With the cutely named Windows Me (for Millennium Edition), Microsoft raises the bar a bit with a new operating system that you'll certainly want to consider for your next new PC. While this version will probably not be a compelling upgrade for most Windows 95/98 users, the newest member of the Windows operating-system family bundles a number of minor improvements aimed at making computing life easier for home users. This upgrade version of Windows Me is available for licensed users of Microsoft Windows 95, 98, or 98 Second Edition only. There are several noteworthy features in Windows Me, even if no one feature really stands out. First, we liked that Windows Me boots noticeably faster. The reason is that the underpinnings of DOS have been removed from this new release. One result of this absence is that you can no longer boot to a command window as in Windows 95/98 without special diskettes. (Also, don't expect Windows Me to support older hardware that uses virtual device drivers written in the days of yore.) Of course, you can still run DOS command sessions within Windows Me.
Besides removing legacy support for DOS, Windows Me adds several other improvements to reliability. The most important is that every 10 hours or so, the operating system automatically backs up its system files (just like Windows 2000), thus reducing the chance of your system being corrupted. Windows Me also borrows the TCP/IP stack (the low-level code that connects to the Internet) from Windows 2000, meaning you should have slightly more reliable networking connections. For laptop users, you can also hibernate a session and restore it quickly, another feature borrowed from Windows 2000.
The personality of Windows Me also changed a bit for the better. Principally, you can take advantage of personalized menus, which show the most frequently accessed menu choices on the Start bar and hide the others. (This feature is also based on Windows 2000, but don't worry, you can turn it off.) Internet Explorer 5.5 is bundled here; so is support for working with compressed Zip files, which no longer require an add-on.
Microsoft has been touting the multimedia capabilities of the new Windows Me. There's a built-in video editor for video files, and the operating system makes it easy to connect to today's video cameras, scanners, and digital cameras. But without built-in support for Real Media files, these features probably won't please everybody.
So what's the verdict on Windows Me? Provided you have recent hardware, there are some good reasons to upgrade, but most users will want to stick with their current OS. If you are buying a new system, by all means choose Windows Me instead of Windows 98. Even though it isn't a major release for most users, Windows Me shows that Microsoft has done its homework when it comes to improving the computing experience for consumers. --Rich Dragan
