Windows ME - Me Likes ME
Written: Sep 08 '00 (Updated Sep 08 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Faster Boot-up, More Stable
Cons: Price
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| Destinys-Child's Full Review: Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Media Only) ... |
One of the great things about having worked in a PC repair shop for over a year is that I made a lot of friends who keep me updated and supplied with all the newest software and equipment.
About a week ago they gave me a pre-release copy of Windows Millennium (ME) to try. I have had a week to try it and I have to admit Microsoft impresses me with their newest OS (Operating System) effort.
Price
This is the worst part of Microsoft’s latest OS offerings. When Windows 95 first came out it was $79.99, Windows 98 was $89.99 and now Windows Me is $189.99. There are very few changes that this price seems pretty steep.
Don’t get me wrong the system is a lot better than Windows 98 SE, but I don’t think it justifies a $100.00 jump in price.
Setup
The setup is almost exactly the same as Windows 98. It goes through all the same setup procedures and was just as fast (slow?) as Windows 98’s setup procedure.
It was approximately 28 minutes on my PC (400 mhz). It found all my plug and play devices and the only device it couldn’t find or setup was my Canon 5100 printer. Canon does not make a driver yet and of course Windows Me is not yet supported by anyone.
First Glimpses
The first thing I noticed was that it boots up in roughly half the time that Windows 98 SE did. If you watch your PC when it boots up you will notice times while it is booting that the computer doesn’t do anything at all. That doesn’t happen in Windows ME, it goes straight into windows in about 22 seconds on my system (from power on to able to use windows).
The second thing I noticed was how quickly the menus came up and how fast I was able to switch from folder to folder. Windows 98 did not utilize my 198megs of RAM like Windows ME does and it shows. As a test I opened up my Adobe Photoshop and turned on WinAmp and started listening to a song. Now in Windows 98 whenever I was listening to a song and attempted to open a drawing or save a drawing my MP3 would stutter and skip. Not in Windows ME, it kept playing with no problem as the drawing was opening and while it was saving. More proof that Windows ME utilizes my RAM and handles multiple applications at once.
A few of the other great little minor changes are the Start Menu options, such as having it list all the items in the Control Panel, Dial-up Networking, Printers and the such right from the start menu. Another great change was the fact that when you go into the windows folder it asks you if you are sure you want to view all files and you click the link to make all the files appear, nothing big you say, well in Windows 98 you had to do that each time, but in Windows ME once you do it it stays like that until you tell it to stop.
Opinion Over Time
After using the OS for over a week I am very impressed with its stability and overall functions.
It has crashed once on me in the past few days and it was pretty much my fault because I had 5 programs open and I was attempting to save 2 things at once.
All of my hardware and software has worked fine except for my Canon Printer which should have drivers for it within the next week or so (Windows Me is officially released on the 17th I believe).
Some programs that I have noticed do not work are Juno, and my DSL software. Juno crashes when you attempt to exit it and then constantly gives you an error message until you reboot. With my DSL software I had to download the newest version and it installed and ran fine, my DSL connection though is very shaky at the moment, but I am switching service this month so I am not to worried about it.
Windows ME itself doesn’t come with anything spectacular except its new video editing program which I have no use for, but some people might find it great. It lets you edit, cut and paste movies and other things that are useful. Other than that and a few internet versions of the standard games, Windows ME is pretty much like Windows 98.
Who Should Update?
Just about everyone would benefit from Windows ME in some was or another. If you are just tired of waiting for your system to boot up, or you are tired of crashes then you should get it. I would buy the full version NOT the upgrade, that way you start from scratch on a clean system.
You should however wait a month or so after it comes out so that all the companies can come out with new drivers and have a chance to test them in real world scenarios.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Destinys-Child
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Sagamore Beach Ma.
Reviews written: 128
Trusted by: 87 members
About Me:
A fool and his money were lucky to be together in the first place.
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