Windows Me

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Windows Me (originally codenamed Millennium, and sometimes called Windows ME), also known as Windows Millennium Edition, is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft.

Contents

1 Overview

1.1 System Restore
1.2 Windows File Protection
1.3 Universal Plug and Play
1.4 Windows Image Acquisition
1.5 Automatic Updates

2 Criticism
3 Relation to other Windows releases
4 System requirements
5 References
6 External links

Overview

A successor to Windows 95 and Windows 98, it was marketed as a "Home Edition" when compared to Windows 2000 which had been released nine months earlier. It provided Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows Media Player 7, and the new Movie Maker software, which provided basic video editing and was designed to be easy for home users. Both Internet Explorer 5.5 and Windows Media Player 7 could also be downloaded for free from the Internet for previous versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft also updated the graphical user interface in Windows Me with some of the features that were first introduced in Windows 2000. Unlike the "Home" edition of Windows XP, Windows Me is not built on the same 32-bit architecture of Microsoft's Professional operating system at the time, Windows 2000 Professional. Windows Me is an MS-DOS based version just like Windows 95 and Windows 98 but with access to real mode MS-DOS restricted for faster system boot time. This was one of the most publicized changes in Windows Me because applications that needed real mode DOS to run (such as older disk utilities) would not run under the Windows Me operating system. Microsoft also stated that Windows Me would be the last version of Windows to be based on the 9x kernel and that all future operating systems, both Home and Professional editions were to be based on the Windows NT kernel that Windows 2000 had been built on due to its greater power and stability. Windows Me had the shortest shelf-life of all the Windows Operating Systems (about one year), and was soon replaced by Windows XP, which was launched on October 24, 2001.

In 2006, PCWorld declared Windows Me the fourth worst tech product of all time (after AOL, RealPlayer, and Syncronys SoftRAM) [link] because of its technical issues.

System Restore

Windows Me introduced the "System Restore" logging and reversion system, which was meant to simplify troubleshooting and solving problems. It was intended to work as a "safety net" so that if the installation of an application or a driver adversely affected the system, the user could undo the install and return the system to a previously-working state. It did this by monitoring changes to Windows system files and the registry (System Restore is not a backup program). System Restore could slow the computer's performance if it chose to checkpoint the system while a user was using it, and since its method of keeping track of changes was fairly simplistic, it sometimes ended up restoring a virus which the user had previously removed.

Windows File Protection

Windows File Protection, a feature introduced with Windows 2000, made its way into the consumer versions of Windows with Windows Me. It aimed to protect system files from modification and corruption silently and automatically. When the file protection was in effect, replacing a system file that had no file lock preventing it to be overwritten, caused Windows to immediately and silently restore the original copy. The original would then be taken from a hard drive backup folder or from the Windows Me installation CD if none were found on the default locations searched by Windows. If no such CD would be in the drive, a dialog box would alert the user about the problem and request that the CD be inserted. The same procedures took place if a system file was deleted instead of replaced.

Windows File Protection is an entirely different technology from System Restore. System Restore maintains a broad set of changed files including added applications and user configuration data stored repeatedly at specific points in time restored by the user. Windows File Protection only protects operating system files with no user input.

Windows File Protection uses version 2.5 of the Microsoft Data Access Components technology.

Universal Plug and Play

Windows Me was Microsoft's first operating system to introduce support for Universal Plug and Play, often shortened to UPnP.

Windows Image Acquisition

Windows Me also introduced the Windows Image Acquisition API for a standardized and officially supported method of allowing Windows applications to transparently and more easily communicate with image acquisition devices, such as digital cameras and scanners. Before Windows Me and the introduction of WIA, non-standard third party solutions were often common here, leading to incompatibility problems.

Automatic Updates

The Automatic Update utility automatically downloads and installs critical updates from the Windows Update Web site with little user interaction. It is set up to check Windows Update once every 24 hours by default.

Criticism

Many users were generally unimpressed with Windows Me due to perceived stability and compatibility issues. Freezing, booting and shutdown problems are particular complaints often made of Windows Me PC installations. These issues generally came from manufacturers using incompatible drivers, usually Windows 95 and 98 based drivers untested in Windows Me. In many instances separate Me compatible drivers are required as well as updates to mainboard BIOSes for proper compatibility.

PC technical support staff have repeatedly made claims that Windows Me:

has hardware compatibility problems with some PC components.
was designed to use cut-down drivers for cheaper components - e.g. software modems.
contains features that obviously don't work, e.g. system restore.
often needs reinstalling, and is difficult to reinstall 'cleanly'
seems designed in collaboration with PC manufacturers to make upgrade to another OS difficult.

Microsoft's removal of non-plug-and-play drivers on the Windows Me installation CD led to further confusion when many older modems, soundcards and network cards appeared not to be supported as they were after a Windows 98 installation. [link] In many cases, this could be remedied by manually installing the proper driver(s). However, not all hardware vendors provided proper Me compatible drivers, especially for older hardware, which increased Me's reputation as a problem OS.

Proponents claim using properly tested/certified drivers/hardware and BIOS updates (if necessary) left Windows Me as stable as, if not more than, Windows 98SE.

Due to its perceived failure, Windows Me has been sarcastically referred to as "Moron Edition," "Mistake Edition," "Miserable Edition," "Many Errors," or "Memory Eater" (due to perceived problems with memory leaks). This also prompted the creation of a memetic character among the Japanese known as ME-tan.

Relation to other Windows releases

Windows Me was complemented by Windows NT-based Windows 2000, which was aimed at professional users. Both operating systems were succeeded by Windows XP with their features combined. Along with Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE, Microsoft discontinued support for Windows Me on July 11, 2006. Microsoft now no longer provides any phone support or security updates for these products because they are now considered obsolete. [link]

At the time of its release, many third-party applications written for earlier editions of Microsoft Windows, especially older games, ran under Windows Me but not under Windows 2000. This fact has become less relevant with the sharp decline in popularity of Windows Me after the release of Windows XP, which features a Compatibility Mode which allows many of these older applications to run.

Also unlike Windows 2000, Windows Me does not have a back up utility installed by default, but it is available on the Windows Me CD.

System requirements

Minimum system requirements of Windows Millennium Edition are a 150 MHz Pentium or compatible processor and at least 32 megabytes of RAM.[link] Recommended system requirements are a Pentium II with at least 96 megabytes of RAM.

References

External links

[Microsoft's Windows Me webpage]
[Windows 98 + ME *still* alive]
[GUIdebook: Windows Me Gallery] - A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces
[HPC:Factor Windows Millennium Edition Patches & Updates Guide]
[Real mode DOS hacks]
[Maintenance tips for users of W98 and ME after suspension of support from Microsoft]

History of Microsoft Windows

MS-DOS–based:	1.0 • 2.0 • 3.0 • 3.1x • 95 • 98 • Me
NT-based:	NT 3.1 • NT 3.5 • NT 3.51 • NT 4.0 • 2000 • XP • Server 2003 • FLP (thin-client)
CE-based:	CE 2.0 • CE 3.0 • CE 4.0 • CE 5.0 • Mobile
Forthcoming:	Vista • CE 6.0 • Server "Longhorn" • "Fiji" • "Vienna"
Other projects:	Neptune • Nashville • Cairo • OS/2

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