It’s been several weeks since I installed the WinME update version. It’s been a very time consuming program and I would not recommend installing it if you have a satisfactorily functioning Win95 or Win98 program. There are a few additions such as the System Restore, Help, Movie Maker and improved ScanDisk and Defragmenter. Actually, the System File Checker and Registry Checker used with BackUp accomplished the same thing in Win98 as the WinME System Restore, which I found out does not come to your rescue if you end up using the boot disc and stuck in DOS. It will only go back four dates, and if the computer doesn't open up to the desktop, it then keeps adding today's date, seeming to say that the system is restored when it isn't. There is something running called PC Health, but I haven't noticed that it's doing anything other than keeping a log.

I installed WinME because I deleted some files and couldn't get past the desktop. I could boot up the computer in DOS and run ScanDisk and SystemChecker which assured me the hard drive was fine, so I opted for the $49.95 WinME disc rather than a more expensive Win98 because the master recovery disc didn't work. (The Win98 software came bundled in my computer and I did not have the CD-ROM.) WinME was successful in restoring the files back to their earlier state, but in the process I lost my e-mail files because AOL 5.0 would not work with WinME. I tried for a week, but each download resulted only in damaged files.

I decided on a dial-up ISP and it works better than AOL. I only have one phone number and it dials instantly and never disconnects. It’s so smooth I don’t even know it’s there. I use About Blank (window color set to a heavenly blue) and just go directly to Internet Explorer, no home page and to personal pages at e-mail sites. I signed on over the weekend without their software and could access my start page and set up my mail with Outlook Express easily. I decided I didn’t want to install their software which came a few days later and I saw that on the start page it mentioned that the software was not WinME compatible. Good thing I didn’t try to install it, since nobody at that ISP mentioned it, either.

The McAfee anti-virus program, a year old, would not install even to allow me to update at their clinic, but luckily I found CAI’s new InnoculateIT 5.0 compatible with WinME and WinNT and Win2000, available as a free download and once registered, available for free updates.

I had to reinstall the new RealPlayer 8 which works very well with WinME, at least I haven’t had any problems with it. The Windows Media Player 7 was available as a free download, but I find it harder to locate programs on it and to manipulate than RealPlayer.

It took so long to get WinME adapted to my computer because each side, AOL and MSN did not want to alarm the public, so instead of giving information ahead of time, the general public had to find everything out the hard way. It takes so much time struggling with the computer when something jams up or balks and trying to figure out what’s wrong and what to do about it. Even the programs that say they are updated to work with WinME are apt not to.

I actually ended up running into several more corrupted files about a week after WinME update was installed and became blocked at the desktop again. It's possible they were newly created by the software conflicts between WinME and the downloaded updates to 98-99 programs that were available and which I downloaded after the WinME install. This time it took the Win98 Master Recovery Disk to get past the desktop. WinME System Restore would not start because it couldn't get past a DOS bad file command. Quick Recovery would not work and I had to use the Reformat and Reinstall for Win98 and WinME, which took me back to the beginning of it all and wiped out all the hours of tuning the computer's audio/visual options, favorites, files, installation of peripherals, etc.

Actually, that was probably the correct procedure in the first place, but Microsoft didn't want to mention anything so that people would think all they had to do was insert the CD and go. I’ve concluded that probably many people have over a period of time acquired some corrupted files and deleted dlls which haven’t actually crashed the computer but are nesting there ready to spring into action at the proper time. Therefore, even though WinME update can be installed directly over Win98, reformatting the whole thing will eliminate a lot of problems, eventually, even though it’s more work at the time.

Because the reinstalls took me back to the beginning I solved the anti-virus problem because the original Iris program, which I had disabled, returned and referred me to the new CAI updated version for Win2000. It’s a better deal than McAfee because it’s free and so are their updates.

The ISP is working better for me because I don’t have a home page. I use About Blank and selected a heavenly blue for the window color. Whenever there is not an internet printed page, I have a sky of blue to look at and to type on when I’m using Word97 or filling out any forms on the internet. It is so much easier on the eyes than the bright white glare of an Internet page.

Concluding, in installing the WinME update, reinstalling the original Win98 and then installing WinME is probably the way to avoid complications. (Or else format the hard disc and only install WinME, thus losing any programs that came with Win98 unless you can save them with Zip or write CD's.) The next important thing is to acquire a WinME/2000 compatible anti-virus; and finally, do not install the ISP’s software unless it is certified WinME compatible, just click on their icon and go to any personal page or Outlook Express for mail. I also think that 64MB RAM is not enough and that adding another 64MB will help speed up the internet browsing. If an upgrade to 128MB RAM is possible, then rather than WinME, other computer people I've talked to are recommending NT or 2000.

The very good points about WinME are its ScanDisk and Defragmenter programs which are very speedy--defragmenting used to take two hours and now is down to fifteen minutes. The Help menu is much more pleasant to read, soft pastels and a table of contents at the very beginning which includes quick access to the system restore program and troubleshooting, as well as keeping a list of the topics you last looked up in Help.

It seems to me that my computer worked faster than before offline. Online, it quickly accessed the Favorites, but crept after it was at a site. WinME seems to collect more information and hold on to it so that it balks when it's at Hotmail especially. I had to clear several iexplores from the Close Program window to get it to move so I wouldn't have to restart the computer.

It plays tricks with the right side scroll bar. I used to have a nice long one running along the side of the window, but it would start out much shorter and the more I clicked on it the shorter it got until it was down to a sliver, making me have to click on an exact spot rather than easily reach a larger area as I scroll up and down a page.

It also made very quick decisions which I sometimes didn’t want. It stopped deleting my start menu finally and now let me rearrange it the way I wanted. It also finally let me rearrange my Favorites after it insisted on doing things its way. That actually had a favorable outcome because there were hundreds of items collected by the various browsers, Netscape, AOL, MSN, etc. which kept me from looking at anything in the list. I tried to reorganize them finding many duplicates and invalid links, the computer moved them where it wanted and I didn’t, I deleted all of them and started anew and now have the folders and web links at a place where I can quickly scan through and use them.

WinME has been advertised as an especially “smart” program that adjusts to what the user wants, such as the start menu, moving the most used programs up, the least used back.

I don’t know what else it’s supposed to do, but the strangest thing happened yesterday at Hotmail. There was an e-mail from Alta Vista, very normal looking, proprietary content at the bottom of the page, etc. It had a hyper link to a site which is being sponsored by Sun, Oracle, Harris Poll, Alta Vista and other major companies, announcing a world wide survey to take place in November.

Suddenly, from underneath the task bar the Security tab from the Internet Properties window (Internet Options) group scrolled up, and following it, from underneath the taskbar the Security Settings tab that has the java script and active x options. I’ve never encountered that before. That was Thursday. The next day, Friday, Microsoft announced that hackers had stolen their source codes. So I have no idea whether that was some warning MSN somehow put into the mail or whether it came from my computer's internet guardian or antivirus program, or it was another WinME Hal (Space Odyssey) thing.

There is definitely something wrong in the installation process of the WinME upgrade over Win98. I thought I'd finally solved all the problems when I decided to use Encyclopaedia Britannica Deluxe 2000 CD-ROM. It's a complicated reference disc, not merely a CD-ROM, but accesses the Net and acts like a program. It and WinME had a conflict and more damaged files. System Restore couldn't start the computer from the startup disc, so I had to run Setup again, after checking everything out with ScanDisk and Registry Checker. ScanDisc insists there are no errors, but the computer doesn't believe that.

WinME is no longer creeping at web sites and has quit balking at my commands, leaving my favorites and start menu alone. Of course, I've also learned to be careful with it, not to download any upgrades to the older preinstalled bundled programs, which won't work, installed a workable anti-virus and generally figured out what's going on with what. I also think Microsoft has been working behind the scenes repairing things through their automatic download updates.





Recommended: Yes