Was Windows ME Really Hot Garbage?

[@adambrassard9268]

Like most windows version, learning how it worked was important. We ran ME at home for a long time without issues. That being said, windows 2000 professional was my fav at the time :). Great video as always. Funny to see that os running inside of that box!

[@PNPRetro]

Absolutely. There are a lot of variables. I know people who only used their boxes for emails and word processing, didn't do any gaming or more "Advanced" computer usage, and rarely saw issues. Working at a computer shop when this software was new, I definitely saw a lot of customers asking to purchase and install Windows 98 after running into issues with various peripherals and software. If you were a bit technically inclined, and willing to spend the time trying different versions of software and drivers, you could generally get it pretty stable. Just depended on how much effort you wanted to put in. And thanks for watching :)

[@rustybobdotca]

I found Windows ME was both just as bad as everyone said it was, and also not. When it was working fine, it definitely booted faster, everything you did felt much snappier, and the fresh coat of paint on the interface definitely looked a lot better. But I always found that, after a couple of months, the OS would just completely corrupt itself, requiring a new install. It would corrupt itself so bad, that not even one of it's newest features, System Restore, could fix the problem. There really wasn't any rhyme or reason as to when it would corrupt itself either. It never happened to me after installing new software, and it never happened after a crash, and it never happened after an improper shutdown. I would just try to start up the computer one day, and it wouldn't boot. System Restore would try to work, and fail. I really didn't mind ME that much when it worked fine, but an OS that corrupts itself every couple of months was just unacceptable.

[@PNPRetro]

This is pretty much my experience in a nutshell. Most of the time fine, but at random not. If it was the only option out there, it would be annoying but usable. Just harder to look over it's flaws when you have other options!

[@buildersmark]

Win 98 FTW! ME` is a boat anchor (*tell me how you really feel). Thanks James, great content.

[@PNPRetro]

Thanks for checking it out :)

[@RyRyTheBassGuy]

A buddy of mine bought a prebuilt back when ME first launched. Needless to say, after helping him troubleshoot constantly, we decided to install 98. No more problems after that. Who would have thought?

[@PNPRetro]

I've heard the exact same story many times. Lived through it once or twice myself. 98 just works better in a lot of instances, even though ME offered some performance gains

[@thecodeprofessor]

I don't know about Windows, but your video has definitely won Me over.

[@PNPRetro]

Not bad... Not bad....

[@OzzFan1000]

Nearly every re-review I see of Windows ME all conclude the same thing: it got a bad rap. It wasn't nearly as terrible as people say, but still not good enough to replace 98SE for most people into retro.

[@PNPRetro]

That's pretty much the story. I wanted to get back to it because I honestly didn't remember running into that many issues with it. I'd say it's quirky. I legitimately enjoyed playing with it again, and I'm keeping that ME SD card loaded for future use. Just not enough of an advantage offered to switch. How do you feel about it?

[@OzzFan1000]

@@PNPRetro the only system I had with ME back in the day was given to me by someone, and it had a Pentium III 800MHz CPU on passive cooling, which immediately explained all the lockups it was having. More recently though I picked up a copy of ME off eBay and loaded it onto a couple of my retro machines and it's been decent. Honestly the interface "feels" snappier than 98SE. My educated guess is that most of the problems people had with it upgraded from 98 and immediately ran into driver problems. Personally whenever I upgraded I would always follow-up with driver updates regardless.

[@PNPRetro]

Yeah, the shop I worked in around this time would make sure that the latest drivers were loaded for each new build or reinstall, but we also maintained a repository of old versions on our local server. Occasionally you'd hit stability issues with the newest ones, and downgrading was your best bet. And, since we had a 20gb a month cap back then, keeping copies just made sense. And, for the interface, I agree. It definitely looks more polished and modern for the time. I liked that about it for sure.

[@J-D_]

I’m surprised the video is not entirely a BSOD 😛

[@PNPRetro]

Haha.

[@kayleenamanda]

Puny! 🤣🤣🤣

[@lIlIlIIlIlIlIlIlIlI]

Short answer: yes

[@PNPRetro]

Geeze. Spoiler alert!