System Metrix problem..

If your box will take another chip,,put it in.RAM iz sooo cheap and it will make a huge difference.

Hmm sorry to say that, but first get rid of WindowsME... That is the crappiest OS Microsoft ever made IMHO. I never ever experienced any machine not crashing with this sooner or later... And more RAM of course helps, but I fear it will not help much with the crappy memory management you have at the moment because of the OS installed.

Well,

ME is just like Win98. And to be honest with you its not as bad as many people think.

I have all my machines running ME and they hardly ever crash. To give you a range of my hardware.

1.2Ghz (133Mhz FSB) AMD Duron (Development Machine) VB5, C++, PowerBasic 512MB Ram 80Gig HD)

800 MHz Atholon (Multimedia & Gaming Machine) (333 Mhz FSB) 256 MB Ram. (40 Gig HD)

600Mhz Penium III (Laptop) Win Customized. 128Mb Ram.

I never had a problem with ME. I've been setting up computers for years and I have a Windows setup method that has proven stable.

Check it out and tell me what u think.

C: 2Gig (MAX)
D: 500 - 800MB (Swap Area)
E: Any Size (Programs)
F: Any Size (Data/Work)

By redirecting the swap file to a partition of its own, you eliminate the need for constant defragging. Also, keeping the C: to under 2Gig makes defrag time quick. (My OS barely takes up 500MB)

After the OS comes up, I quickly turn of Auto Update. Turn Off System Restore. And make All Recycle Bins delete the file. (Recycle Bin & Windows Explorer use the _RESTORE directory) I have a decent Windows Explorer replacement application, but I can live with the default one.

In anycase, I've been online with this laptop (without System Metrix running) and haven't experience 1 error. So, I can't see why people are soo anti-WinME. Its just like Win98.

Thanks for the advice.. And if you are considering rebuilding your machine, think about that setup design.. ^

Okay, obviously You know, what You are doing. But I am stuck with 2k or XP. Simply better experiences.

exploreRPG...
'IF' you tie up an OS in cotton-wool you can make it less prone to falling over, but the moment you start spreading your wings with wild customizing, changing shells, adding functionality, displaying resource monitors...that sort of thing, you'll eventually trip something up.

There IS no doubt about it, ME is/was the least 'successful' OS that MS subjected the public with. Its default configuration and/or driver issues made it the one-most-likely to crash and burn.
In comparison, its 'NT' contemporary, Win2K was verging on bullet-proof [though it fell over quite reliably for me on a daily basis]...'most' users found it solid as a rock.
Since then, XP has made all previous pale into insignificance.
Just the other day, I looked in awe at a BSOD....I'd forgotten what they looked like. {again I was doing things I shouldn't].
When messing with Alphas and Betas of OS Shells, etc you expect the odd drama or two, but XP is tough enough to handle [nearly] all that I try to strangle it with...

I've seen computer shops fail to get an install of ME to 'happen', give up, and go back to 98se.

'ME' is just MS's way of spelling 'DUD'...

Hey..

I'm not here to argue about which OS is best. I use Win2K at work and it is very stable. I use ME because the Plug & Play features haev run flawless for me.. (You do realize its just 98se with some multi-media stuff.)

On 2K & XP..

They are both very nice OS's but they are primarily for business use. The design handle games very well, and XP has a horde of driver compatibility problems. Microsoft released XP without drivers from 3Com..(initially) - I personally am not following Microsoft on this OS joyride.. The system requirements are entirely tooo high just to run an operating system. And the .Net platform spells trouble all across the internet.

The main problem with ME is the security..but I'm not here to talk about OS specifics.. Nobody answered any of my questions.

1. How do you hide the default StartBar?

2. On System Metrix..(I installed a cache manager which seems to make all the difference in the world.) I'll try it again, but more RAM is on the list of goodies..

1) Kill explorer, it will vanish... Really though a question like this is best researched over at Virtual Plastic:

http://www.virtualplastic.net/

2) I have never heard of Sysmetrix using a great deal of memory, but like anything it is most likely theme dependent. Use a heavy theme and it will drag more than a lighter one will. As previously mentioned 98 / ME are terrible at handling memory or resources which is also most likely the problem.

ME is just 98 looking like Elvis at the end...'past it'.
The 98 / ME architecture cannot manage ram well and any minor glitches are likely to take down the entire deck of cards.
XP hums along, oblivious of the excesses of cheap ram available for it...processes are protected, so 'IF' a problem arises, you just get a quaint message informing you that Iexplore.exe wishes to close...and normally you just ignore it and keep going...but if you do kill the process, you just simply re-open it and yer back in action.

As for drivers....the only one I cannot find is for an ancient TV tuner card...I need to use an 'equivalent' Win2000 one for a similar card...but it works fine in Explorer...just a bit iffy in LiteSTEP...

I see... Well, I'm sticking with my ME. A simple cache manager can fix any Windows memory problems.. I have one running now and it makes all the difference in the world.

It's done that to me as well on ME. And I have 512 DDR 266 feeding a 1400 AthlonXP. There is NO reason for ANY memory problems on my machine, and yet it's happened to me as well.

I think SysMetrix isn't FULLY compatible with the GUI handling on WinME. I also run Win2k on another partition, and have NEVER had it so much as blink funny. Same with XP -- so I suspect that it's a fault in WinME somewhere.

Here's another example.

There's a neat little program called Rainlendar. In the spirit of SysMetrix, but it's strictly a skinnable calendar.

Try running WB, OB, SysMetrix and Rainlendar at the same time. VERY soon, WinME wigs out and either crashes or becomes unstable.

I have yet to specifically nail down WHY, but I suspect that it's one of WinME's many brick walls....

And this happens on 98 as well.

ME = My Enemy
My wife uses ME, that is when it's not locking up or crashing (she uses no skinning software, no frills, ugly, ugly, plain windows).......... she hates it, yet refuses to do anything about it.