Got ME, looking to get out, can ya'll help?
 

I've got ME on my home system. The system is a P4 with 650MB RAM, a 128 Nvidia G4 video card, basically I surf the net, play games (90%) and download photos off my camera.

ME has gotten very unstable for me, and I'm clueless with computers.

So what is good for me to upgrade to? XP home? Also I understand that all I need is to buy the XP upgrade kit since I have the windows license through ME, is that correct?

Thanks in advance.

You might want to consider upgrading to just Windows 2000. Win2k is great, and so is XP, but if you aren't into computers much, you may not want to take the time to make sure everything is compatible and have/find the appropriate drivers to work with XP. My opinion for you would be just to go with Windows 2000.

for a game player I would disgree with molly.

I know this sounds awful too some people...but just get an oem copy of windows xp home.

Reason I don't recommend Windows 2000 is because the base install doesn't have even directx 8 installed, and because of that you would have to do a lot more work to get your games up and running.

Windows 2000 still cost about $120 new, while windows xp home is about $90

I agree with Konichiwaneko. Windows 2000 was targeted toward business and lacks a lot of support for games. Also I don't think there is an upgrade path for ME to 2000.

If you plan on doing a full format, buy the OEM copy of XP home. If you just want to upgrade, and probably keep most of your problems, just buy an XP home upgrade.

Okay, so it seems XP home is the solution, but whats the deal with OEM version MS?

i suggest xp home also.

OEM is Original Equipment Manufacturer. It is a lot cheeper than the retail box, but you won't get any support from microsoft if you have to call them. You also have to buy a piece of hardware with it, but don't fret, any 5 dollar mouse will do.

I run W2K Pro on this machine, and it's great for games and the like. XP drivers work if I have to do that, but so far, I haven't had to. Just get what you can afford between W2K and XP Pro. I do admit that XP is MUCH faster on bootup, it's a tossup on shutdown.

I suggest Windows2000. While it may take work to get updated to the latest and greatest? versions of DirectX, Service Packs, etc. you won't have all the overhead of WindowsXP.

XP is a resource hog to no end.

If I was you I format the whole HD just because I think Windows Me is the worst OS that I ever had and, if you do a clean installation you don't have to worry about any conflicts with Windows Me. Get an upgrade of windows XP home or Pro. I think with the machine that you are running now sounds like it will be compatible with XP, but you can always check if your PC is XP compatible by going to the Microsoft web site.
You do not need a full copy of XP because in the installation process it will ask you to put the serial # from any OS that you owned and you said that you have the license of Window Me. That's all you need.
Good luck.

You obviously never used MacOS 7 or Windows 95

I used 95(some), but I still think that ME was the worst.

Some time ago I upgraded one of my pc's from ME to XP. As I recall, the initial analysis will tell you which programs and drivers are not compatible. Just get ready to spend some time un-installing and reinstalling lots-o-stuff.

But the OEM full version is cheeper then the retail upgrade version so why not get a full version instead of an upgrade.