Computer Software and Video Games Wiki
Register
Advertisement
"It's cleanup time!"

This page is excessively messy, opinion based, or otherwise very poorly written. It will be rewritten soon and restored to the standards of the wiki thank you for your understanding.

Windows ME
The WIndows ME Desktop
The WIndows ME Desktop
Some Info
Launch date September 14th, 2000
Second Unknown
Third Unknown
Other attributes

Windows ME (short for Millennium Edition) is a Microsoft Windows Operating System that was released in 2000. This Windows system was considered the worst by some people, much like with Windows Vista nowadays, for many reasons such as instability, lags, glitches, and many buggy programs.

Development[]

In 1998, Microsoft announced that there would be no new Windows 9x system after Windows 98. Despite the claim, Windows 98 Second Edition was released in May 1999, and Microsoft announced a new Windows 9x system, which was revealed to be codenamed "Millennium" in 2000.

There were 3 Betas released of Windows ME; on September 24, 1999, Windows Millennium Beta 1 was released. On November 24, 1999, Windows Millennium Beta 2 was released; Windows Millennium Beta 2 added some new features such as System File Protection and Game Options Control Panel. Versions released in-between Beta 1 and 2 added features such as Automatic updates and personalized menus. On April 11, 2000, Windows Millennium Beta 3 was released; Beta 3 used the colours and sounds of the final (which are very much like Windows 2000's).


History[]

The operating system was released in late 2000, after the NepTune project got canceled, Microsoft later made Windows ME, which started development after NepTune got canceled, and during the launch of Windows ME, there was a campaign for Windows ME named "the Meet ME tour". Windows ME costed more than both Windows 95 and 98 in stores. The general availability date of Windows Millennium Edition was December 31, 2000. Windows ME had a short shelf life of only over a year, Mainstream Support for Windows ME ended on December 31, 2003, and Extended Support for Windows ME ended support July 11, 2006; the same day it ended for Windows 98.

Bugs/Errors[]

  1. In System Restore, if the time is before September 21, 2001, the time stamp won't show up correctly, and thus, it wouldn't restore back to that time.
  2. The Windows ME setup has a tendency to crash.
  3. If the system has ram bigger than 512 MB, it will end up being more unstable than usual.
  4. Sometimes after installing the operating system, the Internet Connection Wizard won't show up on the desktop, if it does, it usually plays an error sound.
  5. Clicking the cancel button on the login screen causes it to freeze on the wallpaper.

Overview[]

Windows ME was targeted mostly at the home user, and it included new versions of Applications such as, Windows Media Player 7, Internet Explorer 5.5, and the first version of Windows Movie Maker. It also had some new games such as the MSN online games, 3D Pinball from Windows 95 plus and Spider Solitaire from Windows 98 Plus. the max so far for updating programs on Windows ME is:

  • Microsoft Office XP 
  • Microsoft .NET framework versions up to and including 2.0.

Criticisms[]

  • This is the only version of Windows 9x that lacks real mode MS-DOS, meaning you can't boot into MS-DOS mode, Microsoft claims that they did it to reduce boot times, but other users saw that boot times were the same as it's predecessors.
  • It was also criticized for it's glitches, instability, broken/barebones applications that shipped with it, and it's vulnerabilities to viruses.

Windows ME gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the last windows system to:
    • have the flag from Windows 3.1 (not counting Whistler)
    • be a Windows 9x system made by Microsoft.
    • support 16-bit colour (other than Whistler later on, which was a beta of Windows XP.)
    • Feature DOS Prompt in the OS.
    • Lack Product Activation along with Windows 2000

References[]

Windows


Advertisement