Windows Me

Windows Me, also known as Windows Millennium, had three betas -- the first two released in 1999 (both containing the Windows 98 startup sound), and the third on April 11, 2000. The finished product was confirmed on June 8, 2000 as "4.90.3000".

Windows Me was priced at $209.99, while the upgrade version cost $100 less. Like Windows 98 Second Edition at first, Windows Me was also negatively criticized by many PC users, and the software was discontinued before the release of Windows XP.

On January 6, 2006, Microsoft Corporation announced that both editions of Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows XP Service Pack 1 were to be unsupported as of July 11, 2006, in compliance with the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.

What's new in Windows Me

 * The Logon screen is different compared to Windows 98 and 2000 Professional:
 * If you look in the My Documents folder, you'll get three subfolders: My Music, My Pictures and My Videos, which also appear in later versions of Windows.
 * Windows Me is the last version to only support FAT32.
 * The Display Properties are the same as before, and it has the same Taskbar Properties as Windows 2000 Professional.
 * The Control Panel has a new look.
 * Windows Me is the only Windows 9x operating system to include Dial-Up Networking, which is mostly designed for NT computers.
 * This operating system has MS-DOS 8.0, the last version for DOS. Because of this, I would recommend running older CD-ROM games (those designed for Windows 3.1 and 95, for example) on this operating system. Some also require 256 colors and a maximum resolution of 800x600 pixels, which are both available on Windows Me.
 * The Calculator, Notepad, Paint, and WordPad are all the same as Windows 98. However, Windows Me includes more games -- Spider Solitaire, and some Internet games.
 * Unlike Windows 2000, Windows Me does not have Narrator or Utility Manager in the Accessibility section.
 * Included with Windows Me is Windows Media Player 7, a more modern-looking version of the player. Here, you can now play CD Audio Tracks, in addition to all the formats that Version 6.4 can handle.
 * The very first version of Windows Movie Maker is also included. However, it is mostly used for extracting video files.
 * The System Tools are different too. Drive Converter, which can be found on Windows 98, is removed from Windows Me. It is replaced by System Restore.
 * The last thing is Internet Explorer 5.5, originally released for older operating systems on July 12, 2000. The Standard Buttons look different here, compared to the original Internet Explorer 5. In the Internet Options, the Content tab would exclude the Wallet button, and the Advanced settings do different things. Internet Explorer 5.5 comes with Macromedia Flash 4 and Outlook Express 5.5. In the Tools tab, you'll see a new section -- MSN Messenger Service.
 * While shutting down, you'll just see the wallpaper disappear and when the shutdown process is complete, you'll see a blank screen saying "It's now safe to turn off your computer," which was used on all other Windows 9x operating systems.

Websites

 * [//www.microsoft.com/windowsme http://www.microsoft.com/windowsme] (2000–June 2007)