Win98SE vs WinME

[jackpan]

I need a professional opinion. Are there any advantages upgrading from Win98SE to WinME? I own a desktop with plenty of RAM and a 20GB HD. I also own an old laptop with minimal RAM and a small HD. Both have Win98SE installed and work very well. I checked the specs for upgrading to WinME and the laptop meets the minimum requirements. Do you feel an upgrade is worth it or should I stay with what I have? Thanks.

[quinriva]

I not an expert but haveing used both, ME is just a prettied up version of 98 SE. There are a few very minor benifits but honestly ME is more trouble than it's worth. If your laptop can run 2000 it would be worth it, as remember that 2000 was designed for servers so it tends to have low specs.

The general opinion regarding ME is that it was a huge mistake on Microsoft part. The net code is horrendus particularly if you are on dialup and causes repeated dropouts. Basically it's primary failling was it's instabilty. It's lack of sales woke Microsoft up to the fact that "Home users want stability too". As much as I hate Microsoft they generally do tend to move forward in the world. The three major exeptions are Windows 3.1, Windows ME, and the Microsoft paperclip, god I hate the paperclip.

[wizardofwindows]

your hate clippy lol Thats the peak of graphic design in 97 microsoft brought us rover the stupid search dog i hate him.

[quinriva]

your hate clippy lol Thats the peak of graphic design in 97 microsoft brought us rover the stupid search dog i hate him.

Oooooooooh if there's one thing I hate more than clippy, it's that bloody search dog. I hate the dog.

[XP-is-a-CRAP]

"Are there any advantages upgrading from Win98SE to WinME?"

NO. I am not a professional, but the only adv. of ME is the USB, and now one can fix it

on 98SE using the Maximus USB patch, sized 660KB, so ME is definitely

OBSOLETE now.

[azagahl]

"Are there any advantages upgrading from Win98SE to WinME?"

I don't know. But if you have an ME disc then you might try installing the 98SE2ME upgrade (see www.mdgx.com). It reputedly gives you all of the good parts from ME and none of the bad. In my experience it's very stable and safe.

[eidenk]

I am not a professional, but the only adv. of ME is the USB,

There are some others. Enhanced stability in low free resources conditions, a better search facility. Bigger maximum size of the registry (in three files instead of two). Faster boot. But also lots of buggy or useless XP-like components to either update, hotfix or remove.

What comes with ME that is not included in 98SE ?

System Restore

System File Protection

Scanner and Camera Wizard

PC Health

Media Player 7

Movie Maker

Desktop Themes support

Compressed Folders

Universal Plug and Play

WMI

WBEM

OOBE

Virtual Private Networking (?)

Accessibility Tools (?)

Transition effects (?)

Web Folders (?)

Folder Options Control Panel applet (?)

Very good OS once you are on top of it but very crappy out of the box.

Also see this thread : http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=53422

It lists (all) the available official hotfixes for WinME. Notably, there is a specific issue with some laptops.

Edited October 15, 2005 by eidenk

[MDGx]

my 2 ¢ ...

No need to upgrade to WinME if running 98SE, just install 98SE2ME option 2, and you get all newer USB, cameras, scanners, PnP, VPN, Themes enhancements.

To get the Web folders and enhanced shell, folders + GUI, just install 98SE2ME option 3 [recommended to install options 1 or 2 first].

The only catch with 98SE2ME is that u need to already have a WinME setup CD [English, any release: Full, Update, OEM etc].

To get the latest USB 2.0 INFs, install NUSB [after u installed 98SE2ME options 1 or 2]:

http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=43605

The only WinME components 98SE2ME does not install are:

movie maker

media player

internet explorer

directx

pchealth

system restore

WMI/WBEM

UPnP

compressed folders [installed by Plus! pack for Win98 = or u can install it manually from: http://www.mdgx.com/web.htm#WME = look for ZIPFLDR.DLL fix, extract the file, place it in %windir%\system and regsvr32 it]

98SE2ME:

http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=46349

Hope this helps.