Let's hear from WinME/Compaq *fans* for a change

[mogramjo]

Among the many who 'flame'/'trash talk' about us supposed lamoids who still use and are happy with WinME and/or Compaq, I do wonder how many ACTUALLy ever used it? Same with Compaq..reality check, anyone? And don't forget "Garbage In, Garbage out"

A.K.A=G.I.G.O.I'm feeling like giving some backlash, and as such, only a tiny defense against a sea of bad opinions.

I debated about posting, but I think it's past time to feel intimidated by users that have gaming and photo editing as hobbies which I don't. Then there's the 'Boys and their toys' which is interesting and fun to read about, but not always relevant.

I don't pretend to know everything...but what works, I don't fix. Still, I'm interested in what others find good and bad in newer OS's and hardware.

I've not had even *one* problem related to either my OS or my computer in over 7 years.

(Now, my internet connection problems? that's a different story, and I share those problems and whatever help I find with anyone as well as find tons of help for that here in TMN)

So, I got that off my chest Happy Holidays all y'all. See you 'round the forum.  'mo'

[resopalrabotnick]

compaqs are just like any other computer.

but windows me imo is the worst windows release to date.

[Swimmer]

Good old compaq pre HP... I has a AMD k6-2 500mhz with windows 98se.  At the time the top of the line was some where around 2.0ghz??  It was one of those deal from circuit city in the weekend newspapers. 

The only really big complaint was that everything was custom built for Compaq.  It was difficult to upgrade anything in that PC.  I put my first dedicated graphic card into it, 64mb ATI Radeon SDRAM.  At the time it was a beast and could out perform my buddies Intel P3 700.

Then ME came out.  I remember going to a friends house to check out his new computer, happened to be a Compaq 7000 series, one with the colored plastic stuff on the case.  I think it was a whopping 1.0Ghz or so..  He was trying to show off Flight simulator 2000, it was, and it just crashing.  Followed by the entire system crashing.  It was a really sweet demo of what ME was all about.  I also remember when he unplugged his joystick the system crashed because of a USB fault that ended up crashing the system.

So.. that is my recall of Compaq and Windows ME.  The OS that was built to take advantage of the millennium.  Shortly after that I think Micro$oft was coined.

Looking forward I am not really excited about what is coming from the Microsoft camp.  It just seems that they are constantly catching up with the rest of the industry.  For example IE 7..  That is the answer to Firefox.  Which I might remind everyone that FF 3.0 beta is already out for testing and is scheduled to be released in 2007.  There, for me, is nothing exciting about IE 7.0.

As far as entire operating systems go.. Again not that impressed by Vista.  Vista was a bunch of promises that put development behind schedule and then, everything that I was looking forward to, was pulled off the project to make sure that it would be released sometime within the next 2 years.  The new interface, Aero, is a direct response to Apple and their OS X.  Which might be the best looking OS that I have seen in a while. 

That is all that I have for now...  Now that I am fairly depressed about Microsoft I am off to another topic. 

[mogramjo]

I haven't been 'impressed' with much else that I've seen from Windows either...I don't have any complaints about my elderly Compaq 5000 series Presario, nor about WinME. *If* I were into games, flight-simulation,photo-editing,film-editing or any really demanding computing...I'd see to it I had the hardware and software that works...that's the bottom line...THIS works for me. With NO problems, knock plywood. I guess having run main-frame computers for nearly 20 years when it wasn't the exception to have 250 savings and loan banks online/real-time over a 5 state area of dedicated lines...has colored my judgement as to just what good ARE personal computers, period..heehee

[disturbed]

one of my old computers.....old compaq 400mhz i believe.....slow as @#$%, got even slower when I upgraded to win ME - .....thank god I did not pay for it, since I got it from my friend when he did not need it.......the old compaq was all right for its day, but win me.......I have to say, was terrible.......I have never experienced so many frequent lock ups/bsods as I did with that o/s.......simply not good

[coknuck]

I had an old Compaq 5170 (350MHz) with Win98SE and it ran circles around my friends Compaq 700MHz computer with Windows ME.

[ghostmaster]

We used to have a computer lab with 120 Compaq P400 models.  We had 2 other labs with 40 and 28 of them respectively.  They were complete pieces of crap, and almost every one of them had at least 1 part with a "refurbished" label on them.  They were big, heavy, ran very hot, and were dust traps. 

I don't know how compaq is now, so I won't say anything about their current status.

[Ryan314]

Our first family computer was a compaq, horrible pc. And it made it even worse with ME. Always locked up and crashed... ran hot etc.

Not a fan of the old compaqs, not too sure how the new ones are.. but right now i have an hp and i love it. a810n is the model.

[mogramjo]

If all y'all are *fans*, I wonder what *disgruntled* users might say

Just call me "Lucky" So few problems here that I spend most of my time helping internet friends who're flummoxed by their 'new' everything. Gut instinct, we who are satisfied with what's working for us are glad to share good what we know to help others. If someone's struggling with poor speeds on dial-up we don't say:"Wow, ditch that dial-up!" If either money or availability of alternate connections are a problem. The response is appreciated, I suppose there are SOME reason(s) besides simple prejudice for such *hatred* of an OS. I've sat at many Windows boxes..95, 98, 98SE, XP both Home and Pro and *seen* Vista's GUI. Yawn! Hahaha. 

[amc11890]

ME is one of the worst os's ever created however compaq is still a good brand.  Im using a compaq now(although it is very customized_)

[mogramjo]

Hahaha...such 'compliments' WinME gets!!! I have 'customized' my 5000 Series Presario with just 3 things:

1. Gave it 512MB Ram-as much as Windows will recognize in this config. and plenty for my purposes.

2. Installed a CD-RW...the sales person who sold it to me said..'Oh yeah...has a CD burner..for sure!' (Well, had some software for one...which has gone unused)

3. Just recently an ethernet NIC to get my caps on Cox 12/1 tier.

Other than that and extremely good habits, I can't figure out why I should be so lucky.

[amc11890]

I changed everything in my compaq except for the mobo and cpu(the most important parts)

[tommie gorman]

mogramjo I am with you, if it ain't broke why fix it. A previous member cholla here had the same questions and answers as yourself. I think the only trouble he really had was BSOD, which I am not sure if he ever got it fixed. But like you he really liked it. So why not. If I were driving my old 1959 Rambler which got pretty decent milage and was butt ugly,  I would drive it at my age, not when I was young though. It soon got replaced. 

[Roco]

Win M.E.  gets my vote, I used it for 4 years , no BSOD,

I found that drivers and programs written for Win 98 gave some problems in the early days , and I still run M.E. on my Dell laptop,

I now run Xp pro. and find ASR it's main advantage,

Compaq , OK, in my book, a computer is either a tool or a toy,

a firm I worked for in 2004 was using Compaq with Win 95 with no problems, it did the job ,and was all they needed ,

BTW. whatever happend to Cholla ? I kinda miss his posts, especially the car topics, and his dial up help,   

     

[peepnklown]

It was difficult to upgrade anything in that PC.

I concur; this was the main problem with the Compaq line pre-HP.

Windows Me wasn

[mogramjo]

Good OnYa Roco! :evil6:I'd love to wait for yet a 3rd *fan* to post but I have to 2nd the emotion while I can.

In fact....my particular WinME/Compaq 5000 Series? *will* accept a 3rd stick of 256MB Ram, which is on it's way to me as I type this. I'm putting my $ where my typing is

I have had another Compaq product previous to this..a Win95-loaded Armada laptop. Honestly, it did *everything* I needed it for...until I broke it accidentally..duh hey on me! But a nod of thanks for the thumbs-up action re: WinME at least.

In appreciation for the positive feedback Roco, I'd like to send you some virtual Swedish Pancakes...or Norwegian Lefse, whichever you prefer! Happy New Year!

[Roco]

In appreciation for the positive feedback Roco, I'd like to send you some virtual Swedish Pancakes...or Norwegian Lefse, whichever you prefer! Happy New Year!

erh , thanks I think , but could you change the virtual "Lefse " for  real Swedish schnapps ,  that is great beat the winter blues  medicine ,

lol another 256Mb ram !, my first puter had a total of 8Mb ram  (Win 3.1 ) I upgraded to 16mB  and put win 95 on, I could cook my dinner while it booted 

so for me 700Mhz +128Mb ram +M.E. was bliss,  a lot of my frebie customers are on 98/M.E. with 56Kb dial up, it suits their needs , so why change,   

[mogramjo]

Ah...yes, my Win95 laptop also 'flew' with only 16MB Ram...honestly, I didn't see much meaninful difference in tasks I normally did after when I moved up to this thing...having 64MB to start...but 'everyone' said: "Get more Ram!" So, I got 2-256MB's and will go to 768MB as soon as UPS gets here. Not expecting too much oomph with that eithe!...I don't 'game' or do photo editing etc. so, not that much of a performance boost. I do run without a Vcache and no System Restore turned on either. Mainly because I've got good user backup of C: to D:  partition (done frequently) and my HD isn't all that large...still, after 7 years..I'm only using about 12% of my C: drive!!!

Here's the drinks for yer New Year's party Roco, Cheers!! _/

http://www.swedishbookreview.com/article-2003-s-thompsonl.asp

"Sweden and Alcohol"...on the house!!!

[Roco]

LOL , thanks,  no recipe for making it though  , Honestly the only drink that I saw the far side of the moon with  , and got up for work next day , fresh as a daisy , as we say in the UK,

Britain , has the worst alcohol abuse/ personal debt/ vandalism problem in Europe, our teenagers have just been voted the worst in Europe, sad times for Britain

Good news on the backup regime , and great to see you have a partitioned H/D . I have been preaching Backup/partition for years, and never seen a topic devoted to that on TMN, but many on help, I have lost my files/os 

I do some light photo stuff, but 500Mb would have been enough for that ,

my main puter , I built 3 years back is a humble 2.7 Ghz athlon with 1Gb ram ,

vid card 128Mb nvidia, and I run a old puter , not online just for storage of important files,

no plans to upgrade and run Vista, I only built this puter because I was given Xp as a present ,   

 

 

 

[mogramjo]

Re:"Good news on the backup regime , and great to see you have a partitioned H/D . I have been preaching Backup/partition for years, and never seen a topic devoted to that on TMN, but many on help, I have lost my files/os"

I can't take much credit for knowing a good thing when I've see it...Compaq included the software (proprietary 'drive-image' and the partitioning to do all the necessary stuff like, user-backup; user-restore & factory-restore...I'm *****ed should my partitioned HD crash totally, but until then...in like Flynn, as they say.     

[Roco]

, is Flynn like as in Errol ? yeah we have heard that rumor in the UK 

one hard drive has it's risks, I think I would have gone for a second H/D rather than the mem upgrade , but have you room in the box for a second drive ? they come cheap enough these days,  maybe you can find a S/H one for a few bucks ? 

My second puter for storage cost me $30 , I use a memory stick  to transfer files ,

the Compaq came partioned ? I give them credit for that, I got a call from a friend in need last week , with a new state of the art Dell

160GB hard drive not partitoned , and wrecked by norton go back,

I had to take the drive out to save inportant files 

gota go 3am  UK , nice talking to you

Regards Roco  UK

   

[mogramjo]

Nice talking with you too Roco..ta ta for now. I *do* have an identical HD as spare and there's a bay for it too. Have a good night/day

[Roco]

Nice talking with you too Roco..ta ta for now. I *do* have an identical HD as spare and there's a bay for it too. Have a good night/day

LOL , you must have known something I didn't 

I overslept a bit ( a lot ) and had a classic car in the workshop to remove the old underseal and apply new rustproofing a messy job, come 5pm I resembled Al Jolson doing mammy , 

I needed to eat , quick TV dinner , the phone rang , 

I was due at a dinner party , where are you ? , get hear fast , 

I never got the posted invite ,  1 shower + ! bath + 1 bottle of shampoo + bleach + 15 miles across London , I got there ,  , nearly fell asleep in the soup ,got back home at 3am ,the hostess said I looked tired , and I should take more care of myself  , no none of the guest are TMN members , so no sympathy there 

You have a spare HD ! why are you not using it ? I once re-Formated "C" and lost partition "D" in the process , I feel more secure with the inportant stuff saved on the second HD, and to RW CD,  guess I am a belt and braces type of guy 

 

[tommie gorman]

I prefer a good foundation (second HD) also Roco.

Sad story there.  Sounds like it turned out well though. I sometimes feel sorry for Brits losing their humor. Maybe you could sell them some.  I mean when stuff is funny, LAUGH damn it. 

[Roco]

I prefer a good foundation (second HD) also Roco.

Sad story there.  Sounds like it turned out well though. I sometimes feel sorry for Brits losing their humor. Maybe you could sell them some.  I mean when stuff is funny, LAUGH damn it. 

, yeah, not many 's in the UK , had to laugh at the dinner party, I was seated next to a Magistrate and on the other side a lawyer , The judge wanted the info on drugs ,  as I said I have only met you guys on motoring matter's the lawyer butted in saying he could have got me off those charges I left them arguing the points of law,  and partied  with their wives

it turned out ok, and good for business ,