ME to XP good idea?

matrim

I have a p3 1gz, with 256 pc133 sdram, running windows me (oem, if that makes a difference).
I'm thinking of upgrading to xp. Do you think this is a good idea?

Also where is a good place to find xp (cheaply, if at all possible, know its not bloody likely)

Calman

Well good places to get an OS would be www.Komplett.ie and www.itdirect.ie and I'm not sure but maybe www.elara.ie. The thing is if u get OEM that means that you have to buy some hardware with it, I think. I think most people would agree that win98 SE would've been better to use instead of ME, but I guess it did the job. I would recommend upgrading to Windows 2000 professional cause I've heard good things about it. I was thinking of getting Win2000 myself lately.

tman

now there's a mint idea if ever i've seen one.

i've had less experience with 2000 than with xp, but it's still a damn fine os.
tbh if they invented a machine for erasing bad memories tomorrow, m.e. would be the first one i chose to go.

imo you should see xp home edition as your first choice, with 2000 a very close second

Dun

There was an article about upgrading hardware and software in a recent copy of Computeractive and their test results showed a 20-25% gain in performance with XP over 2000. Probably with the bells and whistles turned off though.

Capt'n Midnight

ie. if both licenses are about the same price you should be able to get XP and install 2k (Pro License will cover home but not visa versa though) - you could also get an upgrade copy to put on top of a non-transferrable licence.

Now the big question - Why ??
You could downgrade ME to Win98SE..
There is a hack to allow ME to boot into command prompt..
XP has less hardware support than 2K - check for drivers first...
Do you play games or what are the crucial apps ?

What benefits do you want - stability or speed or features you really need.
(speed is cheaper to gain by buying more RAM perhaps?)

If you want to try something different try knoppix (www.knoppix.net)
It's free, has loads of utils, and openoffice is not bad as replacement for M$ Office - but since it is Linux - it is no use for games - but since it boots off the CD - you don't affect your hard drive - if you don't like it - just eject the CD

Senor_Fudge

definately get rid of ME asap - what a difficult OS to deal with
XP can be frowned upon too by some people for being too "childrens story book like"

would ya consider windows 2k ?

woolymammoth

ME -> Windows 3.1 is a good idea. anything but ME!! if not for
yourself then for your computer! please, think of your computer!!!!


on a more serious note, i second that guy (Capt'n Midnight).
dunno if you're aware already, ME and everything before that
was DOS based. 2000 & XP are NT based. so if you have older
games you like they may not work on XP. something to check
anyways.

AFAIK that'd be your only real problem, almost all other software
and hardware should be compatible. XP pro is definitely better
than XP home. XP is pretty much Win2k in a fancy dress. Win2k is
probably better 'cos it's been out a few yrs so they've caught a
lot of the bugs by now. that said XP is pretty solid. its only real
failure is that it can be a resource hog but you can turn the
window dressing off.

i give it a thumbs up anyways. prepare to (almost) never see your
computer freeze up again. seriously. ww)

matrim

My main uses are for games (cm, warcraft, civ), and a bit of software development for college. On another note if xp/2k are not dos based can you still use dos. I've to use alot of java and I do most of my development using notepad and a dos prompt will it still work.

I've only had this comp for a few months and really started to use it over the past 3 weeks and I can see how crap me is already. I have an older system with a amd k6 500 and 128 ram, using win98se and it crashes/freezes about the same as this one using the same apps.

Stark

aggghhhh, get rid of windows me, get rid, get rid, burn the cds!!!

XP should run well enough with 256MB of RAM despite being a memory hog. Windows 2000 will definitely run like a dream on that machine. Both Windows 2000 and XP are far more stable than previous windows versions. The default windows xp interface is mank, but you can change it to a refined windows 2000 look. Not much difference between 2000 and xp besides bells&whistles.

theciscokid

i just upgraded my mum's pc there last night from M.E. to xp home....

M.E. is such a poor operating system, leave it in the past!!

Mac daddy

I agree get rid of the ME what a load of ****,
Xp all the way

Calman

Isn't 2000 more of a network OS rather than XP home edition? Or can you use XP home edition like a network OS too? I know both are good as a stand alone OSes too.

RicardoSmith

W2k and XP are very similar. But if you are playing games then XP works better with more games than w2k. Both have issue with older games, though many work fine. Check the support forums to see if your games (and apps) work with either before you buy.

Either will work with 256mb of ram though I'd suggest turning off all the effects and eye candy as it slows both OS'es down an awful lot. Personally I find that both are much better with 512mb of ram than 256mb. When RAM is so cheap why not add a little more.

ME is a piece of junk. Either go back to 98se (Nice OS) or go to XP home or XP pro is my advice. Theres really no reason to get w2k over XP unless you need something that works in w2k and not in XP which would be very unlikely. One small point is that there isn't all that online registering crap and protection systems in w2k that there is in XP. So if you're always changing your hardware around then w2k is a better choice.

Personally I'd get XP home or professional. I've put in on 400mhz PII laptops and with all the bells and whistles turned off it was as fast as 98se in use. But much nicer especially on an LCD screen due to the way XP handles font smoothing on LCD screens.

MrPinK

On another note if xp/2k are not dos based can you still use dos. I've to use alot of java and I do most of my development using notepad and a dos prompt will it still work.

The good old dos prompt is still there alright, and you'll find java much easier to set up with 2k/XP too.

Sir Random

Why is everyone so against the WinME OS? (genuine experiences please)
I use 98SE and ME. I find ME to be as trouble-free as 98SE with the extra benefits of rollback, 2K drivers & networking.
I'm building a new machine atm and I'll be using 98SE or ME. I tried XPHome for a few days but found it very frustrating. Maybe the pro edition is better but I don't see any real benefit (to me) in switching from the familiar 98/ME OS.

zekiel

ME should be burned at the stake!!! its such a nasty OS... BURN IT BURN IT!!...:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Your best bet is to simply move to XP..
You'll find you can buy it in an OEM form from maplin for about €150.

matrim

I've been convinced. Just one more thing is there much difference between an update and a Full version. I saw an update for 125Eur on either komplett or itdirect, can't remember which now. Would it give me the same choices as buying a full version or OEM

Calman

I've been wondering the same thing myself. Afaik if u buy an upgrade cd say from 98 to XP then you must have 98 installed first - so if u format your computer u have to install 98 then upgrade to XP instead of just installing XP in one go. Now I hope I'm wrong on this and I'm not sure so maybe someone can confirm this.

Hobbes

Some people are talking through thier ass.

XP - Has a lot of drivers for it. No problems there. XP Home sucks out of the various XP versions but is stable (although security is a joke and not as stable as the other XP versions).

W2K - Professional version excellent for games bar the very very old ones. Very stable.

ME - Moving from ME to anything else would be an improvement.

You can disable those horrible looking child safety buttons look in XP.

Cheapest price? I'm not sure. Try MS in Ireland they will give you a reseller. For a laugh tell them you were thinking of moving to Linux instead as you heard it was cheaper, and see if they give you a discount.

Capt'n Midnight

Anyone remember the NT4 upgrade CD ?
it would only upgrade - could not use it to reinstall.....

Also the W2K pro upgrade does not recognise DELL win98 recovery disks as being valid - (oem NT4 was accepted)
And of course if the CD is a recovery CD then chances are it won't install on another brand (or even some older PC of it's own brand)

Also there are certain scanners that will only work in W2K if the W2K in question was got by upgrading 98..

Most OEM 95/98 CD's won't install if there is a win.com file on the drive already - rename it to win-com.bak (don't delete in case you need it later)

I reckon that is about as clear as M$'s licencing policies on upgrades.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Sir Random
Why is everyone so against the WinME OS? (genuine experiences please)
I use 98SE and ME. I find ME to be as trouble-free as 98SE with the extra benefits of rollback, 2K drivers & networking.
I'm building a new machine atm and I'll be using 98SE or ME. I tried XPHome for a few days but found it very frustrating. Maybe the pro edition is better but I don't see any real benefit (to me) in switching from the familiar 98/ME OS.

If you ever worked in support or had to fix a lot of friends or relatives PC's. You soon notice that ME is very slow, crashes a lot and needs reinstalling way too much. If your 98se is a fast/slow as ME then you have a problem since it should be a lot quicker. W2K and XP are far better than both. If you don't use the PC that much then just maybe you won't notice much of a difference.

Stark

you can fool a lot of those upgrade cds simply by getting a dos boot floppy and copying the files to your hard drive.

BoobeR

ME to XP is definately a good idea, i noticed a 100% increase in my pc all'round. defiantely worth while at least trying to do it.

Kai

Dont blame M.E. of ya cant fix your pc. thats just a cop out. Win Me can and does work perfectly on pcs and has done in my experiance.
I have a lot of experiance with varios different versions of windows and they all have their quirks but nothing that cant be fixed by 20 mins of configuration.
If you have a problem instead of complaining about it try and fix it, ya never know you might even learn something.

It really depends on what your hardware specs are and what you use your pc for.

Stark

You mean there's a configuration option to turn off the random freezes/lockups and crashes?

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Frugu
Dont blame M.E. of ya cant fix your pc. thats just a cop out. Win Me can and does work perfectly on pcs and has done in my experiance.
I have a lot of experiance with varios different versions of windows and they all have their quirks but nothing that cant be fixed by 20 mins of configuration.
If you have a problem instead of complaining about it try and fix it, ya never know you might even learn something.

It really depends on what your hardware specs are and what you use your pc for.

Mmmm so thats why its the OS of choice for so many. You must be right with your "experiance". All those hundreds of thousands of people who think its a load of toss are just morons obviously.

Kai

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Mmmm so thats why its the OS of choice for so many. You must be right with your "experiance". All those hundreds of thousands of people who think its a load of toss are just morons obviously.

I never said they were morons i just said they take the easy way out. sure there are loads of flaws with win me, there are loads of flaws with XP as well. i dont think throwing money away on a new OS is the best way of fixing your problems.
But then again what do i know with only 5 years "experiance" building, repairing and troubleshooting PCs.

jesus_thats_gre

Through personal experience I developed a dislike for anything other than Win2K or XP. Windows 98 and Me are notoriously unreliable, WIN98 nearly drove me insane hanging.. I since moved to 2000 Pro and it never crashed once in a year. I now use XP, while not as stable as 2K, i still prefer it overall.

If you have a relatively high spec'd PC, I wouldnt think twice about moving to XP.