You've got to wonder how good Microsofts improvments have been since 98SE. I upgraded from SE to ME and found the same stability with much longer boot ups and slower apps due to all the extra rubbish included, I'd like to change back but I understand that I'll lose all installations done since the upgrade, plus I can't go back to ME (not likely anyway).
Nice to know MS are looking after themselves with feeble software protection but I don't want to pay for it! I'd be perfectly happy with proven performers 98SE or 2000.