Memory Management

[EML4564]

I am currently using Windows ME with 512 MB memory and an
Athlon 1 GHz processor. I use IE 6.0 browser. The system
frequently crashes or locks up and I'm wondering if
Windows XP has any better memory management than ME? Is
the upgrade worth it. Any concerns about upgrading?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[Mike Brearley]

XP is much better and a heck of a lot more stable than ME ever tried to be.
ME was just about the worst OS Microsoft ever put on the market.

It would definately be worth the upgrade.

--
Posted 'as is'. If there are any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, they
were a direct result of my fingers and brain not being synchronized or my
lack of caffeine.

Mike Brearley

 

[Eric Lange]

Thanks Mike....
Any concerns about the upgrade?

XP is much better and a heck of a lot more stable than ME ever tried to be.
ME was just about the worst OS Microsoft ever put on the market.

It would definately be worth the upgrade.

--
Posted 'as is'. If there are any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, they
were a direct result of my fingers and brain not being synchronized or my
lack of caffeine.

Mike Brearley

 

[Mike Brearley]

I've never done an in-place upgrade of any OS to another except in testing.
I always prefer to backup the system and do a clean install. You can use
the upgrade CD to do a clean install, it'll just ask for the qualifying CD,
which has to be a retail or OEM CD, it can't be a restore CD.

Some have had success doing an upgrade to XP, others have had major
problems. I guess the best thing to suggest would be to try the upgrade, if
you seem to be having to many problems, format and do a clean install.
Either way, I'd make sure to have a backup of your system first, just in
case.

--
Posted 'as is'. If there are any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, they
were a direct result of my fingers and brain not being synchronized or my
lack of caffeine.

Mike Brearley

 

[cimex]

Keep in mind that if your system is locking up for reasons of defective
hardware, XP will make the situation worse, as it is more demanding of
system resources than ME.

 

[Mike Brearley]

Also note that ME locks up frequently just for the h*ll of it.

--
Posted 'as is'. If there are any spelling and/or grammar mistakes, they
were a direct result of my fingers and brain not being synchronized or my
lack of caffeine.

Mike Brearley

 

[Ron Martell]

Thanks Mike....
Any concerns about the upgrade?

I agree with Mike - try the upgrade first and if that has problems
then go for the clean install.

Before doing the upgrade read former MVP Gary Woodruff's article on
upgrading to XP at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

And if you do decide on the clean install option then you should use
the Files and Settings transfer wizard from XP to save your WindowsMe
data files and configuration settings to another hard drive partition,
a network drive, or a backup device (e.g. CDRW). Gary also has an
article on using FASTW which is at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm


p.s. I personally have upgraded from WindowsMe to XP numerous times
without problems as I was running WindowsMe during the beta testing of
XP and I installed each new beta version as an upgrade of a copy of my
WindowsMe partition. My current system is XP Pro upgraded from XP
Home upgraded from WindowsMe (upgraded from 98SE upgraded from 98
upgraded from 95B upgraded from 95 upgraded from 3.11). It works just
fine with no errors and takes less than a minute to boot.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Alex Nichol]

I am currently using Windows ME with 512 MB memory and an
Athlon 1 GHz processor. I use IE 6.0 browser. The system
frequently crashes or locks up and I'm wondering if
Windows XP has any better memory management than ME? Is
the upgrade worth it. Any concerns about upgrading?

It is a much more stable central kernel - being derived from the NT
family, which was a later design and which was not required to
compromise by letting old applications bypass system constraints. The
memory management is better, but another important point is that it is
*not* subject to the constraints of the 16 bit 'resources (heaps) in the
9x systems. Aspects of system that were 'tried out' in ME, notably
System Restore, work much better

Provided you have adequate hardware - each generation of WIndows has
needed more RAM, and the 'recommended' 128MB for XP is *not* enough,
then the upgrade is worth while. An upgrade over ME replaces almost all
systems matters (it may though keep a few old drivers where there is no
native XP one available -t his often is easier than trying to install th
old drivers on a clean XP. You should remove any Antivirus, system
utility suites such as Norton, and CD burning software first - install
new XP compatible ones after. And Read Gary Woodruff's article on
upgrading to XP at http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm