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Is it recommended using winME?


aqcww

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just wanna change an os for my old computer,i usually just use it to surf the internet,nothin'else.

i heard that winme is much less stable than win98,is it right?actually is there any performace's improvement comparing with 98?thx

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Guest wsxedcrfv

i heard that winme is much less stable than win98,is it right?actually is there any performace's improvement comparing with 98?thx

I too would like to see some informed discussion regarding the pro's and con's of starting with win-98se or win-ME for a new build and then adding the various patches, enhancements and mod's to both. Which one would lead to a "better" system?

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Ive never had a problem using Me for just sailing the Internet, or word processing, or looking at on-line video;

exceedingly stable.

I have had problems that really were hard to extract myself from, when trying to install certain programs that 98Se handled with ease!

Seems that certain programs can mess Me up when going through the installation process; I wonder why?

Am I the only one?

Other than that I like it for the "novelty factor" in the same way I fancy my XP for the "novelty factor".

I've yet to come across any OS better than 98Se after having patched it up to my taste with the excellent programs which the most dedicated folk on this forum have blessed us with!

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Guest wsxedcrfv

> I too would like to see some informed discussion regarding the pro's

> and con's of starting with win-98se or win-ME for a new build and

> then adding the various patches, enhancements and mod's to both.

Neither. :(

98SE2Me ;)

I don't get it. I asked if it is better to start with 98se or ME. jaclaz said "neither".

But 98SE2Me requires 98se as the starting point. So the answer "neither" does not make any sense. If the answer is 98SE2ME, then the starting point is 98se.

But if ME can handle more installed ram vs 98se (and don't mention any third-party-patche$ to rebut that- you've had far more advertising here than what is tolerable IMO) then what else can Me do better than 98se?

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But if ME can handle more installed ram vs 98se (and don't mention any third-party-patche$ to rebut that- you've had far more advertising here than what is tolerable IMO) then what else can Me do better than 98se?

Win ME can natively recognize about 1995 MiB RAM (but not 2 GiB or more) vs. Win 98SE that recognizes just about 1150 MiB, natively. Win ME has WFP (aka System File Protection) which is a nuisance that has to be disabled (by using OPPCOMME, for instance) and hasn't native access to Real-Mode DOS (although it can be restored or unhidden).

IMHO, the advantages of ME are hands down outweighted by its native annoyances.

I second jaclaz: Win 98SE (preferably with 98SE2ME) is the best overall choice.

But, as this is a matter of opinion, no matter how informed it may be, YMMV. :)

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I've had trouble over trouble with 98se but nearly none with Me, so my first answer would be Me.

Then, (1) I had a Via chipset together with 98se, explaining most troubles (2) I was more experienced when I had Me...

- Me starts faster than 98se, provided you have the minimum of Cpu+Ram

- If tweaking little, Me is sooner usable than 98se. Comes with more recent drivers (Usb!), system components and add-ins (dX, ie and the like)

- My Me were (and are) perfectly stable. All rumours against it sound odd to me.

Remember you get both cheaply on eBay, like <10$ with a licence and a Cd.

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I don't get it. I asked if it is better to start with 98se or ME. jaclaz said "neither".

I thought it was a 98SE vs. Me thread, and that you were talking of an updated 98SE.

98SE2Me is a "hybrid", with a "base" 98SE BUT with transplanted relevant parts of Me. (nothing to do with a "plain" 98Se updated)

It requires TWO licenses to be "kosher", and is of course not supported by MS, (pleae note the difference between "not anymore supported" and "never supported").

If I am allowed a comparison :unsure::

98(SE):XP=Me:Vista :ph34r:

The only good thing one can say about Vista is that it somehow forced MS to produce 7 (which is not that bad ;)).

We miss a mature evolution of the DOS based branch, and the thing that mostly resembles it (though of course NOT completely) is 98SE2Me, IMHO.

Still IMHO, XP could have been much better had they simply evolved 2K keeping the separation between DOS based (home/fun/single user) and NT based (office/work/multi user) instead of making the one-size-fits-all XP.

jaclaz

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I haven't owned a WinME system so I can't give you a side by side comparison. That said, I've serviced a lot of both 98SE and ME units. Based on what I've seen servicing the 2, WinME is a more temperamental OS. When it's working right, it's a good system, but the strangest things can set off all kinds of issues that I've never seen on 98. When both 98 and ME were supported, I was cleaning out malware and installing basic security packages on a lot of them, usually an AV, a simple firewall, and a anti-spyware program. On more than one WinME unit, the firewall would fail to work when the AV updated. No such issue on the 98 boxes. On others, external devices would stop working. The drivers were either corrupted or disappeared entirely for no apparent reason. On another, the keyboard would work intermittently in normal mode but just fine in safe mode while the mouse did just the opposite! An instant message program that worked fine on 98 would trigger a BSOD on the WinME unit whenever the user tried to send audio messages. There are other instances like these that I can't recall at the moment where the software or device worked fine on 98 but had all kinds of problems on WinME. IMO, WinME behaves like a beta system that wasn't ready for release.

If I am allowed a comparison :unsure::

98(SE):XP=Me:Vista :ph34r:

That's just about right.

On units that worked properly, most of the 98 units I've worked with were just as fast as the ME units, but were achieving that performance on weaker hardware. Given a choice between the 2, if only "official" updates are being used, I'd pick 98 (FE or SE) over WinME every time. That said, some of the components in WinME are better than their 98 counterparts. A lot of the unofficial updates for 98 that are available here use these and components from NT systems. IMO, a 98FE/SE unit with these unofficial updates is superior to all of the official 9X systems in every way that matters. I have both 98 FE and SE systems. Both are equipped with the unofficial upgrades. Both are rock stable and perform better than the hardware specs would lead you to expect.

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Guest wsxedcrfv

So if there was an ultimate way to combine all the good things about win-98se and win-ME into a single installation, I take it then that the consensus is that you start with a win-98se system and transplant a few ME things into it (98SE2Me, etc) vs the other way around. And I assume that you can't transplant ME's native ability to work with almost 2gb of ram into a win-98 system. ?

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Assuming properly working systems, as up to date as possible without using unofficial upgrades, in what other areas is WinME superior to 98SE? Besides the RAM limit, are there any other advantages to WinME that can't be incorporated or transplanted into 98SE with the unofficial upgrades?

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The beauty of various elements of it's Graphical interface perhaps?

The one thing I've always loved about Me, is the design of the boot screen, and its colour scheme.

Also, click on My Computer, and there are those three coloured squares all the way to the upper left of the opened window---I just love the way they look!

This might seem quite trivial and unimportant to most, but I think the astehetic beauty of those graphical elements---are indeed---beautiful!

Edited by cyberformer
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Assuming properly working systems, as up to date as possible without using unofficial upgrades, in what other areas is WinME superior to 98SE?

I believe Me was the first Windows OS with System Restore. Of course, some would argue that SR is a bad thing...

Edited by 5eraph
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