So you've made the plunge and purchased a brand new computer, brought it
home, set it up, and found that the touted "Win ME" O/S that it came with
was not all you bargained for. Although Microsoft marketed it as the next
logical extension in the Win 95 to 98 chain, Win ME is actually a bit
different, and requires adapting to some new constrictions and
'protections'. While meant to enhance system reliability, these
constrictions and 'protections' can be quite frustrating especially to
those users who are accustomed to digging a little "under the hood."
Well, before you sink completely into a slough of despond, take a look at
some of the tricks that come with this New Kid on the Block. Not all is
lost. When necessary, the constrictions of Win ME can be "worked around" so
that the system will yield itself to any necessary modifications for most
users' needs.
Lets take a 'for instance'. You will find that many folders in Windows ME
are set to default to hidden view. This is true, for example, in the
Windows/System folder. Win ME is trying to be helpful by warning you to "be
careful if you modify the contents of this folder". For the most part, it
is a good reminder before proceeding further. And it is easy to click by
this warning and move ahead to whatever folder or file one wishes to
access. However, at a certain point you will actually reach some bonafide
barriers in Win ME and these walls can present some real hurdles. Here's
one: some of the file permissions are set in such a way that you can no
longer have the flexibility you had in the Win 9.x world.
I ran into this unfortunate discovery after re-installating MS Access 97 on
Windows ME. I had run into a nasty bug that prevented me from launching
Access. Access persisted in claiming that I did not have a registered copy
of MS Access97 on the machine, even though I was perfectly 'legal', and had
entered a S/N and Product Code when beginning installation. A quick visit
to the Microsoft Knowledge Base informed me that this was a 'bug' in
Access97 re-installs and that the fix for it was to rename a certain font
in the Windows/System Directory, re-install Access97, and then re-store the
font back to its original name. Well.... I soon found out that Win ME
simply would not allow me to rename fonts. ACH! What to do? Well, there was
a workaround, and not a bad one at that: I discovered that although I could
not rename it, I COULD delete or move that font, and this is what I did. I
temporarily moved it to a remote folder on my system, did the re-install
and then put it back. It worked fine: the bug was fixed.
At the time, I fumed at Microsoft for such a strict system of file
permissions, but in retrospect the logic does make sense, and here's why:
You really don't want to re-name a font. It is one of those elements that
actually needs its name for identification purposes. So I do agree with
Microsoft's constriction in this case. And as discovered, there was an
adequate work-around when necessary.
Perhaps one of the worst aspects of using the "latest and greatest" is that
one finds oneself taking on the role of guinea pig in regards to bugs,
fixes and glitches. Even worse, one feels like an involuntary Technology
Pioneer -- forging into an as-of-yet-uncharted territory. It can really be
a help to find groups of users grappling with and solving similar problems
and bugs. As of yet, there appear to be no lists of boards dedicated to Win
ME users, but a post to the following news groups - comp-os.ms.windows (and
their subgroups) will yield postings from savvy Win ME users:
On the benefit side: those "persnickety" Win ME default settings are truly
safer and therefore allow for some healthy doublechecking before attempting
certain things. And for tech support people, Win ME allows the for some of
the rock solid file protection of NT and 200o without the complicated
infrastructure of NTFS.
Win ME has many more helps and hints for the novice users -- helps and
hints that the experts can easily pass over. In comparision to the Win
NT-2000 alternative, I do recommend Win ME for almost everyone. It is
enough like Win 98 to make the transition pretty easy.
