-Hi, I have two old (but fairly decent) p3's I'm giving to perma-noob older friends, and I keep changing my mind about which OS to put on it: winME (w/icky parts yanked, of course, & fully updated/tweaked), or 98se (w/98se2me, etc)...

-puters: an old pavilion XE-735 (p3 866, updated v2.1 intel mobo 810, 512mb sdram), and somewhat better gateway p3 Performance 866 w/intel 815e mobo, 512mb sdram. Both came with ME in 2000...

-both users will be installing/using cameras, scanners, etc., which, in my experience, neither 98se nor ME particularly like (STIMON must DIE!), and, did I mention, "older" PERMA-UBER-NOOBS ? -plus, surfing security is a major concern w/these guys, as well...

-so, I humbly ask the uber-PRO's here what you think would be my best bet for long-term stability/security/etc, tweaked 98se vs. tweaked ME...

?

thx...

(ps: xp, properly tweaked, runs VERY well on the better 815e, but I/we don't have an extra copy or the $69+ to purchase one, so 98/me will have to do)

Edited July 17, 200719 yr by PsycoUnc

USB, scanners, cameras:

better go with WinME.

But Win98 SE with 98SE2ME + NUSB is also a good choice.

Security issues:

better go with Win98 SE with all official + unofficial patches.

There are more new [unofficial] security patches for Win98 SE than for WinME.

HTH

ME seems to boot significantly faster than 98SE.

WinME includes system restore which can be a handy tool. ME also has slightly better power management features (like the hibernation option) than 98se.

it might be a toss up, IMHO

btw - I'm no longer using WinME anymore as I've switched to WinXP on my HP machine

Well if you have newer hardware, Windows ME would be a good choice since it removes real-mode dos allowing for almost 2GBs of RAM to be used.

(...sry, been so busy I forgot I even posted this question, lol... ...in couple weeks, gettin carpal surgeries on hands, so been bustin a** to get as much stuff done as I can b4 getting laid-up for 3-9 months...)

-thx everyone, that's all pretty much what I thought, too... I'm kinda stuck between all 3 (found unused XP MCE, as well), for some reason the XP MCE install is gettin pretty boggy (I'll have to dig up my old regular XP [non-MCE] backup for comparison, it ran *much* better/faster, dunno why), and I'm not even done w/it yet, but looks like that'll be best for security/compatibility for him(/them)...

-btw, there are so many tweak sites/options out there, any (safe, stable) site recommendations for XP Pro sp2 MCE (Media Center Edition) ?

Edited August 5, 200719 yr by PsycoUnc