should be ok.

I wouldn't touch WinME becuase of WMP7...I hate that thing....WMP6 is more than bloated enough, I don't need 7, and of course system restore, but I guess your average user might like that.

I'm sure WinME won't be any worse for them than Win98SE would be.

 

[NOX]

I really believe it depends on the person installing and configuring the OS. I?ve used WinME on my girlfriends comp for about 10 months before upgrading to Win2k, without a single problem, no blue screens, no clock-ups nothing, and that was running some older software for Win98.

On the other hand others have had problems, but then again who hasn?t had problems with any OS? I think as long as you have good quality components in your system you shouldn?t worry about it.

If they are that concerned maybe they should stick with Win98(SE), or jump on the Win2k bandwagon and feel the power of real stability.

 

[ledzepp98]

i found winME to be comparable to win98SE but i liked 98SE more and i would recommend 98SE over winME. it's not extremely unstable but it's not extremely stable either. i would go with 98SE and norton systemworks. to an extent it can recover deleted files and it has a crashguard that helps 90% of the time. if it is an option, i would recommend win2k above the other two choices. it's more user friendly than people think and i don't see any reason that home/casual users should avoid win2k (the only potential negative is the drivers issue but it's not that bad). on a side note to Noriaki, you don;t have to use wmp7 with winME. i hate wmp7 as much as the next guy (it's too bloated) which is why when i used winMe i opened wmp6.4 (it does come with that version) and set it as the default program for the media files i wanted it to use.

 

[Commish]

As long as you have dependable hardware, and shut off the system restore, you won't have any problems, for me, it's been solid.

 

[Kenneth]

Just one clarification: They currently are using Win95, not Win98SE. Thus my reason for looking for a new OS in the first place.

 

[EpsiIon]

I heard that it is NOT a good idea to upgrade to millenium if you're already having a few stability problems with 95 or 98. Don't know valid that advice is, but the computers at my girlfriend's house take about 10 minutes to fully boot (and become respnsive) now that her family upgraded to ME. So, my advice is to either wait for XP or go with 98SE.

Epsilon

 

[ledzepp98]

one more thought...i would not recommend doing an "upgrade". i would do a clean install of whichever OS you choose...especially if you decide to go with winME!! win98SE might upgrade win95 ok but i didn't have good experiences using winME as an upgrade (if it can even upgrade win95?). as far as EpsiIon's experience, a clean install would have booted up in less than a minute (one of the positives of winME)

 

[ledzepp98]

one more thought...i would not recommend doing an "upgrade". i would do a clean install of whichever OS you choose...especially if you decide to go with winME!! win98SE might upgrade win95 ok but i didn't have good experiences using winME as an upgrade (if it can even upgrade win95?). as far as EpsiIon's experience, a clean install would have booted up in less than a minute (one of the positives of winME)

 

[emjem]

lmao, 10 minutes to boot? What are they using, 286's?

I've been using winME since it's first retail release and don't have any problems with instability. I've not had any problems with installing components either. In fact, ME is better at plug and play than SE.

 

[Wiggo100]

I don't know if the actual OS is that bad but a lot of other software and some hardware has problems supporting it. I went and bought it but when I installed it it would not properly recognise a new Intel network card (it kept tellin' me it was another card) and totally screwed my network up no matter what I did and would not run several of my other software programs so it was back to 98SE. It was also a clean install and a waste of money.

 

[bigd480]

i installed ME from scratch, updated all my drivers and it's been smooth sailing since...

i actually use the system restore feature, it's really good for testing drivers/fixing bugs, and will only take up a max of 400mb...

i never get BSODs, but system resources do get low so I try to reboot once a day...

i've had no program compatability problems and getting newer drivers fixed the few stability/hardware problems I had...

a lady i work with just got ME on her home computer (she only used macs before) and she liked it a lot compared to the Win2k we just got at work... good choice for newbies...

 

[Nikepete]

Let's see now, I installed WinME on 1 Dell LX, 1 Abit BH6, 3 Abit BF6, 1 MSI 815Pro, 2 MSI 6163Pro, 1 Abit KT7A-R. No problems at all. 'nuff said.