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Microsoft Windows ME(Millennium Edition)
A Techtite ReviewRegardless of being released a year ago, I'm still making up my mind about Microsoft Windows Me ("Millennium Edition"). I suppose other home PC owners are feeling the same way, with few making the upgrade at all. Its biggest hurdle, at first was just getting over Microsoft's "Windows 2000" blunder, which was not the successor to Windows 98; it was the latest version of Windows NT , for professional networks (people who still don't know this trait of Win2000, are still trying to get their favorite Win98 software to work properly on it). Windows Me, by comparison, is the true Win98 successor. However, is the upgrade worth it? Some game fans would say no. After all, the biggest upgrade necessity for a gamer is the latest DirectX 3D and sound driver technology, and such upgrades are always offered for free on the CDs of the programs that need them. Most other perks desired by PC owners, were already answered via the Windows 98 "Second Edition." Aside from this, there is only the Win Me desire to make things run faster, which for multiplayer gamers, Windows Me might not do. In fact, with its automatic online shenanigans (more on this next), internet fans may be even a little peeved, particularly if they're stuck using Win Me on a typical, 56K modem.
There are pluses to Windows ME, to be sure. Startup and Shutdown are much, much quicker. It used to take, given all of my Memory-Resident drivers and sub programs, as much as 5 minutes for Windows 98 (first edition) to load up completely on my system; now, the same startups take one-third the time, or less. Some other gripes of Win98's speed (the ones still present in the Second Edition) have been answered. Memory handling is also improved. As you might expect, the overall speed of programs, as a result, seem more fluid as well. My favorite perk; the Start menu is now more dynamic, and you can click-and-drag favorite programs to anywhere you like on the start menu.
However, other new features of WinMe seem
rather irrelevant to computer professionals like myself, who at this point would
just as soon go back to typing commands into DOS, if just to feel in
control of our own computers again. Such pluses include the
automatic truncating of the Start menu. Upon the first few days of this
feature, you'll get a condescending, "Where'd my programs go?"
speech balloon, notifying you of this new trait. However, the "Where'd my programs go?" speech balloon --even though it disappears in a month-- is a small sample of the bigger problem I have with Win Me; it's the condescending hand-holding, at every turn. There's a window to ask, re-ask, or notify you, of just about everything you'd ever think of doing. On my laptop, for example, it's best to safely shut down an external device (like a zip drive or PC card modem) before removing it. While there's a short-cut, you'll most often find yourself double clicking on the small icon to the lower-right of the screen, to perform the device shutdown. Big mistake. A window appears, where you must manually click on the item to be stopped, then click on "stop," only to be taken to a separate, totally unnecessary window, asking you to click on "stop" again. Then a message appears, telling you --DUH-- the item has been stopped. This third window is complete with a system beep, as if you needed your eyes and ears checked, as well. This is supposedly to make windows more user-friendly, yet it still seems terribly excessive.
Other perks are much like DirectX; vastly improved, yet downloadable for free. Windows Media Player, for example, is vastly superior. "Play lists" can be maintained, for all media files, either online, on a CD, or on your hard drive itself. A point-and-click menu at the left can be used to consult your personal media library, or search the web for online radio stations, or the equivalent. You can also use these menus to change the "skin" appearance of Media Player, or to transfer your favorite files to your portable device of choice (MP3 players, for example). The upgrade from older Windows Media players is almost as superior as the one for Windows Explorer 5.5, which is also on the CD. As I said, to the best of my knowledge, WIN98 users can still download all this for free. However, admittedly, they are huge downloads. I also think it's important to note what some may find obvious; yes, on occasion, Windows ME can still come crashing down, thanks to as little as one program causing a simple glitch. Personally, I have grown accustomed to Windows' occasional crashes of this sort, and the quicker restarts make it even more tolerable. However, much like Win98 SE, WinMe automatically uses "scan disk" at every improper shutdown, forcing you to wait 5 minutes or more while it scans the hard drive for possible errors caused during the crash. In truth, this is often just a good lesson to be learned, to use only programs from professional software companies you can trust. However, to err is human, and other OS options have been known to deal with such crashes far better (though how many programs are available for those other Operating Systems, is another matter). Which brings the review down to the bottom line; is this latest Windows OS worth it? Personally, if you're not as Computer-savvy as you'd prefer to be, I'd say yes. However, if you're equally a user who is online a lot, with a telephone modem (56K or slower), that automatic download feature may be a little annoying, especially if you're not computer-savvy enough to shut it off. As for myself, I've been able to waylay most of WinMe's hand-holding, so I'm perfectly comfortable with it on both my laptop and my desktop, with no intent to go back to Win98 Second Edition. On the other hand, if you're not that interested in hand-holding, or in slightly-faster startups, I'd recommend sticking with Windows 98 SE, or perhaps waiting until a later Windows version. You're probably happier that way, if you love multiplayer games more than shorter File menus.
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Burnout
Near
Miss
Small
Crater
Large
Crater
Deep
Impact
To be fair, the internet lagging is only on occasion
--and it can be turned off, via the control panel-- though it was a bad idea
to begin with: programming WinMe, by default, to search for
Windows upgrades automatically. What this means is, while online, everything slows
down as WinMe searches for, identifies, and downloads "important"
updates all by itself.
The problem is, the "importance" of these updates is a matter of personal
opinion; some may be merely a new help menu, which you may never even use. While you can change this
update option to notify you before downloading a file, it was a
mistake to simply "assume" that users wanted automatic updates
as a default (insert Benny Hill's "assume" joke here). Fans of multiplayer games, in
particular, may wish to
shut the feature off entirely; if you don't, your character will suddenly slow to a
crawl, at the worst possible moment.
In time, even most
Microsoft applications will begin to use this feature, abbreviating longer menu bars down to your favorite, most-used commands.
The feature
is due by the way WinMe will flag which programs/commands you use the most, and makes
them appear by themselves, in an abbreviated menu. A double arrow icon
is at the bottom of the mini-menu, to click on when choosing an application used less frequently.
For the computer professional, this is no big deal per se, especially with
the dynamic Start menu feature mentioned above, that allows you to
re-arrange the Start menu at will. However, it is a nice feature for those who install several
files using the "automatic" option, whose Start menu may be
overflowing with too many shortcuts to skim through easily. 