Product Reviews

With the hornet's nest of lawyers and litigation that is currently swarming around Microsoft, you could be forgiven for thinking that the software giant has more pressing things on its mind than launching new products. But Bill Gates has stated that it's business as usual, and he appears to be a man of his word. We're about to get yet another Windows.

A year ago, Microsoft had two distinct ranges of Windows operating systems: Windows NT, aimed at corporate users, and plain Windows for home and small business users. In February, NT was upgraded to Windows 2000, which (confusingly) made it sound like a new version of plain Windows 98. It wasn't. While Windows 2000 was an important - perhaps crucial - upgrade for business Windows NT users, it's not at all suitable for most home users. When we reviewed Windows 2000 in May, we advised you to stick with Windows 98 until Windows Me came out.

That day has now arrived. Windows Me is being released on 14 September, and now we have the final version of it in our hands, we can put Microsoft's claims to the test. Is it really easier to use? What new features are there? Will your existing Windows 98 software and drivers work with Windows Me? Read on and we'll tell you if now is the time to step into the brave new world of Windows Me.

A new look

If you're a long-serving Windows 95/98 user and you upgrade to Windows Me, you'll see a product with quite a different face.

The changes in Windows Me appear as soon as the folders slide out, when you click Start and select entries from the menus. These are now the personalised menus first introduced in Office 2000 and then added to Windows 2000. They remember your favourite applications and hide ones you never use.

There's a new-look My Computer, which tucks away entries such as Dial-up Networking and relegates Printers to the Control Panel. The default view for the hard drive gives little information. There are no file icons, though there is a link to My Documents, and you can choose to show the entire contents of the disk if you wish.

New features

It's fair to say that Me could have been more honestly titled Windows 98 Third Edition. However, Microsoft has added plenty of fixes and enhancements, as well as a swathe of accessories such as an automated video editor. There's also a wizard to manage scanners and still-image cameras, and a media jukebox/recorder with support for 'skins'. Adding a skin to an application is a way of making it look funky, and allowing you scope for a bit of personalisation.

The new Windows Movie Maker can record video from an attached camera, or import existing files and divide the video into clips for editing - much like high-end video-editing software. Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) offers a wizard interface that can, with a WIA-compatible camera, preview and manage pictures without downloading them. It runs automatically when a camera is plugged into the USB port.

The new Windows Media Player 7 acts as a web radio tuner, a jukebox, and a file-transfer utility to copy and compress audio files to portable MP3 players and Windows CE devices.

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Be warned, though: it uses the Microsoft format, not MP3, for compression.

As part of the improvements to Internet access there's a new version 5.5 of Internet Explorer which offers better performance, searching and print previews. IE 5.5 is accompanied by Outlook Express 5.5 and NetMeeting 3.1, but you can also get all of these off this month's cover disc. Windows Me includes several new games, and five of them (Backgammon, Checkers, Hearts, Reversi and Spades) can be played online with other users, via the MSN Gaming Zone.

Technical stuff

Many of the most worthwhile changes are aimed at making your system more reliable. PC Health features operate in the background. The System Restore component backs up crucial system files when your computer is idle, taking a snapshot of the system state every 10 hours of processing time, or on demand using the wizard. If the system stops working, you can reboot in Safe Mode and run the wizard to restore a previously saved system state. Lost documents and e-mails won't be recovered, but damaged system files will be replaced with working copies. System File Protection prevents applications from overwriting crucial .Dll files with older or non-standard versions. You can also choose the new AutoUpdate feature that downloads newer versions of system files in the background, and then prompts you to activate them.

The Help and Support features provide browser-style help, access to trouble shooters and access to various tools such as System Information and System Restore.

Microsoft has removed the option to restart or boot to the MS-DOS Prompt, forcing you to run DOS applications in DOS windows. This could cause problems with applications and device setup that require real DOS, but you do have the option of booting to DOS with the emergency restart disk.

Home networking is also made a lot easier with Windows Me. The Home Networking Wizard sets up and customises file and printer sharing for the Windows Me PC network. It then offers to create a disk to install the Windows Me network software on other PCs on the same network, even if they are only running Windows 95 or 98. It even allows you to set up Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), so that all your PCs on the network can share a single dial-up or broadband connection. New network features behind the scenes include support for Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play specification, which lets Windows communicate with devices such as refrigerators and wearable computers.

Perhaps the least well-considered new feature in Windows Me is the redesigned Control Panel. This has a fixed selection of entries that cannot be varied. For most users, it'll be necessary to expand the list to find the option needed, so the abbreviated list is more an irritation than a benefit. This could have been a useful feature, if Microsoft had gone one step further and made the subset adjustable.

Is Windows Me the one for me?

Are there enough new features and benefits included in Windows Me to make it worth upgrading? If you're using Windows 95 or the first version of Windows 98, and you have the RAM, hard disk space and processing power, then go for it. If you want support for a new digital device such as a digital camera, ME also offers clear benefits. If you're a new user, Windows Me is definitely easier to get to grips with than Windows 98. Anyone buying a new PC should also choose a model that's supplied with the new operating system ready-installed.

However, if you're already using Windows 98 Second Edition, or if you make a habit of downloading Windows updates from the Microsoft web site, you'll need more than the Windows Me pretty face to persuade you to upgrade.