some major snipping below...
First, some background - I work at a computer shop, doing alot of service
work on home and office machines, and I'm certified Microsoft <insert
product here(well, not ALL of them...)>, as well as alot of hardware vendor
certs. I work on an average of 10-40 machines/week, most running win9x,
winnt, or win2k.
With ME, I've noted a few things...
If you have a PC that came loaded with 98 SE, you are probably ok to
upgrade.
If you have a PC that came loaded with 95, 95a, 95b, or 98 First Edition,
DON'T even mess with trying to upgrade. Yeah, I know microsoft says it will
work, but you'll cause yourself more headaches than you know. If you must
upgrade, upgrade to 98 SE, and you'll be happier.
DON'T load PcAnywhere 9.x or up on ME. Hoses up the network stack, and
causes lot's of little niggling errors that are impossible to get rid of. It
works on some machines, but not others. If you have to use PCA, use 98SE or
NT4.
Be careful of device drivers, try not to use anything written for 95 or 98
FE. if it's for 98SE, you're probably ok. I've seen more device drivers
written for the first run of 95 hose up ME machines than I'd care to count.
Reload, either every 6 months or 1 year, and reinstall applications. I
know, it takes alot of time, but is it better to have a clean running system
that you spend 8 or 10 hours on every 6 months doing maintenance, or one
that you will be fighting crashes on every other day?
With Win2k, same thing applies as above, it's just a bit easier to backup
your stuff for reloads (docuements and settings directory is a godsend for
this :) I haven't noted any major troubles with Win2k boxes unless driver
support is non-existant. Worst case i've seen: some guy managed to get his
to load iomega drivers from the original cd that was sent for win95. The
only way to fix that box was to reload.
Tips for reloading: (assumption is that you have a hard drive with a bit of
extra space, in the range of 500mb +)
copy all the files from your cd in the win9x directory (not the other root
directories, or the subdirectories, you don't need those) to your hard
drive, in something like c:\win98 or c:\win9x or something. Make sure you
have a driver directory, with current drivers for all of your hardware,
including modems, motherboard, video, sound, etc. Also, make sure you have
a copy of the Internet Explorer Installation program for your favorite
flavor (4.x, 5.0, 5.5) if you use that, or the installation file for
netscape (reloading will blow IE out for sure, netscape just won't run right
until you reinstall it). After you are sure everything is in place, follow
the next steps:
Scandisk
Defrag
reboot to safe mode MS-Dos Prompt (hit F8 when it says 'Starting Windows',
you have about 2 seconds...I usually just start hitting F8 repeatedly after
the memory count)
Rename your windows directory: i.e. c:\>move windows win.old (just in case
something goes wrong :)
Go into the source directory (remember the win9x files?) c:\>cd win98
Run setup with /is (skip the disk check, you've already done scandisk and
defrag :) c:\win98\>setup /is
Fill in the prompts, when it asks you what directory to install to, it will
prompt you for Win.old, change this to Windows.
install device drivers, apps, etc. All your documents will be where they
were, except for email if you use Outlook Express or Outlook. You'll need
to import those and any favorites, cookies, shortcuts, etc. from the win.old
directory (email me if you need help with this). Once you are happy with
the new load and have gotten everything you need out of win.old, delete the
win.old directory, and you have a clean, reloaded machine.
If you have questions or doubts, please email me (i do this at least once a
day on various machines :)
wow, what a ramble...sorry about the length :)
MacGrough Mich'Rathe
Solusek Ro Blood Tide
32 Songs for the 4th time :)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lora Roa" <loraroa@...>
To: <eqbards@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: [eqbards] (OT) Tech problem, any suggestions?
> Have to agree with the multiple upgrade, no reformat (no reinstalls) - and
> believe it or not .. I've even seen no defrag on QA machines (ones that
> install and then overinstall the software to be tested often daily).
>
> It amazing the issues a total reinstall on your machine can fix. Even on
a
> "just" a gaming machine I'd go with completely reinstalling the OS from
> scratch at least once a year.
>
> - Menuette's typist
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brett Keown" <brettke@...>
> To: "'eqbards@egroups.com'" <eqbards@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 11:19 AM
> Subject: RE: [eqbards] (OT) Tech problem, any suggestions?
>
>
> > Well, I for one can tell you that I have been running WinME for several
> > months now without problems. I run it side by side with a Win2k Adv
> Server
> > and have had very few problems with each. The server has been running
for
> 3
> > months now without a reboot, the WinME Machine has been outstanding for
> > gaming.
> >
> > I think what it really comes down to is this. What are you using the
> > machine for? If its work, then security and lower TCO is most likely an
> > issue and I would recommend the W2K series of OS's. If the machine is
for
> > personal or home use (games / ease of use / intuitiveness) , use WinME.
> >
> > There are two big areas that we have seen people need support on:
> >
> > 1. Someone has taken their machine that has gone through EVERY OS
> > upgrade and has never reformatted it or just cleaned up the drive.
(Some
> > issues there)
> > 2. Someone is taking a WinME machine and trying to make into a high
> > end work production machine...it was never designed to be that.
> >
> > Just my .02 :)
> >
> > Have a great day Everyone!
> >
> > Kendawen
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Talies the Wanderer [mailto:snicker@...]
> > Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 2:15 PM
> > To: eqbards@egroups.com
> > Subject: RE: [eqbards] (OT) Tech problem, any suggestions?
> >
> >