Installing WinMe on new laptop

squiffy said:
I would not install ME either, it's a POS. Windows 98SE is far better. Windows 95 was good too. If this is for a older machine than you would install 95/98, you can install 2000 or XP on a dated machine but it'll run dog slow.

If this is new laptop there is no reason at all to install the rubbish that is ME. I tried ME, fresh install. BSOD within the first 10 minutes, went back to 98SE which worked fine.

Stick to XP.
Click to expand...

Depends how dated the machine is. Any PII I would suggest running 2000.

Burnsy
 
rjd said:
If I remember rightly, XP has had 2 service pack updates to 'fix' the lack of security.
Click to expand...

True, but since then, how often have security patches been released for Windows Me? Regardless of whatever other apps you're running on top of Windows, they can only do so much if the OS itself is still vulnerable. Which at this point in time, it very likely is.

I can remember these "I'm not upgrading to XP" discussions from years back, but it's unusual to see one now. You really should give XP a fair try and you'll soon see how much better it is. I went from Windows Me to XP back at the end of 2003 and I've never looked back. Me had some nice features over 98SE, but XP is easily superior in every way.

I also think you'll struggle with driver support etc for newer hardware now (such as your notebook).
 
Hi burnsy2023

You have nearly convinced me (if only for the children's sake).

My setup of WinME rarely crashes and if/when it does it is easily fixed by Ctrl Alt Delete End Task.

It's not on 24/7 but around 12 hours a day and I usually only need to re boot if installing/updating software as part of the install procedure.

Why has no one actually confirmed yet that WinXP runs faster that WinME?

Hi squiffy

I think you have 'proved my point'.

As I have already said

'I agree if you install WinMe 'as is' it is not that good and I would not generally recommend it.

But, if you like a bit of a challenge (and don't want to automatically follow the herd) and are willing/able to assess and follow the advice give on sites such as those listed below, imho it runs very well and is reliable and if you use reasonably up to date hardware appears to run faster than both WinXP and various flavours of Linux I have tried so
far.'

If you check out the websites I linked to all will be revealed.
 
rjd said:
So, are you saying that WinXP Home/Media Centre/Pro is better in every way compared to WinME when running on the same/similar PC/laptop?
Click to expand...
Absolutely! :)

Would a current fully updated version run noticeably faster than winME ?

Is it easy to stop/uninstall all the bloatware as I prefer to use a basic lean fast OS and choose my 'addons' e.g Browser, multimedia software, security (see my post above) etc.

Presumably, all/most of the software I currently run under WinME will also run under XP, or are there any notable exceptions?
Click to expand...
If you run any software made since 2001 then it should definitely work.

XP isn't particularly bloated IMO. You can use the 'classic' theme if you wish, which looks basically identical to Windows ME. You can also choose the 'classic' start menu which again is like Windows ME.
 
Hi TheVoice

Thanks for your view. Nice to know you have actually used WinME so can compare it with WinXP.

So it looks like I should get either WinXP Pro if possible but Media Center should be fine.

Do you agree?
 
rjd said:
Hi TheVoice

Thanks for your view. Nice to know you have actually used WinME so can compare it with WinXP.

So it looks like I should get either WinXP Pro if possible but Media Center should be fine.

Do you agree?
Click to expand...

Win XP is media center bar an interface addon. I wouldn't worry too which of the two you get.

Like i've said before, I've used ME, Liked it at the time until I realised how much better 2000 is.

Wouldn't it be nice not to lose work with the termination of a process? ;)

Burnsy
 
Hi dirtydog

It's nice to know I can ease into XP by making it look like WinME!

What put me off WinXP was the 'Fisher Price' look (although I appreciate this can be changed), the 'massive' updates to make it work as it should have done in the first place and the fact that people with much newer/more powerfull PC's than mine seamed to run much slower than mine with WinME installed.

Also, I could not see what extra features XP had over ME.

By 'faster' I mean if I click an icon in WinME the process runs immediately and loads imeadiately/almost immediately where XP appears to 'take its time'.

This could be down to menus etc. being set up to be fancy rather than fast.

I like a computer to at least keep up with what I am trying to do and not slow me down.

Is it is possible to disable all the fancy footwork in all versions of XP and does this speed things up?
 
Last edited:
rjd said:
Is it is possible to disable all the fancy footwork in all versions of XP and does this speed things up?
Click to expand...

Depends what you disable. For the user interface, yes it will, but on a modern spec laptop the gain will be minimal.

You could disable services like Indexing, but that will slow down searches on the local machine.

Oh and one of the major advancements in the NT kernal is the memory management. That helps performance no end.

Burnsy
 
One thing I always do when installing XP to speed it up a bit. Get TweakUI, go to the mouse section and set the 'menu speed' slider all the way to the left. Otherwise there is a slight delay when you open a menu. (You can also do this in the registry but I can't remember where.)

Basically just take a few minutes turning off some of the effects and XP should feel just as snappy as ME does.

If stuff is very slow to load in XP then it might be because of insufficient RAM, but I presume if you are buying a brand new laptop then it will have at least 512MB of RAM, so that won't be an issue.
 
Hi jdickerson

So I am not alone!

Did you tweak ME or are you using it 'as is'.

If you are not already aware you may find the links listed in my earlier post of interest to you.
 
rjd said:
Hi jdickerson

So I am not alone!

Did you tweak ME or are you using it 'as is'.

If you are not already aware you may find the links listed in my earlier post of interest to you.
Click to expand...
I'm looking at them now actually. I had to sort out some ram management stuff... but it was years ago now. It has literally been stable for >3yrs!
 
rjd, you may be interested in the XP Tweak Companion from www.tweakguides.com - it's very comprehensive, and if you're willing to invest a an hour or two in going through it, it helps remove/disable a lot of the useless//less-used stuff that XP has. Sounds like the sort of thing you'd be after.
 
Just want to say thank you everyone for taking the trouble to reply and give me your help and advice.

You have one me over but.....

If I get to prefer XP over ME I will want to upgrade my PC so what is the best/cheapest way to install XP on both a laptop and a PC?

Will I need to 'register' both installs with Microsoft or just the first install if I buy a retail version of XP Pro?
 
Thanks for the link TheVoice.

Needless to say I will not be even thinking of 'upgrading' to Vista for at least 5 years!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom