Information about Windows Me

Windows Me
(Part of the Microsoft Windows family)
Screenshot
Screenshot of Windows Me
Developer
Microsoft
Release information
Release date:	September 14 2000 [ [1] info]
Current version:	4.90.3000, September 14 2000 info
Source model:	Closed source
License:	Microsoft EULA
Kernel type:	Monolithic kernel
Support status
Unsupported as of July 11, 2006[1]

Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (IPA pronunciation: [miː], [ɛm iː]), is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft.^[2] It was originally codenamed Millennium.

Overview

The successor to Windows 98, Windows Me was marketed as a "Home Edition" when compared to Windows 2000 Professional, which had been released seven months earlier. (Thus making it hold a very similar position to the cancelled Windows Neptune.) It included Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows Media Player 7, and the new Windows Movie Maker software, which provided basic video editing; and was designed to be easy for home users. Microsoft also updated the graphical user interface in Windows Me with some of the features that were first introduced in Windows 2000.

Windows Me is a continuation of the Windows 9x model, but with access to real mode MS-DOS restricted in order to speed up 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, did not run under Windows Me.

Compared with other releases of Windows, Windows Me had a short shelf-life, of just over a year; it was soon replaced by the NT-based Windows XP, which was launched on October 25 2001.

History

In 1997, "Millennium" was the codename for a future version of Windows NT that was expected to be release in 2000 or 2001. In 1998, Microsoft stated that there would be no version of Windows 9x after Windows 98.^[3] In 1999, however, Microsoft announced a new version of Windows 9x, that was later revealed to be codenamed Millennium. In 2000, this was released as Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me).^[4]

New and updated features

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 does this by monitoring changes to Windows system files and the registry (System Restore is not a backup program). System Restore can slow the computer's performance and compromise its stability if it chooses to checkpoint the system while a user is using it, and since its method of keeping track of changes is fairly simplistic, it sometimes ends up restoring a virus which the user had previously removed.

System File Protection: First introduced with Windows 2000 (as Windows File Protection), and expanding on the capabilities introduced with System File Checker in Windows 98, System File Protection aimed to protect system files from modification and corruption silently and automatically. When the file protection is in effect, replacing a system file that has no file lock preventing it to be overwritten caused Windows Me to immediately and silently restore the original copy. The original is then taken from a hard drive backup folder or from the Windows Me installation CD if none is found on the default locations searched by Windows. If no such CD is in the drive, a dialog box alerts the user about the problem and requests that the CD be inserted. The same procedures take place if a system file is deleted.

System File Protection is a different technology from System Restore and should not be confused with the latter. 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, whereas Windows File Protection protects operating system files with no user input.

New TCP/IP Stack: Windows Me includes the Windows 2000 networking stack and architecture^[5] which was known to be more reliable, full-featured, stable and offered better performance. Support for networking over FireWire, wireless infrared and a new Home Networking wizard is also included.

Universal Plug and Play: Windows Me is 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 Updates 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. Users can choose to download which update that they want, although high-priority updates must be downloaded and installed.

Compressed Folders: Windows Me includes a folder encryption and compression utility called Compressed Folders, which also was integrated into the Plus! pack for Windows 98. With this feature, a user can create and access ZIP files. The user can also restrict access to files with a password using compressed folders. This utility is not installed by default, but can be installed manually using Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.

Image Preview: In Windows Me, images can be viewed by using the Image Preview utility. This feature makes it possible to rotate an image, print or zoom in/out an image. Image Preview supports images with bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jpeg, .png, .tif and .wmf file name extensions.

Games: Windows Me offers several new games: Internet Backgammon, Internet Checkers, Internet Hearts, Internet Reversi, Internet Spades, Spider Solitaire and Pinball.

On-Screen Keyboard: Originally introduced with Windows 2000, a program called On-screen Keyboard has been added, which makes it possible to input characters by using the mouse instead of the keyboard. This feature is useful for computers that use a pen as the primary pointing device.

System Configuration Utility has been updated with three new tabs called "Static VxDs", "Environment" and "International". The Static VxDs tab allows the user to enable or disable static virtual device drivers to be loaded at startup, the Environment tab allows the user to enable or disable an environment variable, and the last one allows the user to change language settings.

System Monitor has been updated with a Dial-Up Adapter section. Users can now monitor items such as Connection Speeds, Bytes Received or Transmitted / Second.

A new Help and Support program has also been added, replacing Windows Help in Windows 2000 and 98. The Help and Support Center is HTML-based, and takes advantage of a technology called Support Automation Framework (SAF).

USB mass storage drivers: Windows Me is the only operating system in the Windows 9x series that includes generic drivers for USB mass storage devices.

Relation to other Windows releases

Main article: History of Microsoft Windows

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 no longer provides any phone support or security updates for these products because Microsoft considers them obsolete^[6]

Many third-party applications written for earlier editions of Microsoft Windows, especially older games, run 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.

If the Windows 2000 Installation CD is inserted, it erroneously states: 'The version of Windows you are running is older than the one on this CD. Would you like to upgrade?' Windows Me was actually released several months after Windows 2000.

Criticisms

Dan Tynan called it "Mistake Edition" in the PC World article 'Top 25 Worst Tech Products'.^[6] He declared Windows Me the fourth-"Worst Tech Product of All Time" (after AOL, RealPlayer, and Syncronys SoftRAM) because of various technical issues and bugs.^[7] "Shortly after Me appeared in late 2000," the article states, "users reported problems installing it, getting it to run, getting it to work with other hardware or software, and getting it to stop running."

System requirements

Minimum system requirements of Windows Millennium Edition are a 150 MHz Pentium or compatible processor, 320 megabytes of free hard drive space and at least 32 megabytes of RAM. Recommended system requirements are a Pentium II 300 MHz with at least 96 megabytes of RAM and 2 gigabytes of free hard drive space. ^[8] Windows Me Setup application features an undocumented "/nm" switch which tells setup to ignore hardware requirements.

Last DOS-based Windows

Windows Me is the last DOS-based version of Windows. It is also the last version of Windows that does not use Windows Product Activation, because it came after Windows 2000, but before Windows XP.

Windows XP, which is NT based, became the successor to Windows Me. It also closed the gap between consumer Windows and Windows NT.

References

External links

• GUIdebook: Windows Me Gallery – A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces
• HPC:Factor Windows Millennium Edition Patches & Updates Guide

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MS-DOS/9x-based:	1.0 • 2.0 • 2.1x • 3.0 • 3.1x • 95 • 98 • Me
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