Hi all. I am pretty unhappy with the ME OS I was talked into buying for my PC, and have heard that 98 is very good for gaming.

Can anyone explain why and if this is true, which version of 98?

Thanks for your replies.

Dave.

Re: Windows ME or 98?

Windows ME had a iffy reputation when it first came out - iffy in the sense that it wasn't a huge 'improvement' to the previous version W98 and there was reports of lots of bugs plus compatibility and instability issues. I had ME for only a short while and after encountering numerous problemos, I decided to go with W2K Pro and I didn't regret that decision.

There aren't many fans of ME.

W98SE where SE stands for Second Edition - the preferred version of W98. Maybe you can pick up W98SE second-hand.

Windows XP is probably the way to go, though. W98SE is showing its age and MS - if it hasn't already - is going to stop supporting it soon (by the way of updates). Furthermore, XP is better support for the latest games.

XP did have issues when it was first released but over time things have ironed out and it is future-proof at the moment whereas W98 is on its way out.

Re: Windows ME or 98?

Hi

Well it's true that ME was a disaster for everyone so if you're looking for a new OS there are two options.

The first option that I would recommend to anyone would be Windows XP. However if your sub- 1Ghz then games may run a little more sluggish than on 98. Otherwise, I have had no major problems with XP and have nothing bad to say about it.

If you do run under 1Ghz then Windows 98 SE would be a good choice for gaming as well as general use. With general use you'll probably see less BSOD's (blue screens of death) than when you were running ME. So yes I would say that it is true windows 98 SE is good for gaming. My guess would be that it has a more finished off system overall. I get the feeling with ME that it was rushed for a variety of reasons.

So overall, if you are running under 1Ghz then go for 98 SE for the stability and speed of this OS. However if you are above 1Ghz, go for XP. XP just looks a whole lot better, and has excellent stability. I run my XP computer at 90% load on all different tasks for weeks at a time and rarely have a crash.

Hope this has helped,
Nick