Windows 98/ ME, which to run

[Guest]

I am building a computer, and I am wondering what are some thoughts or preferences to which O/S system to run. Computer is gonna be for gaming and internet and such. Any suggestions?

K7807 main board, 700MHZ AMD Duron processer, 52X cd rom. Maxtor/Comp USA 7200 rpm 20 gig hard drive. Unknown graphics card (not purchased yet).

 

[Arrow]

Win98SE seems to be the way to go with most users, though WinME does defeat it in some ways, IMO.

Rob
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[ejsmith2]

If you're going with windows, I'd go with whichever one seems to be most stable on your computer.

 

[nicewar]

I'm running ME on my machine, 900Mhz Athlon, and it has been a little troublesome but nothing horrible. My son runs WIN98SE on his old P166 and has had zero problems.

If you already own a copy of either OS, load it and see if it works, if it meets your needs stick with it.

btw The one thing I like about ME is how quickly it boots up, I can't go for a cup of coffee anymore.




Troubles a-brewing and I'm left holding the spoon.

 

[Pettytheft]

About one month ago I would have said Win98SE was the way to go hands down. I dont know if it's the MS updates or the drivers have caught up with it but WinMe is a much more stable product now. The boot time is amazing compared to SE. I've actually used the system restore once as well, it worked like a champ. There are still a few bugs here and there that I encounter but that is to be expected with any win 9x product.
Good Luck!

 

[Guest]

Thanx for the responses, Where exactly to I find the updates and drivers for ME if I decide to use that? Is that on the Microsoft website? Or ZDnet?

 

[nicewar]

You can find the updates on the MS site, they have a ME section.

Troubles a-brewing and I'm left holding the spoon.

 

[Pettytheft]

Or just click the windows update tab on off of your start menu.

 

[nicewar]

well, yea.... if you want to do it the easy way

Troubles a-brewing and I'm left holding the spoon.

 

[lakedude]

To me 98se is a mature stable product. Me is new and less stable but has tons of hardware driver support 98 does not. I run 98se in a system from that time period and it works great. When trying to run 98se with latest greatest hardware it does not know what to do with a lot of hardware. Me picks up the hardware right away with no need to download extra drivers. Personally I prefer 98se to all other consumer windows products but I'm too lazy to download all the drivers it would take to run it on the new system. Also I need to know Me since I'm in the biz. Write us back and let us know what you did. LD

 

[ejsmith2]

I'd disagree with you on 'stable', but it's definately mature. But there's games that will play under winme/win98 that don't under win2k, so it's nice in that respect.

 

[Fltsimbuff]

I agree with Lakedude... Though I can say that I've never personally used WinME... I have chosen not to due to all of the negative things I have heard about it. I volunteer at a couple of helpdesks on MSN chat, and a question I hear quite frequently is: "I installed Windows ME and it [Insert negative impact on your system here]. How do I take it off and go back to 98?" I personally like and use Win2k... but that's a whole 'nother thread...
Also, in a discussion I had with a Windows ME technician that came into the room, I asked him the following Questions, and got the following answers (not word-for-word).
Me: WinME doesn't really have any changes in the architecture, or inner-workings, does it?
Him: nope
Me: Isn't most of the "new features" in ME just things that you can get for 98se with 3rd party software?
Him: Yep

Now, Granted, he didn't say all that much... but after all this, I really see no reason for going to WinME...98se is more matured, and more stable than ME from what I've gathered from the Helpdesks over the last few months. I really see no reason to go through all those updates and fixes again just for the addition of a few "novelties."
You might take a look at the "Win2k or WinME?" discussion in the anandtech forum.

--Fltsimbuff

 

[machow]

ME is nothing more than a cosmetic update from w98, to me. I installed ME and the computer seems not to like it, and I don't like it. Feels like a whole lot more junk in my computer. Fortunately, I switched to w2k which I will never return.

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[Spdy_Gonzales]

If you are going to use your computer for gaming you do not want Win2K. I think you will like WinME. Just remember, as soon as you install it, go to Settings/Control Panel/Scheduled Tasks and disable the PC Health function. That is the activity all the complaints are about. After you feel comfortable with WinME, you can revisit the PC Health function and decide how YOU want to use it.

<b> JOHN HANCOCK </b>

 

[dhlucke]

winME is a disaster. Don't bother with it. Odds are in favor of one of your devices not working and the manufacturer not having new drivers. I couldn't get my HP CD-writer 9110 to work. Ridiculous. That OS lasted a whole week or maybe 2 until I uninstalled it.

But no, it left ghosts and I had to format my HD.

Stick to Win98se

<font color=red>Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.</font color=red>
Pablo Picasso

 

[machow]

And I believe WinME is not much improvement over Win98SE and the price do, I think it would be good to get Win98SE.

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[Guest]

I've got both but diffinately recommend 98SE and that's all I run as I found both hardware and software issues that couldn't be fixed with ME so it was just a waste of money and time.

K6-3+450@550 2.0v
Epox MVP3-C2
Sweeeet!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Wiggo on 03/31/01 09:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

I "upgraded" to ME from 98 and had many problems, two most irritating were that my dsl wouldn't work with it, although my provider had the new drivers (that didn't help), and it wouldn't restart.

 

[Guest]

Well, I finally got my computer up and running last night. I installed ME just for kicks, and I haven't had any problems with it, It booted right up , found all of my hardware drivers and seems to be strong, I will give it a few weeks and see what happens. I was really worried about it when I installed this old modem in it. Some modem called a Zoom 56k or something, got a few years back. But, I didn't even need the modem driver cd that came with it. I know that is minor, but was nice of how I lucky I got.(So far) about how the computer just booted right up. Of course, I do have one problem. I don't think it is ME related, or OS related for that matter, but, since I am here, here it goes. When I push the power switch on my case itself,it does not turn completely off, I have to completely turn off my computer from the actual back of the ATX power supply case. I shut down windows and the computer, Moniter turns off,but,the Keyboard "Num Lock" key stays lit.And when I try to hit the power button again,it boots back up . The case fan and CPU fan shut down,but, not that key board light. Is this normal? Doesn't seem to be. Any suggestions.? There are four cables that I hooked up to the mainboard that came with the Case. They are described as followed:

Grn/wht Power led Jumpers 1,2,3
Bl/wht(twisted) R/P Sw Jumpers 22,23
Bl/wht Reset Sw Jumpers 12,13
Rd/wht HDD Led Jumpers 20,21

This is on an Amptron K7-807 , Manual # M807

Any help or info, greatly appreciated.

 

[Pettytheft]

In the Bios settings there is something you can change. I think it's the option to use your power switch to go to standby mode or off. Sometimes you have to hold the off switch down for 4 seconds. Also I've seen an option to power on your system by the keyboard. That might explain why it is still lit.

 

[Guest]

Thanx, I heard about the keyboard booting up the computer and such, I don't see that option in my Bios, if that is where I look. I am not the concerned about it, as long as it doesn't burn out my computer.. But still, be nice to know what is up with that..

 

[Dede]

I upgraded from win 98 first edition, and had good luck with winme, except some some occasional lock-ups during start-up and shut-down, but I think I have troubleshooted those. We'll see.

 

[Dede]

Spdy_Gonzales, I tried to disable the PC health function by following your steps, and then unchecking the check mark under the task tab, but when I rebooted, it was checked again. Should I go to settings tab and check the "delete the task if it is not scheduled to run again" as well?
Also, can you tell me exactly what that function does?
Thanks.

 

[Spdy_Gonzales]

I'm not sure what it is doing...I think it is backing up all files which have changed so that you can restore files back to how they were at an earlier date. The problem is it seems to be doing this all the time and slows up the computer.
One way to disable it is to click the "advanced" button under the schedule tab, and click the "end date", and it will not run any more. Be sure the end date is after the start date and click OK.
I wouldn't delete the task, it might actually be cool if you can schedule it to run "after midnight".


<b> JOHN HANCOCK </b>

 

[machow]

If you're talking about task sceduler, you must delete any task before you can disable task scheduler. When you reboot again with the task still present you will get it the task scheduler will autmatically be re-enabled.

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