[ScrewUpgrading]

Here's my totally rad Windows ME configuration

Web Browsers

Internet Explorer 6 (Installed, but never used.)
Netscape 9.0.0.6 (no javascript)
Seamonkey 1.1.19 (no js)
Opera 11.11 (turbo, with javascript)
K-Meleon 1.5.4 (no js)
Firefox 2.0.0.20 (no js)

Multimedia:

Windows Media Player 9
Eusing Free Video Converter

Graphics Win9x:

CompuPic Pro 6.23
IrfanView 3.17
XnView 1.60
Mihov Jpegar
Paul's Graphic Viewer 4
FastStone Image Viewer 4.6
11view
ImgViewer 32
NGView
TruView 1.83
FineView 0.63
New View Graphics Viewer 7.7.2
Slick View 1.4
PicViewer 3 by Annixsoft
iview 3.0 by Jogra data
ccy image viewer

Graphics DOS

PictView
PV 2.78
Jpeg6a32 (cjpeg.exe & djpeg.exe utilities)

Grafx Editor

Photo Filtre 6.5.2

Word Processors

Microsoft Word 2000
AbiWord 2.4.6

CD Burning

ImgBurn 2.5.6.0
Deep Burner
Burrrn

Audio Players & MP3 rippers

1 by 1
Trout
Neutrius
Cdex 1.70 beta 2
CD ripper freeware
Mptrim

Anti Virus

ClamWin 0.97.3
Rose's Heuristic Based Virus Scanner
F-Prot 3.16 (definitions from Jan. 2009)
Tiny Personal Firewall 2.0.9
McAfee Stinger
Multi Virus Cleaner 2009

File Compression

Ccy Haha ZIP
UnzipThemAll 1.4
Simply Zip
Freebyte Zip
Desktopzip 2008
Info-Zip's Wiz 5.03

Windows components

Directx 9.0c
Microsoft Installer 2.0

Utilities
CCleaner 2.36
Foxit PDF Reader 2.3
cutePDF writer
System Information Viewer 4.15
Kernel Ex 4.5.1 (for Opera)

This post has been edited by ScrewUpgrading: 29 November 2011 - 02:23 AM

[jaclaz]

ScrewUpgrading, on 12 November 2011 - 06:15 AM, said:

Here's my "ultimate" Windows ME configuration

But your thread title is about Win9x.

I mean, do you accept ideas from BOTH Win9x AND Me users or you just want to meet the other 3 (three) persons in the world that run normally Windows Me?


jaclaz

[loblo]

jaclaz, on 12 November 2011 - 07:03 AM, said:

I mean, do you accept ideas from BOTH Win9x AND Me users or you just want to meet the other 3 (three) persons in the world that run normally Windows Me?


jaclaz

What's that actually supposed to mean?

Typical flame bait trolling IMO.

Way to go Jaclaz!

[herbalist]

There is still 3 of them? Actually, since most of us are using one or more of the unofficial upgrades that contain some WinMe components, aren't we all running 9X hybrids?

Back on topic, a partial list (too lazy to look ATM)

Primary security apps,
System Safety Monitor 2.0.8.583
Kerio 2.1.5
Proxomitron 4.5 (2003-6-1)

Additional pri-sec apps.
Privoxy
Tor-Vidalia
NIS Filecheck
Filemap

Browsers,
SeaMonkey 2.0.14
K-Meleon 1.7

Other (too lazy to sort)
Connectix Virtual PC
Win ISO
Magic ISO
Magic disk
ImgBurn
BurnAtOnce
PDFXchange
SocksCap
Clipboards (multiple clipboard utility)
Launchkey
Splinterware system scheduler
NDN
Universal extractor, both versions
7zip
Dcopy
ISO buster
PGP
NotePad+
Putty
WinSCP
Sam Spade
µTorrent
WinHTTrack
WinMerge
WinAmp
Wink
IrfanView
WinPCap
NMap
Ethereal

Other miscellaneous utilities, editors, etc, and some stuff I can't think of ATM

[jaclaz]

herbalist, on 12 November 2011 - 09:25 AM, said:

There is still 3 of them? Actually, since most of us are using one or more of the unofficial upgrades that contain some WinMe components, aren't we all running 9X hybrids?

HIt right on the nail , though a Windows Me is nothing but a bettered Win98 (only worse ) it has some features that are NOT in a "plain" - even if updated - Win98 and possibly not even in a hybridized Win98.
Additionally "Win9x" also includes Windows 95 that has also some different features/possibilities, or so I am told by the 2 (two) people that still run it daily .

Let's assume that numbers are (talking of frequent members of MSFN who actually run mainly or often Win9x/Me):

• People running a "plain" - but updated - Win98 (EACH one with a slightly different number of settings/tweaks/updates/what not) : A few tens.
  
• People running a Win98 hybrid with Me (EACH one with a slightly different number of settings/tweaks/updates/what not): A few tens.
  
• People running Me: 3
  
• People running 95: 2

Evan if possibly not entirely accurate , the above numbers show how the intended audience might be different.

jaclaz

[loblo]

jaclaz, on 12 November 2011 - 09:47 AM, said:

Windows Me is nothing but a bettered Win98 (only worse )

Whatever you say...

[Mijzelf]

Quote

so I am told by the 2 (two) people that still run it daily

Really? I cannot remember I ever told you of my problems.
Anyway, I am running W95 OSR2, on a 25MHz 486SX, and 16MB memory. Actually it's in use as a ethernet to parallel port converter, also called printserver. The only extra software installed is vnc-server, and a small program I wrote myself, which pings a number of IP addresses, and shuts down Windows when nothing is answering anymore. (When no computer is up, no-one will print, right?)
msdos.sys is reconfigured not to start the GUI, and autoexec.bat contains:

win
music.exe

When Windows is down, it will return to DOS, and start the dos program music, which will make some noise through the on-board speaker, so I know Windows is down and the computer can be switched off. (There is no monitor, mouse or keyboard attached).

This post has been edited by Mijzelf: 12 November 2011 - 12:20 PM

[ScrewUpgrading]

Quote

ut your thread title is about Win9x.

I mean, do you accept ideas from BOTH Win9x AND Me users or you just want to meet the other 3 (three) persons in the world that run normally Windows Me?


jaclaz

I feel so alone now. Is windows Me really that bad? Should I downgrade then?

Yes, I accept Windows 95, 98, 98se. Please list whatever software you have on Widows 95, 98, 98se, 98seme, ME. Am I missing anymore OS's?

[jaclaz]

ScrewUpgrading, on 12 November 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

I feel so alone now. Is windows Me really that bad? Should I downgrade then?

Naaah, it wasn't/isn't AS bad AS most people try to depict it, as I see it it has a lot of nice features , but it suffered IMHO from:

• like all MS products, initial instability, usually fixed after a short time by a SP1 (that never was released for Me)
  
• it never really got the numbers to make a "critical mass" impact, and most software vendors and programmers (generally speaking) never got around using the added capabilities, most things you now run on Me were developed and tested on Windows 98 only and only by chance they do work allright on Me too
  
• it was "compressed" (not unlike Windows 2K, but to a far greater extent) by the immediately following release of XP and the senseless pushing for XP Home edition by MS on every OEM machine
  
• it was - initially at least - seen as a joke by the good ol' DOS lovers, due to the direct booting in GUI mode
  
• the "typical" users were (necessarily) the people who bought it pre-installed in a OEM PC, seriously I never knew anyone which actually bought a "Full install" version
  
• these "typical users" - again very understandably - as soon as they got their brand new machines, installed on them a few zillions softwares as said developed and perfectly working on Win9x OS, but that were not truly tested on Me, thus increasing the instabilities of the System, or at least its perceived instabilities

So all in all it was/is an AS good AS Win98 OS, but with a far smaller user base, expecially among the peeps that - like most MSFN members do - are interested in the innards of the OS, in tricks and tweaks and what not.

I have a good ol' ASUS mini-notebook with Me on it, and I never had actual problems with it (though I actually use that particular PC only rarely and when I do I normally use the other OS that I have installed to it, which is 2K).
When I run for tests a DOS based GUI OS I tend also to use a Win98SE system.

ScrewUpgrading, on 12 November 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

Yes, I accept Windows 95, 98, 98se. Please list whatever software you have on Widows 95, 98, 98se, 98seme, ME. Am I missing anymore OS's?

Good.
I am sure that with this approach you will get far more useful replies .

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 13 November 2011 - 07:34 AM

[ScrewUpgrading]

Quote

Naaah, it wasn't/isn't AS bad AS most people try to depict it, as I see it it has a lot of nice features

^ Preach, brother.

I'm running out of topic ideas at this place however. So far only Herbalist has showed and telled what he uses. Also, you guys are the only people that will converse with me about my Windows ME fetish. I might go through withdrawal now if this place ceases to be the Windows 9x mecca of the internet.

This post has been edited by ScrewUpgrading: 13 November 2011 - 07:09 AM

[herbalist]

My experience with ME is limited to servicing several of those units. Those were some of the biggest nightmares I've ever worked on. While a lot of the problems were the users fault (huge quantities of adware/malware, almost 4GB worth in one case) the OS was touchy and temperamental in ways I've never seen before or since. I've never owned a PC with ME so I haven't had the opportunity to modify one and see just what it could do or how good it could get.

So far, my "ultimate setup" doesn't yet exist. This PC for instance is the one I use for internet and virtualization. Right now it's serving as a Tor exit. I'm not sure if it can do that and run the virtualization software at the same time. ATM I'm hesitant to try it. It's lousy for music, horrible sound quality, pops, squeaks, lots of harmonic distortion. I'm pretty sure that I don't have the right sound card driver but it's the only one I've found that works at all. It can't burn a decent ISO, lousy cd-dvd combo drive that's about shot. For those, my old 98FE HP works great, but it doesn't have the processing power or the RAM (366MHZ 160 MB RAM) to deal with virtualization. I have another Dell that I might try 98 on eventually, maybe this winter. It will be more difficult to do on this one, 2GB RAM and requires a USB keyboard and mouse. Right now, it runs XP. I use it for some gaming and my other half uses it. It might be able to serve as my "ultimate system" but would leave me without a decent PC for XP and the one game I got addicted to. This PC, booted to XP will play it, but 1GB RAM lags too much when it gets busy.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

ScrewUpgrading, on 12 November 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

I feel so alone now. Is windows Me really that bad? Should I downgrade then?

Some us believe that WinME --> Win98se is actually an upgrade.

I remember that WinME was the testbed (and we were the guinea pigs) for System Restore. A dress rehearsal for inclusion in WinXP. Ummm, no thanks. Saving thousands and thousands of files in protected folders was yet another persistent infection vector waiting to be exploited either by malware, or Windows itself which is stupid enough to save an infected file into the _Restore area. Coupled with increased System File Protection (compared to earlier Win9x) it became much more difficult to remove an infected file if it got in.

The final straw was Removing DOS at Startup, removing the chance to delete a system file manually, thereby locking a possible infection in place. Three strikes you're outta there. Ordinarily with an infected system file, it is just reboot, F8 to DOS and manually over-write files from a safe location. This doesn't have to be about a virus though. Any tweaking or experimenting with Drivers and System Files is pretty much rendered moot by those three mentioned WinME advancements. Yes, you could just keep a startup floppy handy and boot to a DOS prompt to perform manual surgery, but this means the probability of leaving floppies in the drive and the BIOS set to boot from it, which of course opens another infection window. So what they really did to WinME is to make it unfriendly to the experts, the hackers, the experimenters that enjoy playing under the hood.

But they did tweak some parts okay. Scandisk works better in Windows, and Defrag in Windows seems to be perfected. USB was better out-of-the-box of course and many of the supplied drivers were newer. Memory management seems to have been improved since it looks like the maximum allowed RAM is higher.

Interestingly, one other major change was in RegEdit, where they were apparently toying with the NT idea of separate hives, but not exactly. They uniquely decided to break the CLASSES tree out of HKLM\Software and store it separately on disk. Which made for three files instead of two, and SYSTEM was now smaller. Looking back now it was an odd idea because NT always separated the root keys, not a piece of a key. I think what happened is that it was simply a stop gap for the increasingly bloated registries causing instability and which could no longer be /c rebuilt manually anyway. One thing is for sure, never use the RegEdit from WinME on earlier versions!

If it were possible to completely remove System Restore and revert System File Protection to it's former benign self (only protect a few files but not automatically replace them), and of course fix the IO.SYS problem with DOS, then WinME would be an upgrade. IMHO, of course.

[jaclaz]

CharlotteTheHarlot, on 14 November 2011 - 04:26 AM, said:

If it were possible to completely remove System Restore and revert System File Protection to it's former benign self (only protect a few files but not automatically replace them), and of course fix the IO.SYS problem with DOS, then WinME would be an upgrade. IMHO, of course.

Well, there are a few ways to get back the DOS.
http://www.dewassoc....me/real_dos.htm
http://www.reocities.../mfd4life_2000/


The SFP:
http://support.micro...kb/253571/en-us
has a re-known solution:
http://www.mdgx.com/me1.htm#UPH
http://erpman1.tripo...rent/sfpoff.htm
additionally it seems like the list of files is in a file sfpdb.sfp and system.cat
http://support.micro...kb/267282/en-us
I presume that given there is enough interest in it (which I doubt) someone could use the same kind of tricks were used for 2K and XP WFP and have a "limited" amount of checked files.

Turning off System Restore:
http://www.onecomput...com/me_tips.htm
http://www.onecomput...#system_restore

So, WHAT is the problem?

jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

ScrewUpgrading, on 13 November 2011 - 07:05 AM, said:

So far only Herbalist has showed and telled what he uses.

I'll see what I have on my Win98 PC tonight if I remember.

[ScrewUpgrading]

Quote

some us believe that WinME --> Win98se is actually an upgrade.

I remember that WinME was the testbed (and we were the guinea pigs) for System Restore. A dress rehearsal for inclusion in WinXP. Ummm, no thanks. Saving thousands and thousands of files in protected folders was yet another persistent infection vector waiting to be exploited either by malware, or Windows itself which is stupid enough to save an infected file into the _Restore area. Coupled with increased System File Protection (compared to earlier Win9x) it became much more difficult to remove an infected file if it got in.

The final straw was Removing DOS at Startup, removing the chance to delete a system file manually, thereby locking a possible infection in place. Three strikes you're outta there. Ordinarily with an infected system file, it is just reboot, F8 to DOS and manually over-write files from a safe location. This doesn't have to be about a virus though. Any tweaking or experimenting with Drivers and System Files is pretty much rendered moot by those three mentioned WinME advancements. Yes, you could just keep a startup floppy handy and boot to a DOS prompt to perform manual surgery, but this means the probability of leaving floppies in the drive and the BIOS set to boot from it, which of course opens another infection window. So what they really did to WinME is to make it unfriendly to the experts, the hackers, the experimenters that enjoy playing under the hood.

But they did tweak some parts okay. Scandisk works better in Windows, and Defrag in Windows seems to be perfected. USB was better out-of-the-box of course and many of the supplied drivers were newer. Memory management seems to have been improved since it looks like the maximum allowed RAM is higher.

I'm glad that Windows Me had improved USB support. I probably would've never bothered learning about "thumb drives" if it required more than simply inserting the device into the computer and automatically getting detected. I used to make multi-volume archives on floppies with a DOS program called "Sky Compressor." It was easier than doing it with more complex programs such as ARJ and Pkzip. I'm not a power user by any means. Slow learner, keep it simple is my motto.

I can see your point though about Windows 98 being better for power users, and the people who like to experiment and tweak their systems. No wonder everybody dislikes WinMe.

Quote

Interestingly, one other major change was in RegEdit, where they were apparently toying with the NT idea of separate hives, but not exactly. They uniquely decided to break the CLASSES tree out of HKLM\Software and store it separately on disk. Which made for three files instead of two, and SYSTEM was now smaller. Looking back now it was an odd idea because NT always separated the root keys, not a piece of a key. I think what happened is that it was simply a stop gap for the increasingly bloated registries causing instability and which could no longer be /c rebuilt manually anyway. One thing is for sure, never use the RegEdit from WinME on earlier versions!

If it were possible to completely remove System Restore and revert System File Protection to it's former benign self (only protect a few files but not automatically replace them), and of course fix the IO.SYS problem with DOS, then WinME would be an upgrade. IMHO, of course.

What I do, is immediately after a fresh format and installation, I turn of system restore.

Turning off Hibernation support, and the rest of those annoying energy saving features also helps things go more smooth.

Quote

Well, there are a few ways to get back the DOS.
http://www.dewassoc....me/real_dos.htm
http://www.reocities.../mfd4life_2000/


The SFP:
http://support.micro...kb/253571/en-us
has a re-known solution:
http://www.mdgx.com/me1.htm#UPH
http://erpman1.tripo...rent/sfpoff.htm
additionally it seems like the list of files is in a file sfpdb.sfp and system.cat
http://support.micro...kb/267282/en-us
I presume that given there is enough interest in it (which I doubt) someone could use the same kind of tricks were used for 2K and XP WFP and have a "limited" amount of checked files.

Turning off System Restore:
http://www.onecomput...com/me_tips.htm

^ cool links, thanks.

[cdoublejj]

opera
pale moon
a ton of games

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

jaclaz, on 14 November 2011 - 07:17 AM, said:

So, WHAT is the problem?

jaclaz

Time, my friend. Lack of Time. (sigh)

[togermano]

I disabled system restore and it seems to help ME alot. No crashes yet

[TmEE]

Here is a slightly modified list of stuff I have installed on my PC :

µTorrent 2.0.4
3DMark05 1.2.0
7-Zip 4.57
Adaptec ASPI Layer 4.60.1021
Adobe Acrobat - Reader 6.0.2 Update 6.0.2
Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin 10.0.32.18
Adobe Flash Player ActiveX 9.0.115.0
Adobe Photoshop 7.07.0
Adobe Reader 6.0.1 006.000.001
Adobe Shockwave Player 11.5 11.5.9.620
Alcohol 120% (Trial Version) 1.9.2.1705
ALi RAID Driver
ArcSoft PhotoStudio 5.5
ASIO4ALL
Blender
CCleaner
Command Prompt Here PowerToy
Cool Edit Pro 2.0
Corel Applications
DefleMask Tracker 3.5
DScaler 4.1.15
ffdshow v1.1.3516 [2010-07-25] 1.1.3516.0
FileZilla (remove only)
FL Studio 8
Foxit Reader 4.3.1.323
FreePCB 1.2
Frequency Generator 2007
GraphicsGale FreeEdition version 1.93.17
HWiNFO32 Version 3.86 3.86
IDA Pro Advanced v5.2 with WinCE v5.0 debugger
ImgBurn 2.5.5.0
Intel® PRO Network Connections Drivers
Intel® PROSet II 3.20.0000
InterVideo WinDVD 4
InterVideo WinDVD Creator1.0.87.97
IrfanView (remove only)
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 88.00.0000
KernelEx 4.5.1
K-Meleon 1.5.4 en-US (remove only) 1.5.4
MadOnion.com/3DMark2001
MadTracker 2
MIDI Tracker
MSN Messenger 7.0 7.0.0820
Nasty File Remover v0.71 (remove only)
Nero Suite
Opera 11.52
PaintTool SAI Ver.1
Paragon NTFS for Win98
Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 Professional
Parallel Port Joystick
PowerStrip 3 (remove only)
Python 2.6.5 2.6.5150
RAD Video Tools
Revolutions Pack 9
SiSoftware Sandra 2002 Standard
Skype™ 3.5 3.5.214
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.6.2
Zultrax P2P
Tweak UI
Winamp 5.35
WinRAR archiver
WinTop
VLC media player 1.0.5 1.0.5
YAMAHA SoftSynthesizer S-YXG100plus
YAMAHA SoftSynthesizer S-YXG50

[Tripredacus]

I didn't bother going through finding out what versions things were, although I did decide to run 3DMark and my PC did a hard reset on test 3. That's a project for another day... in a list of projects... But I did finally remember to make a list. Since my Win98 PC isn't used daily since 2002, most of the programs are just really old. Its like using a time machine everytime I turn it on.

ACDSee XP
Active Worlds 3.2
Ad-aware 6 Personal
Adobe Acrobat 4
Adobe Photoshop 5 LE
Carmaggedon 2: Carpocalypse Now
CDex
Diablo
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
DivX v4.12
Grand Theft Auto
I'm Going In
Intel A/V Codecs 2.0
J2RE STD v1.2.2
Java 3D 1.2.1_013 Runtime (OpenGL version)
LeechFTP
Macromedia Dreamweaver 2
Macromedia Fireworks 2
Madonion 3dMark2000 v1.1
Max Payne
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Microsoft Excel 97
Microsoft OpenType Font Properties
Microsoft Outlook 97
Mozilla Firefox v1.0 Preview Release
Nero 5
Q3Radiant public build 202
Quake 3 Arena
Quicktime
RealPlayer Basic
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Serious Sam
Shockwave
ShoutCast DNAS
Trillian
Winamp
Windows Media Player 7.1
WinRaR
Winzip 8
Windowblinds