I had a neighbor give me a computer I'm trying to get get working for my folks, problem is, the hard drive is kaput. It's a gateway that came with Win ME. I've got an extra hard drive that I put in but the neigbor swears that gateway did'nt give her a ME disk with the system. Is ME like XP where the system software is on a partion of the hard drive? If so what's my chances of getting a copy from gateway for free or should I just purchase XP for the new drive. I've never used ME and from what I understand its' probably better that I have'nt. Suggestions anyone"?

Johny,
Gateway probably sent them something called a Recovery Disk. This has the OS, drivers, etc. on it so that it will load (almost) automatically. Regardless, if you've read any of my other posts on the subject STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS ME!!! For the record, Win ME does not do a web-based registration the way XP does, so you could load it on a number of machines (but why would you want to??). For XP, Microsoft recommends a minimum 300 mHz PC/128 MB RAM. I wouldn't load XP on anything under about a 500 (it will still be a dog, 750 would be a better choice, and the more RAM, the better). Check the peripherals for XP compatability (modem, sound card, etc.). The drivers on the Gateway recovery disk probably won't work under XP. Any other questions, let me know.

Thanks again Rover, I spoke with gateway last night as well and they did say the unit was shipped with a recovery CD. I'll get the neighbor to look around some more. All my folks want to do with the machine is basically check e-mail so maybe ME will do fine for that if she can find the CD. Thanks

Something you may want to consider...
If you have a Windows 98 cd around, I'd reccomend using that way before I'd use ME.
Support for ME is gone, but 98 will still be supported for a little while. ME will definately work, but 98 is better.

You can get upgrades for WinXP for about $90. It will save you the headache of system problems, plus it is a bit more user friendly than ME and driver support is much better, not to mention security.

xp better security. Im not one to knock microsoft since I am a MCSE but if it were not for all my phonesystem programming software i would be running linux on my laptop.

Slim,

I would have to disagree. While linux has its place in the industry, mainly server applications, I can't understand why anyone would want to run it on a desktop or laptop. I put Red Hat pro on an older machine just to see what is was like. Sorry, but I wasn't impressed. Yes, you can argue about being more stable and secure, but it is definately not as user friendly as say XP, and of course, it has limited software, as we both know. Personally, I can't remember the last time I had any issues with my Win2000 and XP machines, other than a hardware issue. Anyway, this should be interesting to see where this thread goes. I have seen this discussion in places like Extremetech forum. They are down right religious when it comes to Linux, which is somewhat misleading. I think most people, of course not all, use linux because it is the anti-microsoft, and not because it works wonders for them. I don't embrace some of the business tactics that Bill Gates & Co. use, but there is a reason 90% of the computers use a Microsoft OS. They work better for the majority of computer users than any other product out there. I am in the same boat you are when it comes to needing a PC platform for system software, otherwise, if I were just doing email and surfing the web, I think I would lean more towards MAC than Linux.

Z-MAN

I see where you are comming from. Since most of the world uses microsoft thats why I chose to get my MCSE, havent really had much experience with the mac os but everyone has their own prefs. I am not one to go and tell anyone what they should be using, I am just a very open person and I speak my ideas. As for seeing where this thread goes, looks like you and I are the only ones commenting anymore. Thanks for the reply

I guess my biggest grip with linux is it is somewhat maintenance intense compared to windows. It seems like I would need to learn a whole new OS to make it work right and like everyone else, I just don't have the time. It does have a cool GUI. Windows could use a little bit more customization. I use opera alot to surf the web and I like to customize the skins for it. Too bad microsoft doesn't allow us to do that.