Windows 98SE v Windows ME?

[Slasher]

Im using W98 Second Edition as my operating system but dont know wether to upgrade to Windows Milenium Edition. Im too scared to try because whenever I upgrade to a new system I find programs that worked just fine on the old system have heaps of trouble with the new one.
Can anyone advise wether upgrading from W98SE to Windows ME is worth the effort? Thanks.

[Tartan Gannet]

NO! DONT! If you like Win 98 and have a bug free later edition stick with it, else upgrade to Win 2000 Professional. ME is more bug ridden than a swamp and is instable. Also some programs which run with Wn 95 or 98 wont run properly with ME.

[HandyAndy]

Hello Slasher

The concensus of opinion about this firmly say you should stick with 98SE. I have been using (the much maligned imo) 98SE for quite some time and have found it to be very stable without any major problems at all. I have not used ME but understand there are security issues with it (and XP come to that). If you are unhappy with Windows 98, it is recommended to upgrade to Windows 2000.
You may like to take a look at:

null (http://www.cnet.com/software/0,10000,0-3923247,00.html?tag=stbc.gp)

No doubt there are lots of people who use and get along just fine with ME so I guess it's a case of "you pays your money and..."

Best!
HA

[Cornish Jack]

Slasher
I have a couple of desktops LAN'ed together, one using 98 SE and one using ME. The differences? .... Speed of boot-up; the ME boots in about 40-50 seconds as against 21/2 - 3 minutes for 98. ME's file managing system is a pain - you constantly have to re-access files rather than having them on view all the time. I tend to use the 98 machine more than the ME, as much due to familiarity as anything else and I can't think of anything which makes ME an essential.

[SLF 999]

Have to agree with the advice above, if you really want to change operating systems go to Win 2000 prof, it is very stable and has a lot of good features but please DO NOT go from win 98 se to Win ME

[spannersatcx]

Stick with 98se.

Also don't forget W2K is an upfgrade of NT so you must make sure that any peripherals/graphics cards etc etc are supported under w2K.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. :D

[Brit Abroad]

Slasher

I went from Win 95 to Windows ME without any trouble (apart from discovering during the installation that my floppy drive was dead !)

As mentioned above, bootup is quicker, and compared to Win 95, is more stable. Win ME has an installation option to 'save' your old operating system. - This way, if it all goes t*ts up, you can rollback to Win 98.

As an aside, it really does wind me up the speed at which Microsoft is changing versions of Windows and MS Office at the moment. In the space of about 2 years, we have gone from Win 98 to Win ME / Win 2000 to Win XP. It's all marketing and bug-fixes, rather than essential changes.

MS have so much power over the software houses writing the applications, that they can ensure they write their applications for the latest flavour of Windoze, thus forcing everyone to upgrade.

I'm all for progress, but changing Operating systems is always risky, and we shouldn't be dictated into doing it every time MS designs a great new colour scheme for packaging it in... :mad:

Comments ?

[InFinRetirement]

I have been using WinSE almost since it came out, and I have never had a problem with it.

However, I did start loading Win2000 pro and was met with a message that said "a number of your applications require upgrading with the manufacturers new drivers and DLL's before they can be used in Win2000." At that point I killed the setup and went back to Win98se.

My policy now is if it ain't broke don't fix it! Can't see the point of changing to something which causes so much aggro. :rolleyes:

[B17 PLT]

Have just bought a new MESH puter which came with Windows ME.

All very nice and sexy BUT.....it won't print correctly using my HP 870Cxi. Yes and I have downloaded updated printer drivers so it isn't that. Plugged my old puter together again and hey presto prints beautifully!

Can only presume that the hiccup is in Windows ME.

Any thoughts? Is the solution to go out and get W98SE or W2K?

If I go down that road can I remove WME without any cock-ups and install an older system so that my printer will work properly??

Sorry bout basic queshtchuns but am puter stoopid!

[Mac the Knife]

Stick with 98SE for your sanity's sake.
ME has precious few advantages and many disadvantages - driver problems with non M$ approved hardware and general unhappiness with any apps not written by or with the express blessing of M$.

"No wise man would quit a certainty for an uncertainty" (Dr. Johnson)

M$ will never be content until it has eliminated every other O/S and software company. One day your A/C will have M$ software.

[KwikPhix]

I went to a local Computer store to buy the upgrade from 98se to ME. My main reason was because ME comes with a Go back type application so you can experiment (to a certain degree) and if things don't work out you can go back to a previous checkpoint. The upgrade was £39 however the guys in the shop - who know a lot more about computers than me, advised against it saying there where far too many bugs and incompatabilities with ME. I bought a program called 2nd Chance instead and left the ME upgrade on the shelf. They still sell their custom made computers with 98se OS installed even today. If your systm is working and it ain't broke.....

[GoGirl]

Slash, I guess what it comes down to is....do you actually need any of the stuff that comes with WinME? IMHO, if the machine you've got does all the necessary things, then don't fark with it.


Win98se is a program you should have few problems with, and anyway.......


Ya can't teach an OLD DOG new tricks :p


Good luck
GG xo :D

[gaunty]

The only dumb thing I did with the upgrade was not to spend the extra bucks on Win2000 Pro instead of Me.
I am running it on a Gateway Solo 9300 XLC top end notebook with 15.7" TFT screen a brilliant piece of gear.
Having said that the ugrade features are pretty useful for my work and have not had any problems so far including routinely plugging into a Unix server network and running some heavy duty applications.

On another note you gotta use the Computer Associates EZ Armor firewall/virus stuff it's fantastic and stopped all the stuff thats going around including me being able to tell our IT guy that his favourite stuff had missed the latest virii and that his whole network system was about to go down. My stuff had picked it the moment it connected.
"You leave the big kids stuff to us big kids" was the tenor of the reply from our now newly ex IT guy after it went down.

[Tartan Gannet]

Gaunty, I have found that for the IT departments in most large companies the first two letters (SH) in the acronym is silent.

[Slasher]

Thanks for your replys guys. Yeh Im gettin the same answers from various gurus I emailed yesterday. No one Ive asked had anything positive to say so Ill stick with the W98SE.

May as well throw the ME CD into the back of the truck it fell out of.

[B17 PLT]

Thanx S2 however I eventually managed to track down the service department at MESH Computers (VERY poor at answering the phone for tech enquiry but very quick if selling you a new puter!!!) and after putting a flea in their ear managed to get some sense. Usual smart young techie chap left me standing as he stepped me through a fix which involved faffing around in the BIOS or something like that. All works fine now and I must admit I like the quick boot up time!

Appreciate the info anyway

[tony draper]

Read on one of them techy sites that if you upgrade from win98 to winME, it runs about 20% slower that a clean install of windows ME
these guys run all sorts of benchmarks and such,don't know how true this is.
Have a separate h/d with win2000pro on it( have dual cpu system), haven't had any probs with that since good graphic card drivers ect have been released.

[ 04 August 2001: Message edited by: tony draper ]

[SLB]

ME's file managing system is a pain - you constantly have to re-access files rather than having them on view all the time. That is the default behavior, but it is easily changed to the old way.

I have been testing ME with specific software we need to run and it has proven extremely stable with THAT software. Haven't tested anything else beyond IE and Outlook and that specific application .. point being, the system can be stable. The real issue is how your applications and drivers react to the change.