Why is Windows ME unstable?


Recommended Posts

Why is ME unstable?

guess we'll never know...

It was unstable on my computer, I remember the first time I booted it after installation.

My mouse didn't move, I was like WTF? no mouse?

I go to the hardware screen using the keyboard, BAM bsod...

+ the nice memory bug

very funny...

It was on my computer for less than a week and I never used it again after that.

Windows 98 was bad (driver issues etc), but Windows 98SE was better and Windows ME was just a waste of money.

After ME I went back to 98, then to 2k and finally I switched to XP.

I would say calling Windows ME Windows 98 Third Edition is an insult to Windows 98 SE, imho.

I think Windows ME is fine. I'd install it over Windows 98SE on any of my systems anyday.

586719069[/snapback]

I dissagree. I would not trust ME as a coaster for my desk. It was horrible. On the other hand I thought that a fully service packed 98SE was an "ok" op system.

I just don't understand what MS was thinking with ME. It was just HORRIBLE:x:x

I believe Windows ME was based on Windows 95 code, instead of Windows 98SE code.

This made it incredibly weak and ME re-introduced some bugs found in Win95, which were solved in Win98(SE).

586718021[/snapback]

Um, no. It's all the same code. Windows ME was based primarily on Windows 98SE code, as ME was technically supposed to be Windows 98TE or Third Edition. However, incorporating new features like System Restore and such just ended up making a bad branch of OS's worse.

In my opinion the simple fact was that they were overextending their base code...I guess I can't explain it very well.

Its like the BF1942 engine. DICE kept just adding code to the same engine and BF:V was released. Kind of buggy. Then BF 2 with the BF1942 engine and even more code added resulting in a very, very buggy game and incomplete with all of its promised features (didn't work or just didn't put it in). New features and such, but with an almost unplayable game at times.

So consider BF1942 Windows95, BF:V Windows98 and BF 2 Windows ME and I guess that's the best analogy I can come up off the top of my head that closely fits what I'm trying to explain.

Sometimes you just have to start back over from scratch.

In my opinion the simple fact was that they were overextending their base code...I guess I can't explain it very well.

Its like the BF1942 engine. DICE kept just adding code to the same engine and BF:V was released. Kind of buggy. Then BF 2 with the BF1942 engine and even more code added resulting in a very, very buggy game and incomplete with all of its promised features (didn't work or just didn't put it in). New features and such, but with an almost unplayable game at times.

So consider BF1942 Windows95, BF:V Windows98 and BF 2 Windows ME and I guess that's the best analogy I can come up off the top of my head that closely fits what I'm trying to explain.

Sometimes you just have to start back over from scratch.

586721560[/snapback]

Very bad analogy.... BF 2 is a new engine.

It's because you touch yourself at night.

586718024[/snapback]

That was hands down one of the best replies ever! :laugh: :rofl: LMFAO!!!

ONtopic: I've used WinME for YEARS, and I thought it was great, never really crashed on me. At least not that much that it's worth mentioning... :)

Someone asked this a while back when I 1st started posting here and I explained how mine worked fine and gave my theory on how maybe Microsoft released a bad batch of Windows ME cd's.

Some people thought it was a good theory. Only reason I even think that is because of how some people just have mass problems with it but others don't. A friend of mine tried running it and it didn't work. I went out and bought a copy later on just for the hell of it and it runs fine for me. He bought his right as it came out and I waited a little while. I noticed people who had later copies didn't have any issues with it compared to people who had it right as it came out.

That was hands down one of the best replies ever! :laugh: :rofl: LMFAO!!!

ONtopic: I've used WinME for YEARS, and I thought it was great, never really crashed on me. At least not that much that it's worth mentioning... :)

586721614[/snapback]

I agree. I had absolutely no problems with WinME that I didn't already have with Win98 or 95. But as every computer "has a mind of its own", I can understand how some ppl could.

Didnt it have a massive memory problem, where it would not release memory correctly under certain situations. Microsoft said they wont fix because it was a too big of problem.

586727512[/snapback]

Correct all the 9X/me OS's had the problem. It's because of the bad memory management of the DOS kernel

  • 2 weeks later...
I believe Windows ME was based on Windows 95 code, instead of Windows 98SE code.

This made it incredibly weak and ME re-introduced some bugs found in Win95, which were solved in Win98(SE).

586718021[/snapback]

Windows 98 was a 4th release of Win95. Win98 SE was a 5th, and WinMe was the 6th.

The best release (in my opinion) was Win95C (4.00.950.C) the 3rd release from Windows 95 commonly known like OSR2.5

I never installed Win 98 in my computer, firstly I had Win95C, later WinMe, now XP.

For me WinMe was very stable, but win95 was fastest.

Actually, NO version of windows was unstable out of the box (for me, anyway).

It depends on what you do with it, what you install on it, how you mess around, etc.

For me, 9x installs usually screw up in half a year.

NT based installs don't screw up on me unless something stupid happens (like the power cutting out during a partitionmagic session)

586665753[/snapback]

Totally agree. I had ME for a while and had no problems with it until I started poking around where I shouldn't have been...Same things happened with 95, 98 and 98se too. The half a year timeline sounds about right for me too.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Microsoft finally admits its default Windows 11 25H2, 24H2 action broke key legacy component by Sayan Sen Microsoft last week released Windows 11 KB5094126 and KB5093998 as the latest Patch Tuesday updates. Following that the company also published the accompanying dynamic updates under KB5094149, KB5095971, and KB5094156. So far the company has acknowledged two known issues that have popped up after the release which include bugged-out Office apps as well as the Recycle Bin; though there could be more at play too. Speaking of bugs and issues, Microsoft seems to have finally acknowledged a problem that probably has been around for close to a year. That's because back in July of 2025 the company made a default change to the latest Windows 11 versions, wherein it switched to JScript9Legacy on Windows 11 24H2 and later releases. Hence following the release of version 25H2 in October 2025, JScript9Legacy also remained default-enabled. As a result there has been a compatibility issue ever since then. For those wondering, by switching to JScript9Legacy Microsoft intended to improve the security of modern Windows PCs by reducing vulnerabilities tied to legacy scripting like cross-site scripting (XSS), among others. XSS exploits can allow cyber-attackers to attach malicious code onto legitimate websites and use them to execute the code when a potential victim loads such a website. Hence the new JScript9Legacy engine enforced stricter execution policies and improved object handling, which should help mitigate such attacks. Microsoft today has published a new support article detailing the problem. Neowin spotted it while browsing. The company says that JScript global definitions and execution context may fail to persist across scripts, potentially breaking older dependent apps and web-based components that relied on this legacy behavior. In the article Microsoft has confirmed that the issue stems from its move away from the older jscript9.dll engine in favor of jscript9legacy.dll. As mentioned above, while the newer engine was designed to address vulnerabilities and strengthen security it also changes how JScript handles execution context. As a result functions and definitions loaded by one script could no longer remain available to subsequent scripts once execution ended. The company notes that some applications worked correctly on earlier Windows versions because the older JScript engine automatically retained global definitions and execution state between scripts. Under the newer model though that behavior is disabled by default causing certain legacy workloads and polyfill-dependent scripts to fail. Microsoft says it addressed the problem via the KB5077241 update though the fix had not been enabled automatically in the following updates. As such admins must explicitly turn on persistent JScript execution context using a Registry setting that the tech giant shared today. The configuration can be applied to individual processes or system-wide through the FEATURE_ENABLE_PERSISTENCE registry key. The steps have been outlined below: Run the following command to create the feature control registry key: reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_ENABLE_PERSISTENCE" Under this key, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value. Configure the value as follows: To enable persistence for specific processes only: Set the value to 1 for each target process name. To enable persistence for all processes: Add * as the key name and set its value to 1. You can find the official support article here on Microsoft's website.
    • The possibility that milk gathers back into a glass implies that gravity can be 'reversed'.
    • VidCoder 12.20 by Razvan Serea  VidCoder is a DVD/Blu-ray ripping and video transcoding application for Windows. It uses HandBrake as its encoding engine. Calling directly into the HandBrake library gives it a more rich UI than the official HandBrake Windows GUI. VidCoder can rip DVDs but does not defeat the CSS encryption found in most commercial DVDs. You’ll need the NET 8 Desktop Runtime. If you don’t have it, VidCoder will prompt you to download and install it. The Portable version is self-contained and does not require any .NET Runtime to be installed. You do not need to install HandBrake for VidCoder to work. Feature list: Multi-threaded MP4, MKV containers Completely integrated encoding pipeline: everything is in one process and no huge intermediate temporary files H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, VP8, Theora video Hardware-accelerated encoding with AMD VCE, Nvidia NVENC and Intel QuickSync AAC, MP3, Vorbis, AC3, FLAC audio encoding and AAC/AC3/MP3/DTS/DTS-HD passthrough Target bitrate, size or quality for video 2-pass encoding Decomb, detelecine, deinterlace, rotate, reflect, chroma smooth, colorspace filters Powerful batch encoding with simultaneous encodes Customizable Pickers to automatically pick audio and subtitle tracks, destination, titles and more Instant source previews Creates small encoded preview clips Pause, resume encoding VidCoder 12.20 changes: Updated HandBrake core to 1.11.2. Download: VidCoder 12.20 | 47.0 MB (Open Source) Download: Portable VidCoder 12.19 | 89.3 MB Link: VidCoder Home Page | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Too soon, I'm still not over this death!
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jordan Smith earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      BizSAR earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • First Post
      AndreaB earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      Huge Trailer earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Classifyskilleducation earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      593
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      185
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      77
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      73
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      66
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!