The single biggest change in Windows Me is one you might not notice at first. Microsoft has eliminated the option to boot directly to an MS-DOS prompt or to run programs in MS-DOS mode. Many older DOS programs will still work when run under Windows. But any program that expects to be able to switch into MS-DOS mode will fail. The screens below show the old and the new at work.

Windows 95/98

Under Windows 95/98, right-click on any DOS program icon and
choose Properties. Then click the Advanced button...
 

...which gives you access to these MS-DOS Mode settings. You can
even configure separate startup files for each DOS program.
 

Windows Me

Because Windows Me doesn't process DOS startup files, you should be able to get to work (or play) faster. With Windows Me, computers that support the new FastBoot standard will be able to go from power on to the Windows desktop in as little as 10 seconds. So what happens to your startup files? If you make changes to Config.sys or Autoexec.bat, Windows detects them when you start up and automatically add them to the Registry.

The System Configuration Utility in Windows Me makes it easier to manage startup options, too. These old and new screens show the difference.

Windows 95/98

The System Configuration Utility is an incredibly useful troubleshooting tool.
In Windows 98, it lets you track down and fix startup problems.
 

Windows Me

What's the single most annoying new feature in Windows Me? The Personalized Menus option is probably the winner of this dubious achievement award. On the Start menu and the Favorites menu, Windows keeps track of the choices you use most often and hides the menu choices you use less frequently. The feature can be confusing to some users, who will wonder why their program shortcuts suddenly vanished. Fortunately, the feature is easy to disable.

Short ("Personalized") Menus

The double arrow at the bottom of this menu means some choices
are hidden. Click to display the entire menu.
 

Full Menus

When the full menu is visible, you can see the choices that were
previously hidden; note the difference in appearance for these choices.
 

Disabling This Feature

Microsoft completely replaced the old Windows Help system with a new Millennium Edition model that uses only HTML. The new interface makes it easier to find information on Microsoft's Web site. Surprisingly, it's also filled with more useful instructions, such as the Home Networking explanations shown here.

A key part of the Windows Me Help system is its extensive collection of Troubleshooters. These well-organized utilities are easy to reach from the Help menu, and they walk you step-by-step through potential problems in search of a solution. The advice included with each step is excellent.

Have you struggled trying to set up a home network with previous Windows versions? The Home Networking Wizard in Windows Me should eliminate all the hassle. After you install the network hardware and plug all the cables in the right places, double-click the Wizard's icon in the My Network Places folder. You answer a handful of questions, and the Wizard sets up the proper components (including Internet Connection Sharing) so that all your PCs can communicate correctly. And if the other computers on your network aren't running Windows Me, no problem--the Wizard creates a setup floppy disk you can use on the other machines.

In Windows Me, the old Network Neighborhood folder is gone for good. In its place is the new My Network Places folder. It's not just a name change, either. This new system folder includes shortcuts to every shared folder on your network (so you don't have to keep double-clicking on icons until you find the right one). Use the Add Network Place icon to quickly create a shortcut to a shared folder, a Web server, or any other network resource. And of course, this is the starting point for the Home Networking Wizard.

If Windows Me has a killer feature, this is it. The System Restore utility runs constantly in the background, saving your Windows settings at regular intervals. If you install a new device driver or software program and start experiencing Windows problems, you can "roll back" all your system settings to one of the configurations you saved before the problems began occurring. If you've ever struggled for days or weeks to recover from a crash or figure out why Windows is moving like molasses, you'll realize that System Restore is the best thing that ever happened to Windows.

Easy Interface

The System Restore interface is easy enough that even a novice
can use it. Instructions are written in plain English.
 

Choose a Task

You won't be overwhelmed with options when you use System Restore. These three choices cover everything you need.
 

Roll Back Changes

In every previous version of Windows, what you see on the Explorer toolbars is what you get. In Windows Me (just as in Windows 2000), these toolbars are finally fully customizable. You can change the size of icons, decide whether and where text labels appear, and add or remove buttons for common tasks. For more file management power, click the Folders button to show or hide the drives and folders in the Explorer tree.

One of the most exasperating chores any Windows user faces is trying to control which program opens when you double-click a specific file type. In Windows 95/98, the New File Types dialog box practically takes an engineering degree to navigate. Windows Me completely reorganizes this dialog box, making your choices easier. As a bonus, you can also change the association between a program and its file type by right-clicking on the file itself and using its Properties dialog box.

Windows 95/98

In Windows 98, the Properties dialog box tells you the file type,
but that's all. You can't change the associated program here.
 

Knowing the file extension won't do you any good with this dialog
box; and you need an advanced degree to change these settings.
 

Windows Me

Windows Me adds the name of the associated program and a
Change button to the Properties dialog box for each file.
 

If you have a digital camera, a scanner, or just a large collection of digital photos, you'll appreciate the new My Pictures folder in Windows Me. When you store your images in this system folder, you automatically see them in thumbnail view, with information about the selected photo along the left side of the window. The small preview pane in the lower left corner gives you a better look at the selected image, and the buttons in this window let you preview an image, send it to the printer, or see the entire contents of the folder as a slide show.

Do you have a digital camera? If it's compatible with the new Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) feature in Windows Me, you're in luck. The new operating system does an excellent job of managing digital images captured by a camera. You don't need to install any special software--just plug in your camera to a USB port and wait for the Camera and Scanner Wizard to run. You can view all the images in the camera's memory, copy them to your hard disk (into the My Pictures folder, of course), and then delete them from the camera. The new feature is practically idiot-proof. Experts beware, however: If your camera already has its own software, the WIA features may override your current software, and you could end up with fewer features than before.

Use the Wizard

The Scanner and Camera Wizard walks you through the process of copying pictures to your PC.
 

Why is Movie Maker a part of Windows Me? Because Apple's iMacs have home-focused video editing software, that's why, and Microsoft's marketers had to make sure this feature was on the checklist for the brand-new Windows. Today, only a small percentage of PCs have the high-speed ports it takes to connect a video camera to the PC, but that number is certain to go up in the next few years. Movie Maker looks great, although it runs out of editing power pretty quickly as you advance from neophyte to hobbyist to Oscar-nominated director. Its strong suit is compressing video files to sizes small enough to send via email or post on a personal Web site.

It's big. It has more buttons than the dashboard of a '59 Cadillac. And it makes a lot of noise. Windows Media Player 7 is an optional upgrade for earlier Windows versions, but it's a mandatory part of Windows Me. It combines the streaming audio and video capabilities of its predecessor with CD and digital music playback capabilities. Its coolest feature? A tuner that can pull in radio stations from anywhere in the world. Media Player does it all, and you can't beat the price; but if you're picky about music, you'll look elsewhere for a more powerful player. (For a full review of Media Player, see Is Windows Media Player 7 Good Enough for You?.)

The full Media Player window is incredibly cluttered, with buttons, lists, and hokey "visualizations."
 

Looking for a friendly game of backgammon? Or Hearts, Spades, or Checkers, for that matter? Windows Me still has the classic Solitaire and Minesweeper games, but it adds an extra dimension to gaming with a collection of Internet-enabled games. You can find an opponent anywhere in the world, any time of the day or night. Other great gaming features in Windows Me include support for DirectX 7 and the ability to add Voice Chat to favorite multiplayer games.