ChristiansUnite Forums

I run Windows ME, Most of the time it works great, however..... sometimes I end up having to format my hard drive. I get missing drivers, or I have corrupt files. I don't go to the updates any more, since when I do, I have this happen more often.
I have used windows me for over 3 years now. And it has been great to use. I am don't want to have to go to XP cause some of the programs I use most often, will not work on XP. According to microsoft.
HELP!

There is no help.

I run ME too. I know a little something about computers and ME can only take so much.

Options:

(1) If you can get your hands on a copy of Win98, use that.
(2) A lot of the programs that are not currently compatible with WindowsXP are in the process of updating their programming or drivers (our church computer upgraded to XP PRO) What kind of programs are you finding not compatible? The WindowsCatalogue Upgrade thingy told me more than half mine weren't compatible, but nearly all of them had updates for XP.
(3) You can try and see if Windows2000 (which is primarily a business software) will run your programs. We have it on our laptop.

The biggest problem is finding anything other than XP in a box. It's pretty much unlikely you will, unless you buy a used op, or purchase over the net. There's a few places still have old software available, but I'd be a little careful about that. Lots of scams out there.

(4) You could also try some of the freebie ops (like GNU or Open BSD) - I have looked a little at GNU but haven't tried it.

The next time you have to reformat and reinstall, turn off the autoupdater and don't update anything except IE and Outlook Express.

Be sure though, that you have appropriate security protection, because if you don't update you won't be getting the security patches.

I haven't allowed an update since my last reinstall and it's running a lot better than previous times.

I have some good (free) security programs if you need them, let me know.

Gracey

I have Win 95, 98, 98 SE, and my ME here

My auto update is turned off. :D Thats the first thing I did. I don't use IE I use Foxfire for my browser. Its twice as fast and not as bulky as IE.  GNU or Open BSD I have never heard of. :eek:

If it were me, I'd probably load the Win98SE - hands down over ME.

OpenBSD and GNU is really more on the order of the linux op and I know one guy who runs the bsd and loves it.

I would guess tho, that you are probably best with the Win stuff.

Mind if I ask why you got the ME instead of sticking with the Win98?

Gracey

Why isn't anyone advocating XP?  I never had ME - I heard it was so full of bugs I nevered bothered going from 98 to ME - but XP is a huge improvement over 98.  XP is sooooo easy.  It is "smart" in that (just a couple of example):
It will automatically detect and install drivers for new devices without you having to stroke a single key.
OS updates are done without interaction (unless you really want to interact).
If you have a home network it makes the setup a snap.

I'm a real XP fan.  In fact at work, we are gradually changing to XP Professional from Windows 2000. (I work for a company of over 10,000 employees.)  Our LAN Administrators around the world are almost unanimously sold on XP.

Well, JudgeNot, about half my non-microsoft programming is not compatible with xp is why not. I can't afford all new programming. And you are quite right about ME - the buggiest program in creation. The silly thing is, after a while you start to get used to them   :P

uhh, my ME does autodetect too. I just need to plug in my new hardware and reboot. If you know how to use your software you can make it do a lot of things.

Dreamweaver already has a perfectly good ops in Win98SE and didn't want to have to buy XP and in that case my advice was good: Uninstall ME and reinstall Win98 - they are quite similar (98 is minus a few .dll files etc which can be downloaded from other places); and Dreamweaver doesn't rely on microsofts mail or browser programs, which is where a lot of the security problems lie.

Also, xp is sort of set up with some stuff that has future security concerns (for my part) and so I hesitate to go there til I know more. The OS updates without knowledge - definitely an invasion of privacy, unless you allow it. I most definitely would not.  :-X

Now, if someone asked me "what do I get with my new computer" I'd probably say XP because from what I can tell, there's not a lot of choice left anymore. WinXP is pretty much "user friendly". If I were starting fresh, I might actually do the Debian/Gnu/Linux route.... at least I wouldn't be dependent on microsoft.   8)

Gracey

As about half of my software, won't work with XP Judgenot.
I can make ME do alot of things I can't under 98 SE.
I have never had a problem with Foxfire browser as far as security problems go. ;D

DW & Gracey,
I feel your pain.  

I can’t get any of my 8-track tapes to work in my DVD player.  :-X

And try as I might, those parts off my old ’61 Ford just won’t work in my ’03 Toyota.  :-X

(Sarcastic, aren’t I.)  ;D

Good thing you don't know where I live - you'd probably drive out of your way just to "slap me hard and call me stupid"!  :D

 ;D


aaahhhaaaaa......  :-X

Okay JudgeNot.... I'll send you some of my bugs via email, lol.

Dreamweaver, if you like some of the stuff ME does and don't want to go back to Win98, you can reinstall all over....and over.... and over..... ad nauseum  :D   Just don't let it go do the updates. But, what exactly are things you can't do in 98 that you can do in ME? Sometimes there's tweaks....... after all, ME is really only a glorified 98 (hah!)

Gracey

ps: Judge, what are these "8-track" things? I'm still playing those big black round things.....ya know? It's tough tho...I'm gettin too old to wind the player all the way up    ;)
Parts I don't need to worry about; my horse just needs its hay.....

Well I think I have a few 8-track players laying around here. 2 for a car as well. I also have a bunch of black discs?
some are 45's and 33 1/3   :P

I have 3 old record players here. :eek: and a bunchof plastic disc that play on them. :eek;




Now I know I'm old.

Ha-ha-ha-ha!  :D

Now that we've determined we're all "old" - what do we do next?  'Gum' a rare steak together?

Ha-ha-ha-ha!  :D

I can flatuate as I walk across a room without even trying!  Can YOU do that????

(If any young c-unite members are reading this thread they are choking on their spegettios!)
 ;D ;D ;D

Hee hee hee hee hee ;D
Now thats funny

:P :P ;D :P :P

Nope.   :-X THAT is not one of my skills, ROFL. However, my husband probably has you beat, hands down,   ;D


Spegettios???   ???     ;D
(Do people actually EAT that stuff???)

I guess, I remember when they came out. :eek:

Oklahoma Howdy to All,

I will be the proud owner of a new PC, probably in a matter of days. I'm thinking about reserving a partition on the HD for Linux and taking a look at some of the new and user friendly GUIs for Linux.

I think that a lot of folks have figured out Microsoft's grand plan. They have a 5 year plan for supporting software, and they fully expect for you to buy a new operating system and all of your software over again every 5 years. Well, I'm not going to cooperate.   ;D  There is now a suite that is compatible with Microsoft's super expensive Office products. It's called Open Office, and it's free. Yes, I have a copy, and I think it is actually better than Microsoft Office.

OR, I guess we could all go back to the small, elegant, and practical DOS.   ;D

Love In Christ,
Tom

I don't think some of these "kids" ;) know of D.O.S.  although I liked version 5.0.  ;D

Oklahoma Howdy to Dreamweaver,

I'm positive that most of the younger folks don't have a clue what DOS is.   :D  That was a time when the computer accepted your instructions instead of the computer giving you instructions. That was also a time when developers wrote small applications that actually worked with very small memory requirements. A crash was rare and usually happened when something burned out inside the computer.

Now, you can get the Windows "Blue Screen of Death" for holding your mouse wrong. The programs and memory requirements are huge. WOW!!! - talk about prices. The hardware prices have come down dramatically, but the OS and programs are through the roof. I think that most of us are being held hostage by Microsoft.   :D

Love In Christ,
Tom

Yup we sure are hostages. I alway thought that it was against the law to hold hostages. ::)

Oklahoma Howdy to Dreamweaver,


Microsoft just found a legal way to do it. They have had a few problems along the way with practices related to monopolies and unfair business practices. They've also had recent problems with entire countries dumping the Microsoft OS and going to open source type software, like various flavors of Linux. They also replaced the super expensive Microsoft Office with the open source and completely compatible FREE Open Office. There are alternatives, and those alternatives are getting better by the day.

Love In Christ,
Tom

I will be downloading Open Office tonight. I'll let you know what I think of it blackeyedpeas.

Brother, you will like it. I have experimented with it for several months now and find Open Office to be superior to Microsoft Office. It doesn't have a database, but it does have just about everything else, and it's all compatible with Microsoft output and input. I have Microsoft Office 2000 Pro on my old computer, and I easily decided to save $500 by not having it on the new computer. The file sizes in Open Office are much smaller, and it appears to be faster, at least on my old machine that I'm replacing. Quite a bit of the original work on Open Office was done by Sun, the same company that does state of the art Java. Open Office used to be called Star Office, and it has been greatly improved since Sun decided to let it be open source. In this case, open source means that a reasonable fee can be charged for copies and the media it is on, but the software must be free. I bought a CD of Open Office for $6.50, including shipping. Trust me, it's excellent.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Well I just blew 2 hours. I got disconnected from their server. Looks like if I want to try it, I will have to buy a copy. Grrrrrr

What kind of programs? You can install it and make them work w/me if you know what you are doing. If you tell me the names of some of the programs I will show you the right way.

Hi
Before you up grade to 98se or xp. Make sure you have the processor power and memory to run xp. I would install win pro 2000. A list of programs that you have would help to determine what OS to to install.

Also for us who are on dial up and get disconnected and lose downloads i recommed: Fresh Downloads. It's a free dwonload manager that when us on dial up get disconnected you can resume where you left of. You can get it at www.majorgeeks.com  They have tons of shareware and freeware to download.  Most web sites will let you down load where you left of, some won't.

I also have ME.  The worst thing that this OS has it's a resource cache that open up and allocated resources as soon as you start your PC and it doesn't matter if you turn them off after the pc is started.  One thing that i did was to configure my pc so that certain programs do not turn on when start my pc. Then i have more resources to use. IF i do need a program to start i simply click on the icon for that program to start.

BEP I found a program similar to Open Office, its called........ 602PC Suite 4.0, it works as good as MS Office. ;D
And a whole lot smaller 24.2 MB. ;D

Hi DW: I've used this and installed it on all my family/friends computers. It's perfectly fine...I like it a lot.

Deacon:

Thanks for your offer of help, but to be frank, my biggest concern with xp is this:


uhh, I hesitate to say what I know about the "future" development of some of the currently built-in features, because it was told me in confidence, but I will say that what they hope/plan/would like (?) to do is not conducive to our personal privacy, and in fact would actually mean they've taken over our digital lives, completely. Nor, is it currently "fact", so it could be considered gossip, but it's scary enough to me to keep away from xp for now.

Gracey

Oklahoma Howdy to DreamWeaver,

Yes, I've heard of that. I understand about Open Office being a big download. However, I just paid $6.00 for shipping and handling to get a CD. It's amazing there are a bunch of programs that are completely free and excellent. That's because there are a bunch of great programmers out there who don't like the Microsoft monopoly and them being able to charge whatever they want for their products. Microsoft Office Pro is now about $500, so it's way out of my budget.

I'm glad that you found something free that you like.

Love In Christ,
Tom