June 23, 2004

• I would highly recommend, if you have the know-how, a reformat and clean install. Given that it is Windows (and ME at that) there is bound to be tons of junk and orphaned dll's floating around, that would only be worse through an upgrade. Back up your pertinent data and settings (a good chunk of it will be under your profile directory in the c:\windows directory). The actual install of Win2K Pro has always been pretty smooth for me, and you will find it is 1000x's better at hardware recognition than ME. Either way, upgrade or reformat/clean install you must, absolutely, unequivocally, without delay, back up your data.
• Expect your computer to suck less. Short of getting a Mac, moving off of ME is the best thing you could have done.
• Yep, amen to what surly said. WinME is more of a practical joke than an OS. And if you have the skills, what pivo said. Actually, scary as it is to do for the first time, formatting your C drive and doing a clean install isn't really that difficult. If memory serves, you can boot to the CD for 2000 and XP, so you don't have to worry about making boot disks or anything like that. You just have to change the drive boot order in your BIOS settings.
• Someone should get Steve Ballmer to jump around and yelling "Format... format... format... format..." I have had the pleasure of never using Windows ME. Lucky me. I'd rather use a Mac than WinME.
• why not XP? it's basically 2000 but with a nicer facade and more consumer-oriented stuff. defenitely start clean tho. ME is terrible gunk. you'll be much happier with any other new OS.
• Windows ME stands for Windows Mistaken Edition. I'm still using Win2kPro and I rather like it. I have no desire to move up to XP or to switch operating systems (my other computer is an iBook). Snag Service Pack 4 right after you get it installed and get your drivers in place. Then make sure you install all the system updates before you put any other software on the machine. Then and only then should you reload your software. I actually have a second hard drive that I use for storing all my software setups. It's much faster than doing the CD shuffle. Of course, I also have two or three spare hard drives laying around since I ran out of power connectors in the case. Athlon 1.6G, 30Gig-HD/40Gig-HD Removable/305Gig-RAID0, DVD-+RW/CD-+RW
• XP: Activation, that whole bullshit routine with a maximum number of components you change before it's a "new computer" and your license is invalid, XP Home lacks a bunch of functionality in Win2K so you need to buy the more expensive XP Pro if you need it. That's a few off the top of my head. Most of my other objections to XP (the yucky interface) are quite subjective or hearsay (there seems to be a feeling 2K is still the high point in Windows reliability on the desktop).
• Back up your data before you do anything regardless of whether you reformat or not. Don't forget things like bookmarks and email adresses as well as potentially saved games and work related stuff. Secondly, to say what everyone else says, reformat your hard drive. Not only do ME and 2000 have different file systems (kind of like feet and meters) but if you've had that computer for any amount of time you have got a bunch of random files that you don't need that are just accidents waiting to happen.
• jccalhoun - Win 2k can run on the FAT32 format, as can XP. But there are more advantages to running NTFS, one of which is simple reliabilty.
• Oh, forgot all about the file system difference. NTFS is most definitely as close to a must do as you can get.
• Part of the Win 2k install will prompt you to use your existing file format, FAT32, or convert to NTFS.... Convert, baby! Convert!
• I knew xp cout run under fat32, but i've never really used 2000, so i didn't know if it could run under fat32 or not. Still, reformat!
• yuh. i forgot about the xp activation. altho i think the issue is mostly overblown for most users. only a small percentage of people will be changing their vid card, nic, cpu, etc often enough for it to matter. the yucky interface can be reverted to win2000 very easily. and actually, the menu layout and functionality of XP is a lot closer to ME than 2000. he'd have an easier time adjusting. regardless, anything is an improvement over ME. clean NTFS format very good. and get your patches immediately. you should make sure and enable the firewall before you connect to the internet. i've had machines infected by virii literally during the install process. windows is naked and vulnerable without its service packs and patches.
• Hate Service Pack 4. HATE. Blinding HATE.
• The most important thing to keep in mind is that it's very difficult to 'upgrade' from Win9x/ME to Windows 2k/XP without losing everything on your computer. While this sort of upgrade is technically possible, it very often goes wrong for a variety of reasons, and results in your hard drive being erased, or rendered unbootable (i.e. Windows won't load). This does not mean your hard drive is damaged, but it does force you to re-format and start from a bare drive. So, to avoid this sort of added difficulty, it is highly recommended that you back up everything that's important to you and simply go directly to re-formatting your hard drive and re-installing Win2k from scratch. Backing up means copying all important data to floppy disks, tape, CD-Rs, or a completely different physical hard drive from the one you are upgrading. Of the choices, recordable CDs give you the most flexibility. It is highly recommended that you allow a geeky friend/relative or reliable service shop perform the upgrade for you, if you do not know what the following terms mean and how to implement them: backup format fat32 dos boot disk partition bios boot order config.sys cd-rom driver fdisk Also keep in mind that you will have to re-install all software you are currently using under WinME. You do have a copy of that original MS-Office installation CD you borrowed from your brother, don't you? How about that utility you downloaded from the 'net 2 years ago and rely on to organize your photos? etc.
• One more reminder - make sure you have the necessary info and software to get your internet connection back up and running, before you attempt the upgrade. -phone number for 'net provider -user name, password, and email server addresses for your email account (assuming you use a program like Outlook, and not web based mail like Hotmail) -user name and password for your internet account -software for your cable or ADSL connection, if necessary for your provider -driver for your modem, if still using, or Win2k driver for ethernet card if using ADSL or cable I apologize if this all came across as condescending, but I've seen too many upgrade disasters from people who believed the MS advertisements that it would be 'easy and trouble-free', and through no fault of their own should never have even attempted it.
• If anyone does decide to upgrade to XP, the "File and system transport wizard" actually works pretty well. You put it on a floppy and run it on the old system first and it does a pretty good job of bakcing stuff up. (of course you have to remember to burn the resulting file to a cd before you reformat, and there are some things it doesnn't get either) Oh, and as far as Microsoft Office goes, www.openoffice.org is a pretty good free replacement that will open microsoft office files (not 100% perfect but if all you do is write letters and text papers, it will do a great job).
• Yeah, as Nal says back up everything you can. Saves a lot of time later, when things inevitably go wrong. WinME still gives me nightmares!
• oh! i back up onto cd's? just my personal files? /i always wondered how to back-up ME... i hate winme too. i just had it put on last summer and what a big mistake. i've wondered about going back to win98se, which i liked and behaved well. but formatting may be a problem, as the last time i tried to use the disc everything went screwy and that's when i had someone fiddle with it and he put on winme. i really lose all my software? oh no! i'm still using the original old celeron processor and 2 gb hard drive from '99. i don't keep much on it and have lots of extra ram installed. i was really hoping for a painless process. so....copy all my personal files onto disc. format....but that disc will reapply win98!!!??? it's an all-in-one H-P disc. or is there another way to do it? since being fat32 or fatn does not appeal to me i'll go for the conversion. i haven't a clue what an fdisc is but i'm handy with dos and reinstalling my internet connection. since this is 'unca barry's' software i couldn't go professional for help. as i said, my computer and i function on a delicate basis of faith, that mutually things will thrive without either of us having to know the inner vicissitudes of the other too intimately. but i can't live with me and myself any longer.
• If you only have a single 2GG hard drive, then I recommend that you forestall the upgrade until you can afford a larger hard drive. Windows 2k/XP itself will take up (almost) all of a 2GB hard drive, and that's if you're running a fairly minimalist system...and that's without the space required for various things such as the swap file. It also needs at least 256MB of ram to run reasonably smoothly. Going back to Win98se may well be the best alternative in this case. While it's certainly less stable than 2k/XP, it's generally a lot more reliable than ME. If the HP system restore CD is the appropriate one for your HP computer, than I recommend using that to re-install Windows. I assume it contains Win98? Doing a proper complete system restore using that CD will erase your HD, so you will still have to back up anything your care about. Re-installing all your software programs will also be necessary.
• In addition to what everyone else said, make sure you have updated Win2K versions of the latest service pack, most up-to-date version of your anti-virus software (I like these guys, but whatever), and your firewall (does 2K have the built-in firewall?) burned to CD or otherwise available before upgrading. When I went from ME to XP, I got hit with the Blaster worm while I was downloading my anti-virus software (and I was on dial-up).
• nal, that was one of my concerns also, that i should have mentioned. i do have 256 ram. does 2000 really need that much hard drive space? should i really abandon this project? in that case i have another question. i have a copy of windows that is somewhat different from the one on my HP disc...another 98se that is. this is different from my format disc and it is a much more handy version. it was given to me when i bought a used ibm laptop. is there any way to use this, as i liked it the best of all systems, but wasn't sure about how to use it. i truly appreciate all these words of wisdom as when it gets down to the nuts and bolts of things i'm quite at a loss.
• If it's an original MS Windows 98 installation disc then it can be used on any IBM compatible, assuming you have a license number to go with it. However, installing Win98 from scratch is not significantly easier than installing Win2k. As a result, I would suggest searching the net for instructions on installing windows from scratch on a bare computer, and reading until most of that above list of terms makes complete sense. Otherwise, take that official Win98 disc and your computer to a geeky friend/relative or a service facility.
• Honestly, if you have a computer with an original celeron in it, I would scrimp and save up $500 to buy the cheapest computer dell makes and even it would be tons faster and more reliable that what you sound like you have. Dell's cheapest system currently has a 2.66 GHz processor which is probably nearly 10 times as fast.
• now i'm starting to wonder even more. this computer is quite fast and reliable other than the unique ME tricks.i'm using a high-speed dsl. upgrading isn't an option at this time...unless it's my kitchen or such. can 2000 professional be installed without all the stuff i don't need? i don't network. i looked at the system requirements that msn said i needed and at the 2k package, which has more goodies than i need. little, middle-aged ladies get quite befuddled by all this. i have done formats and can plow through the process of restoring all my software, odious task that it is. i can even be a better person at filing stuff on disc rather than on my drive. such as all those photos i take. back to 98 or onward to 2000? what's the various opinions? my second copy of 98se is not the original. in fact i'd have to find it again, but i'm sure the code is written on it. /i'm going to prune my tree and think about this.
• oh, just ran a test and i'm using: 10.23 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity 7.58 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space 384 Megabytes Installed Memory 600 megahertz Intel Celeron 32 kilobyte primary memory cache 128 kilobyte secondary memory cache okay...so i haven't a clue what's inside the box. now....this is enough for 2k isn't it?