Difference Between Win XP and Win ME

[Ben721]

Is there really that big of a difference? I heard ME is slow in a recent post, but is it worth me upgrading to xp pro?

[glock19owner]

ME is slow in everything...a "F"ing resource hog...ME should of never been released...

Yes it will be worth the upgrade to XP for everything...

[Ben721]

Alright, I think I will later today.

I have Win XP on all my pc's except my celly. If I average around 12 minutes for a frame, will it decrease to around 10?

About how big of a difference will I see?

[glock19owner]

Can't tell you that since I have refused to even own ME let alone run it...I am sure you will see a descent increase though...especially with having more resources open unlike ME that wants to use every last bit even at idle...

Tweakxp.com (http://www.tweakxp.com/)

They have/had some tweaks for XP to help fold faster...they have about every tweak out for XP...incase you didn't know about this site...

[axlecrusher]

Yea, ME is the worst. It can't do anything correctly. Basicly it is 98, but more broken.

Axle

[Ben721]

Alright, thanks for the info.

But I only have 2 things running, EMIII and F@H, but I will upgrade today. :D

[nahmus]

Originally posted by axlecrusher
Yea, ME is the worst. It can't do anything correctly. Basicly it is 98, but more broken.

Axle

now thats a great quote!!!

I'd swear MS put out ME beacuse they had spare CP's and needed the whse space!!

[Audioaficionado]

I tried ME for a couple of weeks and it wasn't that bad but I still liked 98 better as it will do true DOS mode games while ME won't.

I installed ME mainly because of its native USB2 support. As soon as I figured out that my mobo had USB2 drivers for 98se, I ditched ME.

I used to think 98 was a great OS until I got spoiled on w2kpro. Now 98se is only OK in my eyes and I have it for some DOS games and two sided printing from my HP870Cxi as the w2k drivers from M$ won't do double sided printing..

[JetMech]

I purchased ME when the upgrade version was 46.00 per license. I like it because it's cheap, has lots of driver support and is cheap. If I had the money to put XP pro on all my rigs I'd still use ME and put the money in hardware. But then I play with computers and Fold. It's funny how in one breath we say ME is slow and on the next say use LInux it's more stable. Six instances of ME and look at my stats. :clap: :D :burn: :beer:

[dropadrop]

Difference Between Win XP and Win ME


ME sucks more! :)

[Ben721]

Originally posted by dropadrop


ME sucks more! :)

I never had a problem with me, and I am looking at them 2 with how they compare through folding.

[JetMech]

ME does not fold as fast as 98/98SE because it has some underlying operations that use the processor. One is the Restore program which keeps a snapshot of your setup and goes back if you need to after a snafu. The other is the System File Checker which monitors the windows files for corruption or changes made by installed programs that replace newer files with old. I don't see it as a big hinderance. There are several resons why I keep ME over 98/SE. You can showcase pictures in My Documents\My Pictures, driver loading is easier, and the driver database is more extensive and current (Folders use a lot of older parts and ME automatically loads the drivers for them.

I know that XP also does this but I am very familiar with ME and not ready to spend the time nor the money on an upgrade. I wonder how many people saying how much ME sucks have actually used the System.:p You will never see me communicate negative information about a product that I have never used. $146.00 per license is prohibitive to me for folding boxes. ME ain't that much slower.

[Wedo]

JetMech, your point is well taken and understood. With the driver support, ME does create an attractive option for folding boxes, but most tend to find alternative avenues for software requisition thus negating the licensing costs you find prohibative. :D

I have used ME, 95, 98, 98se, W2K, XP home, XP pro, W2K server, and W2K adv. server. And when I say "used" I don't mean I turned a box on and did a couple of minutes of pointing and clicking.

W2K remains my favorite of all the current offerings by M$. Stable, fast, and I have the power to shut off all the darn windows extra stuff that I'd just assume to do myself.

One more thing, I was up at my Parents house last night installing their dsl line and the necessary NIC. Their xp pro box automatically installed the NIC drivers, but they were the wrong friggin' drivers! I was installing a D-Link NIC and XP tried to use Real drivers.... Again, w2k, I like it when I say "do this" and the computer just does it, or at least tries. :D

Wedo

[OC-NightHawk]

Well I got my copy of 2k3 corp last night as soon as I find my self a cd to burn it to I'm going to check it out. :D

[JetMech]

Originally posted by Wedo
JetMech, your point is well taken and understood. With the driver support, ME does create an attractive option for folding boxes, but most tend to find alternative avenues for software requisition thus negating the licensing costs you find prohibative. :D

I have used ME, 95, 98, 98se, W2K, XP home, XP pro, W2K server, and W2K adv. server. And when I say "used" I don't mean I turned a box on and did a couple of minutes of pointing and clicking.

W2K remains my favorite of all the current offerings by M$. Stable, fast, and I have the power to shut off all the darn windows extra stuff that I'd just assume to do myself.

One more thing, I was up at my Parents house last night installing their dsl line and the necessary NIC. Their xp pro box automatically installed the NIC drivers, but they were the wrong friggin' drivers! I was installing a D-Link NIC and XP tried to use Real drivers.... Again, w2k, I like it when I say "do this" and the computer just does it, or at least tries. :D

Wedo I feel you WEDO. That wasn't me typing last night. That was Capt. Morgan.:D :beer:

[Ben721]

When you say Win2K was the fastest and all will Win2K do the job as well?

[bubba gump]

The real difference imho is ones a big piece of crap, the other is just a piece of crap.........i use 2k so thats just my totally bias opinion

[illwillchill]

I usually compare os's to how they perform right out of the box (no tweaking) and freshly installed xp is much better than ME. Of course you'll have to tweak the xp install anyway :D. If you need to use ME just use 98.

[Ben721]

What exactly do I need to tweak on a fresh XP install?

[axlecrusher]

Originally posted by JetMech
I wonder how many people saying how much ME sucks have actually used the System.:p

I have used ME, it's on my brother's computer. I have not had good experiences with it. It never did anything right.

Axle

[Ben721]

Originally posted by axlecrusher


I have used ME, it's on my brother's computer. I have not had good experiences with it. It never did anything right.

Axle

Well I've been using it on my folding machine for about a week now, and I've yet to have a problem.

I've used me a lot, I am not an os guru or anything but I have no complaints about it, I am just wondering from a folding stance, will it increase anything?

[JetMech]

Originally posted by axlecrusher


I have used ME, it's on my brother's computer. I have not had good experiences with it. It never did anything right.

Axle Now that's the kind of staement I'm talking about. How can it not do anything right and still exist as an operating system:rolleyes:

[JetMech]

Originally posted by Ben721


Well I've been using it on my folding machine for about a week now, and I've yet to have a problem.

I've used me a lot, I am not an os guru or anything but I have no complaints about it, I am just wondering from a folding stance, will it increase anything? If you already have it installed you will lose no more time than you would changing to the slower folding Linux. If you are just trying to increase production then you can gain by changing , but I will honestly tell you that even the time taken to do the change (you won't be producing while you're upgrading) will take up the little difference realized. Over time you will get it back of course. The perfect OS for folding is still 98/98SE for a farm box because you can find them cheap and they have no underlying programs running. For main rigs built from scratch 2K/XP/XP Pro are the best choice.IMO.

[nahmus]

from a business standpoint ME was horrible. We ran a big novell shop and ME did not support the novell client. It also had lots of problems with our AS400 client. There was also some problems with ME dropping off of the network. Win98 was much more stable for a business enviroment.

As for the home enviroment I have only used ME on a few machines. I found it slow and there were some compatibility problems with AOL (not sure whose fault that was). I though of ME like gateway used to be in the beginning. If you left it as installed and never touched it it would run fine. As soon as you started to change things then things could get messy. I find winXP and 2000 to be much more stable. I do like XP for home users. the auto update and driver selection are better and the roll back feature is nice. Installation is cake as well but I might be a bit jaded as I remember my first install of win95A on 25 floppies :D

[bafbrian]

Originally posted by glock19owner
ME is slow in everything...a "F"ing resource hog...ME should of never been released...

Yes it will be worth the upgrade to XP for everything...

This is exactly what I would say, only in a more harsh tone towards MS.




LOL

[axlecrusher]

Originally posted by nahmus
I though of ME like gateway used to be in the beginning. If you left it as installed and never touched it it would run fine. As soon as you started to change things then things could get messy.

That is pretty much my experience. ME won't run any games worth playing, crashes when ever it feels like, very slow, huge memory hog, and very hard to do things I could in 98se. It took me a half an hour to scan an image that should have taken 5 minutes to scan because ME hogged up the RAM. It's an operating system that spontaneously, for no reason, tells the computer to stop operating.
JetMech, I respect that you think ME is fine for folding, which it probably is, but for me it just dosen't meet my needs. It's probably perfectly fine for a dedicated computer that does only a couple tasks. For anything more then just basic computer use, at least for me, it was just horrible.

[diggingforgold]

What about 95? me is a resource hog. I would say 95 is the least. Any conclusive data on performace reguarding 95?

[Penguin4x4]

Originally posted by nahmus


now thats a great quote!!!

I'd swear MS put out ME beacuse they had spare CP's and needed the whse space!!


I think of it as Windows 2000 Home Edition....I mean, Microsoft always released NT alongside a Windows OS; the NT for corporate usage and the Windows for home usage. :)

[Ben721]

Originally posted by diggingforgold
What about 95? me is a resource hog. I would say 95 is the least. Any conclusive data on performace reguarding 95?

I'd like to find that out as well.

Anyone?

I'm leaning towards installing XP Pro.

[JetMech]

Originally posted by nahmus
I thought of ME like gateway used to be in the beginning. If you left it as installed and never touched it it would run fine. As soon as you started to change things then things could get messy.That's exactly how I run it. As soon as you let Windows update install IE 6.0 the crashing starts. ME does not like to be upgraded with programs made to run in XP. I will eventually upgrade the main to XP but no time soon. Using my cash to buy processing power.

I also run AOL 8.0 and MSN 8.0 on all six rigs. As a matter of fact I Beta tested AOL 8.0 for 6 month and didn't have any problems. Opera 6 worked great too.

[KnowlesTech]

Originally posted by nahmus
I found it slow and there were some compatibility problems with AOL (not sure whose fault that was).

NEVER SAY THE AOL WORD! http://www.knowlestech.net/Smiley/wut61.gif
Off course it was AOL's fault... just kidding about the above statement eventhough I am a firm believer in AOL cause it gives me so much business. http://www.knowlestech.net/Smiley/timid.gif


LOL, anyways I have RC5 of ME back from my beta with it and it runs very stable! The release of ME was very buggy and compared to RC3 http://www.knowlestech.net/Smiley/trau24.gif

IMO XP is best for folding and 98 SE is second best. Everyone keeps saying 98 but 98FE SuxoRz. SE was where it was at. I have a few 2k machines, I may get them to folding on the network soon just to see the difference.

[bubba gump]

Originally posted by JetMech
I wonder how many people saying how much ME sucks have actually used the System.:p You will never see me communicate negative information about a product that I have never used. $146.00 per license is prohibitive to me for folding boxes. ME ain't that much slower.

I have used WinME for like 2 years and its what I had so I had to make do. Sure i didnt like it, but it worked with most of my stuff and it crashed a few times, mainly coz i was choking it :) But ya ive used XP Home a lot, XP Pro for a few weeks, and am just now sitting on Win2k and i love it... Ive used 98SE and its pretty stable for the day it was, and if u dont try to run too much through it....or it may have been the fact that it had 64mb of ram ona 400mhz p2 :) But ive used nearly every os MS has put out...even back to the days of 3.11...ahh the memories. 95 is what was on the old p166 (may she rest in peace) and hten we got the shoddy Dell that is sittting next to me, it works but its not my parents comp since i got mine :)

I wouldnt go saying bad stuff about something ive never used either, and if I have then im sorry i only speak what i know :D

But for faster folding...depending on if u take the XP Bloatware of or not u can get it pretty nice, nearly all the rigs that fold for me are on XP, cept for mine and my parents, ME on their's 2k on mine :)

Good Luck, and Fold on

[zhoelpqldk]

ME is actually not a finished OS. MS wanted to add more stuff to it but because they also wanted to release XP they stopped most of their work efforts on ME. So.. ME was released just because they said they were going to release a new version.

Having run most OSes out there, I find that the only good (for me mind you all) windows os is win2kpro. I do not run games, and have only basic applications needs, and high level of security scrutiny. But give me a linux/fbsd box anyday.

- J

[dropadrop]

win2k all the way...

[DeepScience]

The best OS was BASIC run on the ZX81

You just had to be sure not to bump the 16k ram pack. Duck tape usually sorted that one, so sweet.

[Ray44420]

Win2k Pro/Server have caused me the least headaches. It was intended to be called NT 5 at first, but for some reason that did not stick. NT 4.0 was very good in its time, but it needed an overhaul. USB and plug and play are some of the features Win2k got.
Win ME is basically 98 with System Restore, better driver support (somewhat), more bells and whistles. My experiences with it have not been bad.
Win ME is not a bad choice for older machines. We have an old K6-2 350 at work that just couldn't run 2000 very well, but it like ME much better. For IE and Word it runs fine. Yes it folds, it finishes a unit about once every 10 days (GAH).
My personal favorite is still Win2k Pro or Server. My machines run 24/7 and I rarely have problems. I installed 2003 Server on my laptop just to see how it runs. So far so good, but I haven't found a driver for the Mobility Radeon yet. Either 2000 or XP drivers should work, I just have to find a chance to try it.

[CrashOveride]

IMO:
ME sucks
2K is a watered down XP/NT made userfreindly
XP is a mix of 2K and 98 but made even MORE user freindly/annoying:D

[Ben721]

Alright tonight, when it completes a work unit, I will be upgrading to Windows XP Pro.

[UnseenMenace]

Originally posted by Ben721
What exactly do I need to tweak on a fresh XP install?

What do you not need to tweak.. the default install of Windows XP runs like a three legged dog

[CrashOveride]

i would tweak everything you like to and follow this great guide that i have found:
www.tweaktown.com , its in the Guides section down kinda close to the bottom the XP ones, reformat to relax and relax to rightous:D

[Ben721]

I already had most of that stuff tweaked on my main rig. :D

It's installing now, I got about 30 minutes left. :(

[RoadWarrior]

Well I've got 95C and 98SE on two similar machines and the one with 98SE seems to fold faster, it has a faster HDD but the other has SDRAM while the 98SE one has EDO.

The only times I have to deal with XP are when I'm fixing something for a friend or relly and it pees me off how you have to do every darn thing through wizards, and actively tries you to prevent installing specific files and configuring it yourself when it has a wizard that does it. Also the 4 or 5 different ways to do almost but not quite the same thing get annoying. Also doesn't strike me as terribly responsive even on faster hardware, but that could be 'coz they are the kind of users who turn all the candy on.

IMHO you want 95A on machines with less than 16Mb, 95C on machines with 16-32Mb and 98SE on machines with 32-256Mb, 2K on anything else. Which means really since 64Mb is the least amount of RAM you want to consider for folding that 98SE is probably a good choice for machines with lower amounts of RAM. OSes seem to be efficient for a range of RAM size, under and over that they get trumped by either an older lighter OS, or a newer OS that knows how to manage more RAM. Probably for a dedicated folder only the min for 2K would be 128Mb, but if you're using the machine for other stuff then in my book 98SE seems better up to 256Mb.

regards,

Road Warrior

[Ben721]

Well I finally switched to XP on my dedicated folder, and it seems like it is working a lot better.

I'm getting frame times of 11:30, where as I used to get around 13.

It seems like the folding is faster, but then again I have the SSE boost enabled.

I also added more ram so I have a total of 184mb.

[CrashOveride]

Originally posted by Ben721
Well I finally switched to XP on my dedicated folder, and it seems like it is working a lot better.

I'm getting frame times of 11:30, where as I used to get around 13.

It seems like the folding is faster, but then again I have the SSE boost enabled.

I also added more ram so I have a total of 184mb.

OOO get more ram if you can... XP doesnt like much less than 256 :-/

[Ben721]

Yeah I know that and all, but it's a dedicated folding machine, and only like 100mb/180mb is being used up.

Eventually I will probably buy a 256mb stick.

I'm just happy, cause it has worked so well so far.

[DAGO]

I went directly from Win98SE to XP Pro and really like the way it runs stable as a rock...
After years of BSOD's, instability and enough Startup/Shutdown problems to turn your hair gray, I am happy to say it has been Folding flawlessly 24/7 for nearly a year now...
Takes some time to figure the tweaks and optimize it on your machine, but it is a joy in comparison to its predecessors...

Win XP makes me a happy camper...:D

[Ben721]

Yeah I've had nothing but a great experience on my dedicated folding machine. :D

[Wedo]

Go here:

http://www.tweakxp.com/

and tweak. Disable servies you don't need, set some to manual that are only necessary every once in a while, and kill as many xp add-ons as you can (remote assistance, auto updates etc).

On a side note: I have found that with XP or 2K pro versions, you will save yourself hours of pain and suffering if you create another extended DOS partition for your program files, thus, leaving only your OS on the C drive.

That way, if your OS dumps (like my XP pro did last night when it borked the new settings on an n50 speed pad) you can simply reinstall or do a "repair" install in the C Drive and not lose anything.

Wedo

[emericanchaos]

for 2k and xp people goto www.blackviper.com . following his guide shaved a minute of my frame times in 2k. just by killing all the extra bullflop than i don't want to use anyway.

[CrashOveride]

Originally posted by Ben721
Yeah I know that and all, but it's a dedicated folding machine, and only like 100mb/180mb is being used up.

Eventually I will probably buy a 256mb stick.

I'm just happy, cause it has worked so well so far.

well in that case i wouldnt worry:D

[bumpsted]

Originally posted by emericanchaos
for 2k and xp people goto www.blackviper.com . following his guide shaved a minute of my frame times in 2k. just by killing all the extra bullflop than i don't want to use anyway.

Thanks for the link.:)