Time to get rid of ME?

[Richard King]

I am in the process of evaluating some new software for my mini storage business. I am able to load the SW on one of the two computers I intend to use it on. Both computers have Win ME as the OS. On the one that refuses to install the program (this one) I get the attached error messages. This machine has consistant problems with lock ups as well. Is it time to get rid of ME and move on to XP, XP Pro or Win 2000? If so, which one and why? Thanks. I use this computer mostly for internet, music, picture editing, etc. along with the normal business type applications of Lotus Smart Suite, QuickBooks, etc.

[Unthinkable]

I think you would be wise to move up to XP Home upgrade going on the types of applications you listed above there. It's much more stable then ME ever was for me and while it was a bit of a pain in the you know what when it first came out with driver support not fully prepared for its release, I would do it again without hesitation and not look back. I hear people recommend all the time that you go with 98SE over ME if that tells you anything at all. XP will suit you both for the here and now and for the future.

[Wedgecon]

WinME is just plain evil,

As to XP if you are used to NT4 and or Win2000 then XP Home may seem to be strangley "dumbed down", but if you have not then XP Home will be fine.

I personally have a hard time getting used to the simplfied logon process and crippled menus in XP Home, though 90% of home users will never care.

[Bogy]

OR, unless you are ready to move on to a new OS anyway, you could try doing what Windows is recommending and run Setup and see if that clears up the problem. Since it works fine on one machine it would seem somewhere along the line a file or two have been corrupted. There may be other reasons why you would want to upgrade, but a corrupted file is not necessarily one of them.

[Richard King]

Well, I bought the upgrade for the office machine (not this one) and installed it this morning. All seems to have gone well there (I think). I got the upgrade at Staples and used an internet "coupon" to get $20 off a purchase of $100 or more. The upgrade was $99.95, so I bought a desk calender for $3.00 or so to make the cutoff. I guess I will swing by and get another one later today and do this machine in the next couple of days. I hope it doesn't mess up my Starband software. :(

I have found that the only thing consistent about ME lately is it's constant crashes, so the investment is worth it to me if XP proves to be more stable.

[Neil Derryberry]

As we've discussed before in a previous thread ages ago, the NTFS convert has never failed me in literally hundreds of NT installs - if you do indeed NEED ntfs, I wouldn't worry about it. The clean install is indeed preferable, but not always a real-world option.

FYI... XP under the skin is 98% win2k. The behind-the-scenes changes were minscule at best.

[Richard King]

Don't you have to have a clean hard drive to do a clean install? I am not in the mood to lose (not loose) everything that I have on the drive. The machine at the office is already done, as an upgrade. I haven't done the one here as I need to work out some details (like the drivers for my HP LJ1000 printer not being compatible with XP as I discovered when upgrading the other machine.

[Bogy]

A clean install of Windows every 3-4 months? I'm lucky if I defrag that often. I would guess that if Rking was doing a clean install of ME every 3 months he wouldn't be having the crash problem he is. Let's see, I'm basically running ME on a system upgraded from Win98, upgraded from Win95, upgraded from Win3.11, upgraded from Win3.0, upgraded from DOS 6. Never really ever had a problem. When I did a re-install cleaned things up.

[James_F]

LOL Zac. I've had WinNT running on a computer at home for almost 3 years without reformating it. You shouldn't have to reinstall windows at all.

[invaliduser88]

Just where the hell is that 'any' key!!!!!! :p

[AllieVi]

Originally posted by Zac
DON'T DO AN UPGRADE INSTALL! (if you didn't, if you did a clean install, then ignore this).From what you say, I assume a "clean install" would be the equivalent of a pre-installed version of XP. Some software I want to get mentions that it won't work with an upgrade version.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Zac
As for why I say every 3-4 months, it's simple - your computer builds up junk that you don't need and the best way to keep things running smoothly and to keep your harddrive space is to reformat and reinstall. Just make a backup of what you need first. It only takes one evening of your time, 3-4 times a year!

I'm sorry but that is a total waste of time. If you are judicious and don't install every shareware out there, and try to put all your data in "My Documents" or at least in proper folders then this is totally unnecessary. You also have to reconfigure your apps when you format and do a reinstall. Those little customizations are often equal to lots of manhours. And when you don't write down every customization to a configuration it can take quite a bit longer to get back to your way of working.

I have had machines that have not required an reinstall go for 2+ years, and they were DOS, Windows 3.x, Win 95, Win98, W2K, XP (skipped ME so can't vouch for that one)

That is not to say that it can't happen. I know people who have had to do a fresh reinstall every 3-4 months, my brother is one of them. But if you look at his system tray before the system crashes for good you see that he never said no to a piece of SW. And he has to share the machine with 3 kids...

[Bogy]

It would take me several days to put everything back. The thought of redoing my networking alone makes me shudder. Just look at the various threads here from those struggling with networking issues. It's working, and you think I'm going to screw with it? Times four? Four times a years. You're insane, or I would be if I followed your advice.

[James_F]

Well said gcutler!

[Chaos]

Just keep in mind the most important rule of upgrading. Running an upgrade on a system that is not working properly at the time will result in an upgraded OS running worse than the one before.

If you are going to do an upgrade, you really should resolve the issues that you're seeing with the old version first.

[gcutler]

Unless it is corrupt drivers and such, hopefully the upgrade would put new drivers out there that would either be newer so better (hopefully) or at least not corrupt.

[Richard King]

It would take me several days to put everything back. Ditto. I don't even know if I have enough CD-R's around here to back everything up.
Unless it is corrupt drivers and such, hopefully the upgrade would put new drivers out there that would either be newer so better (hopefully) or at least not corrupt.That's the thought here. Hopefully that is what would happen and I would be off and running again at full speed.

By the way, I upgraded the machine at the office to XP-Home and will probably go back and undo the upgrade and redo it to XP Pro. I will then do the XP Home upgrade on this machine so that (maybe) I can communicate with the office machine from here. From what I read, the machine being communicated to has to be XP Pro, while the machine being communicated from can be just about anything. Am I correct? I do believe I just might be learning a thing or two in this process.

[gcutler]

RKing, Is you office machine in a corporate office environment, firewalls (and/or corporate policy) may not allow "Remote Access" to be physically done. And if at your own "Small Business", if you can do that, you may have a hole in your firewall that you may not want.

At my last job, it was physically impossible to do it because of the firewall. When we added the VPN, it was possible but grounds for dismissal because of corporate policy. Of course I learned the hard way that disagreeing with your Boss too much was also grounds for dismissal. :shrug:

[Richard King]

RKing, Is you office machine in a corporate office environmentNope, unless you consider a 10x10' mini storage unit one computer, a desk and a couple of chairs a corporate environment. :D
When we added the VPN, it was possible but grounds for dismissal because of corporate policy.I would have to fire myself, which I am sometimes tempted to do anyway. :lol: