WinME wingers can you scare or help?

[Rigoletto]

OK so I HAVE bought ME. Now forget arguments about WinME not being much of a step forward from Win98. Just tell me what problems I am likely to have and why that should discourage anyone from WinME.
Can you?

 

[reitz]

The WinME upgrade from Win98SE is totally pathetic. It often incorrectly copies over the dialup and network settings and corrupts those files, making it either impossible to connect to a remote server, or resolve domain names once connected. The only fix is to manually extract 5 files from the *.cabs into a temp dir, reboot with a startup disk, and rename the corrupted files. Then the new files must be manually copied into the proper locations. Total time speaking with a competent tech: around 45 minutes.

Clean installs of ME have been known to have corrupted dialup networking software, making it impossible to connect. The only fix I have found is to clear out the network control panel, uncheck dialup networking in Windows setup, reboot, and recheck dialup networking. Usually fixes the problem.

The system file checker has been replaced. It is still possible to manually extract files, but thanks to that oh-so-wonderful new "feature" called "system file protection", those files can only be replaced by booting with a boot disk. Not fun, especially with a user not familiar with DOS.

I hate the new shutdown options. That damn drop-down menu is so inconvenient.

For some bizarre reason, M$ decided to move Dial Up Networking out of the My Computer window. Everyone was used to that, and knew where it was, but M$ decided to change it.

I first tried the upgrade from Win98. It was a nightmare, locking up several times and giving several BSOD's. To be fair, though, I formatted and reinstalled without a problem and it's been stable ever since. I don't use a modem to connect, though, so that might be saving me some aggravation.

 

[DainBrammage]

reitz: You wnat some cheese to go with your whine? You should have known better than to install over 98 to begin with. you should have backed up all your important files and then formatted and done a clean install NO PROBS HERE AT ALL

 

[OJ]

I installed over 98se with no problems at all!!!!!
I had a stable 98 system before the upgrade and have been running ME since day one without problems.

 

[corkyg]

Like OJ . . . I have installed ME now on 5 systems . . . pure upgrade . . . no clean installs. Every one was perfect and runs steady as a rock . . . no dialup problems . . . no network problems . . . no DSL problems . . . no device problems. DVD works . . . sound works . . . graphics work. No problems.

The Thumbnails in Explorer are outstanding for finding images. The System Restore feature definitely is a tweaker's friend.

98SE was good . . . ME is as good or better. Definitely worth $49.90.

 

[reitz]

I'm not whining about my experinces with it. I knew what I was getting into when I ran the upgrade. I was only pointing out the shortcomings of WinME like was asked.

To be honest, I was actually trying to duplicate the problems that dozens of our customers had experienced. I had come across a fix, but I didn't really want to spend 45 minutes on the phone testing out an unproved fix on a customer's machine (I later gave in and did just that). I don't know if I recreated those problems; my system was never stable long enough to even try to dial in.

Like I said, I'll be honest: after a format and clean install, it's worked great. It doesn't do that for everyone, though. I've run into more problems with WinME machines straight out of the box (especially Compaq and HP) in the first two weeks than I ever did with Win98.

IMO, WinME is an adequate OS, but no better than Win98SE (and in some cases worse). My biggest problem is with the upgrade function: not everyone is a computer geek who can handle backing up all of his data and doing a clean install. If M$ is going to sell it as an upgrade, it really should be able to handle the task. I'm also not happy with some of the subtle differences (moving Dialup networking and the system file protection "feature&quot. It is a much harder OS to support than 95, 98, 2000, or NT4 (I work tech support for an ISP).