Customer Reviews

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition [Old Version]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(74)

 

 

During the installation process for Windows ME (I was upgrading my laptop from 98) I was presented with a myriad of screens telling me how great Windows ME was and how much change was influenced by "customer requests" and issues from their support department.

Ironically, after the install completed and machine rebooted, Windows ME greeted with the infamous "blue screen of death".

After spending a couple of hours using the diagnostic tools packaged with ME and troubleshooting the problem, I was finally able to get my system up and running.

After using ME for a couple days, here are the cold hard facts as I see them. This is a patch to 98, this is not an upgrade. It contains a lot of multimedia extras that are available from Microsoft's download site. The OS performance was not noticeably improved to me in any area. The startup process seemed faster by maybe 5 seconds tops on my 400mhz Pentium.

The price of ME hardly justifies the added functionality that a previous Win98 user gains.

Ok where to begin with Microsoft's newest P.O.S.? I had the chance to start running Microsoft Windows Me a few months ago, and I jumped at the shot. I was really happy to finally get a new OS on my machine.

Let me begin by letting everyone know what I am running now. I have a custom built machine, by myself. It is a Cerleron 566 overclocked to 850Mhz on an Abit Rev.II motherboard, 128mb RAM, 100 gigs of Hard drive space, Road Runner cable (not so) high speed internet access, Turtle Beach: Santa Cruz soundcard and a Matrox G200 Mystique 8mb video card.

Ok I'll put it this way, Microsoft's Windows ME does not let me use my computer to its best of performance capabilites. Win Me is slow and it looks like a direct rip off of Windows 2000. Well not that, that is a bad thing, Win 2k is at least a stable operating system that is powerful (to say the least).

Windows ME just runs about as fast as a turtle, and it is system resource hungry. I constantly have to restart whenever I do any multitasking. When there are multiple web browsers open, you can kiss half of your resources good bye. I have a lot of .dll (dynamic library link) failures when I multitask and my system just runs terrible. Once most of your memory is used up, if you dont restart... Then your internet speed will cut in half and folders take their time to open. I was also not a big fan with the networking capabilities on WIN ME. It almost looks as if Microsoft took Windows 98 ripped out have of the networking abilities and then threw WIN 2k icons on top of it, therefor creating Windows ME.

To put it nicely, I am really dissapointed with this OS. I was overall impressed with Windows 98 Second Edition and I still prefer it now. But to tell you the truth, I was really excited when I heard Microsoft was releasing WIN ME. I had a lot of high hopes that were really let down. I dont even know what went wrong, but Microsoft really screwed this one up!

I hate WIN Me and I wouldn't recomend it to anyone. But, I will let you know that there are a few good points to it and I can see how others might enjoy it. WIN ME is very easy to navigate and very user friendly. There are a bunch of new options in Windows Media Player, which I'm sure a lot of people will like (although, I dislike Media Player myself). The overall appearence to Millenium is nicer. I really enjoy the look of it, as opposed to the old 98 and 95 series. What do I mean by that? I mean the desktop and menues. It is set up a bit nicer and the new icons look more upbeat. Although they are nothing new, everything came from Windows 2000. Oh yeah, try and restart in MS DOS Mode, you can't... Because it's not there! Microsoft decided to leave DOS out of WIN ME, except for the DOS prompt inside Windows. But overall, there is just nothing in Win Me to keep me running it. It took me a month or so to make my decision to go back to WIN 98 SE on a dual boot with Mandrake Linux 7.1

My recomendations are to either stick with Windows 98 Second Edition or with Windows 2000. If you are looking for a fast OS with stability, it is best to stay away from Win ME. If you have it in ya, learn Linux... Linux is fast, powerful, stable and fun once you get into it. But do your self a favor, stay away from Microsofts newest operating system Windows ME - Millenium Edition, or try it out first to decide for yourself. I didn't care for it in the least bit. I would give it 1 star, but I know it doesn't really deserve that. Hey, at least it runs... Thats about all I could ask from it. But the truth is, WIN ME just plain sucks. There isn't much to it that I like, I would probably never go back to it and most of my friends feel the same way. Actually, just about everyone I have talked to, who hava ran Windows ME disliked it. Read what other people have wrote. Most of them dislike it too! Honestly, I'd stay away!

I hope I gave some of you a bit of information that is useful. I'm not trying to bash Microsoft because they are the industry standard, because I'm not. I just wanted to provide you all with my point of view about the way I feel and my experiences with their new program. I am awaiting the next version of WIN ME (whatever they'll call it). I'd be more than happy to run it too. Plain and simple; I didn't care for WIN ME and I wanted everyone to know where I stand =) Hope that did it for ya! And if you really want to, try it at risk!

This is yet another version of Windows which barely improves on Windows 95. This is basically an update for all the new devices and hardware that are out there. At the core it still works the same as the last couple Windows. I wouldn't recommend buying this unless you have a brand new computer, otherwise, like in my case, it will just slow down your computer even more. There are some small bonuses to this version though. It does come with some ok games, and improved multimedia capabilities, but most of these you could already download from the microsoft webpage. I have to admit some of the more pestering points to Windows 98 have now been fixed, but I'm sure most users will hardly notice. Many of the changes are just cosmetic, or simplify a certain task.

I have been using this version for about a month now, and sometimes I want to uninstall it, it can really slow things down at times, and it does tend to freeze my computer an aweful lot more than previous versions. All in all, this is good for brand spanking new computers, but for older ones, I would stick with older versions, your system will just run faster.

I bought the computer from Dell, so I don't have to bother to install it. However, the installation of other hardwares was like being grilled in Hell. My PC camera, my scanner, my printer, and lots of other drives are not compatible with WinME. The worse is most of manufactures do not have WinME compatible drivers; or they just claim their drivers are compatible, and they "should" work...

Since my computer is still within 30 days after purchase, I am considering to change it to Win98 SE, I feel that's the most stable edition.

...to release such a bad operating system.

When I ordered my brand new computer with Windows Millennium Edition, I actually thought that is was a good idea. Oh boy, I was so wrong. The thing that persuaded me to buy it was the multimedia home-oriented goodies that after all proved to be totally useless. Believe me, you don't want to spend 200 dollars in this OS only for Windows Media Player and the Movie Maker and stuff, the latter is awfully horrible.

This OS is, as I'm sure you've read, the worst Windows ever released (and that will ever be released!).

I'm going to tell you about some of my problems with WinME. For some reason, it just has an EXTREMELY serious unstability problem. And I really mean that. And even though boot time is fast, I admit that (like 20 seconds or so), I'd rather wait 2 minutes in boot time but not have my PC crash about once every 30 minutes. For real. I find myself stuck hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del way much more than I should, and sometimes, the reset button as well.

The networking code in ME is horrible. I've had lots of problems with my cable connection because of the operating system.

Another serious problem is the system's extreme ability to get corrupted. And I am not talking about viruses here. Just install some hardware and see how ME becomes your worst nightmare.

Just to show you the size of the problem, I've been forced to reformat my hard drive 4 times in the last six months. That is an awful lot.

Windows Me also seems to have a big problem with managing memory, and I find my computer freezing a lot with few applications open with a 256 MB RAM memory.

I've had problems with applications like Macromedia's Flash and Shockwave players, Norton AntiVirus and Norton Utilities and I couldn't install DirectX 8 the first time I tried (I had to reformat my hard drive later).

The System Restore program, which indeed seems like a nice idea and has been improved lots in XP, is totally useless. It won't return your PC to an actual working status, and when you are able to revert your computer to a previous moment, the saved copy is just way too corrupted to solve the problem. So... a nice idea, but idea anyways.

This OS was targeted for home use. But it's the other way around. Forget about flawless gaming, downloading stuff from the internet and using your MP3 player or your digital camera.

This OS is the maximum expression of unstability and unreliability. It's plain crap. Simple as that.

I really really recommend you to save yourself the headaches, the rants, and to prevent losing years of life by NOT buying Windows Millennium Edition. Don't get fooled by the pretty packaging and the "fancy" multimedia apps. Don't pay attention to those that say that Windows ME works great. If it does... they have been extremely lucky. Just read most of the reviews and see for yourself.

On the other hand, I do recommend you to buy Windows XP if you can get the extra bucks. Or get Windows 2000. If you can't, then just stay with your Windows 98 SE or downgrade to it. But, stay 30 feet away from Windows ME. It's not worth it. Believe me.

I've read several reviews and it seems that all Dell PCs won't be saved from WinME's evil wrath. That is my case, too. Pretty odd. I read in one of the reviews that you're making Dell pay for the WinXP upgrade. Seems like a good idea.

SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Windows Millennium Edition poses a serious threat to your mental health, and should be avoided at all times.

Okay, I have to admit, it really looks like Microsoft took Windows 98 SE, and added a few upgrades, like Movie Maker, WMP7, a few new drivers, and slapped a new name on it. It crashes even more than the disappointing 98 versions.

You really need to consider if it's worth buying Me. I would reccomend sticking with your current operating system, upgrading to Windows 2000 (MUCH better), or waiting for the final release of Windows Whister (A.K.A Windows 2001, Windows NT 5.1 and Windows.NET 1.0), which will be Microsoft's first consumer-targeted NT version.

Forget about me.

I owned Windows ME from 2000 to 2005 (when I upgraded to Windows XP Home Edition SP2). My computer came with ME pre-installed. Not as stable as Windows XP. Only ever crashes when you don't defrag, spy ware scan, virus scan and reg clean. If you do this daily - weekly. You will be running more stable. I'm not exactly sure why Microsoft released this operating system so close to Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I think it is because of a delay in XP causing ME to be a force release. A bit like a XP Beta. Id recommend it to anyone but if you're looking for that extra piece of stability, performance and not looking for the blue screen of death id recommend XP.

Minimum requirements states:
150MHz PII
32MB Memory
2GB Hard disk

My Recommended Minimum is
700MHz Celeron, 600MHz Pentium III or equivalent
256MB Memory
20GB Hard Disk Drive (5400RPM)


That is also enough power for Windows XP. Although on XP I do recommend 512MB Memory rather than 256mb.

You couldn't pay me to keep Windows ME on my machine. I was unfortunate enough to have it rammed down me throat as pre-installed software on my new Dell Inspiron 5000e, and have been going nuts ever since. In the three weeks that I have owned the machine, I have spent more of my time on the phone getting help trying to solve compatablity problems than I have spent actually using my computer.

I estimate that I have wasted over fifteen hours in a failed attempt to make this OS do that which it cannot: run the software that I wish to run, on the hardware which I have installed. Twenty percent of my existing software will not run with Windows ME. I will NOT purchase a new library of software each time there is a new "upgrade" for my OS, and you shouldn't have to either.

I have found something positive in my whole experience with Windows ME. The wonderful people at Dell have understood my pain and are sending me a replacement hard drive; Windows 2000 installed. My sympathy goes out to those of you who have spent their hard earned money on the Windows ME Virus.

I'm quite pleased with the load times and functionality of Windows ME. I have commend Microsoft for taking the boot time of this operating system and chopping it in half, however, that's little consolation when you end up rebooting twice as much! It's still a buggy program; some pieces of software really do a number on the memory management software. My advice: If your not familiar with the MSCONFIG command, and want to spend the time debugging your start-up profiles, then wait until the first service pack is released before buying this.

All in all an okay improvement to the functionality and performance of Windows 98 SE, but by no means is it perfect.

p.s. Additional warnings go out to MS OFFICE 2000, @PCDATA, ICQ 2000a, paid-to-surf users and Voodoo Banshee owners... If you fall into any of these categories, in my opinion, WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT SERVICE PACK RELEASE, unless of course, you want to debug it yourself. :)

I have to say that ME is the worst Operating System I've ever encountered. Blue screen after blue screen error is all I get every time I played games on it. I even blue screen errors when I'm not playing. I finally got fed up with and switched to XP. Much better OS than ME. Don't ever consider buying this. It's not a good idea.