Windows Millennium (aka Windows Me), Microsoft's new operating system for home users, is available this month at an upgrade price of about $90. Industry analysts are calling it a "minor" upgrade from Windows 98, and for good reason. Windows Me retains the crash-prone kernel of its predecessors (Win 98/95/3.x) rather than advancing to the more stable engine of Windows 2000, Microsoft's business OS. Microsoft says the next revision of consumer Windows, code-named Whistler, will adopt the Win 2K core, but won't be released until 2001 at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Windows 98 upgraders will have to be content with Windows Me, a $90 (street) package that offers a respectable selection of maintenance, entertainment, and Internet tools. What's it got? Me can automatically download Windows upgrades from the Net, offer much improved tools for playing and recording digital music, and even includes a utility for editing home movies on your PC.
Pretty cool stuff. But did you know that many of Windows Me's features are freely downloadable from the Net? You can't get all of Me's tools for free, but chances are you won't want everything the for-cost upgrade offers anyway. For instance, I could do without Windows Movie Maker, the video-editing applet, because I'm not interested in digitizing my family videos. On the other hand, I'm very interested in several Me tools that Microsoft's giving away. Here are some examples.
Windows media player
Me lets you copy CDs to your PC in a matter of minutes. You can transfer music to portable music players such as the Creative Nomad II and the RCA Lyra. And if your Net connection is up, Me will display track lists of most audio CDs while they're playing.
But guess what? These features aren't really a component of Windows Me. Rather, they belong to Microsoft's new Windows Media Player 7, which is freely downloadable through Microsoft's download site. Version 7 delivers all of the cool audio upgrades hyped on the Me box, including a streamlined, easier-to-use interface that provides one-click access to most tools. You can, for instance, launch the CD player, Internet radio tuner, or other major features by simply clicking one of several large buttons in the left-side column.
Wait, that's too boring an example. You can choose among several interactive "skins" that spice up the Media Player interface with colorful graphics and animation.
One caveat: Media Player 7 runs on Windows 98, 2000, and Me, but not on Windows 95 or NT 4.0. So if you haven't upgraded your OS in the past couple of years, you're better off staying with Media Player 6.4, which lacks many of version 7's best stuff, such as CD ripping.
Internet enhancements
Yes, Windows Me includes Internet Explorer 5.5, the latest version of Microsoft's industry-leading Web browser. IE 5.5 isn't a dramatic step-up over IE 5.01, aside from a few minor performance tweaks and a new print-preview feature, but IE fans will probably want to upgrade anyway. Again, though, you can grab this chunk of Me for free http://www.microsoft.com/ windows/Ie.
Me also contains other Net advances. Wand Outlook Express for sending and receiving e-mail? This comes bundled with Internet Explorer. Want NetMeeting for video conferencing? Ditto. Looking for Instant messaging with MSN Messenger? Free for the download http://messenger.msn.com. Actually, if chatting online is your thing, you're better off with America Online's Instant Messenger, which is far more popular than Microsoft's offering. And since the two apps are incompatible, MSN Messenger users can't chat with AOL's 23 million members. You can get the free AOL Instant Messenger from AOL.
Online gaming
Windows Me provides a set of games designed specifically for online play. You'll find Internet backgammon, checkers, hearts, reversi, spades, and other time-wasters. You can battle other players via the Net, too.
But you don't need Me to trump Karl in Kalamazoo. Plenty of gaming sites offer online play, including Microsoft's own MSN Gaming Zone. Another option is Yahoo. Both offer plenty of free games. Me does offer one advantage, however. Its new DirectPlay Voice feature supports audio chat between game participants. You can exchange verbal barbs with Karl while destroying him at checkers. However, games must be DirectPlay-capable to enable voice chat.
Me also sports the latest version of DirectX, which you'll need to take advantage of the latest high-performance perks of computer games and multimedia apps. Gamers will want this, certainly. Grab it for free http://www.microsoft.com/directx.
Auto-update for less
Windows Me offers plenty of maintenance upgrades. Its most compelling is AutoUpdate, a stealthy tool that scans the Microsoft Web site for Windows file updates, then downloads and installs them automatically on your PC. I'm still not sure whether I like this feature. In my Windows Me tests, my PC's hard drive would often spin madly for no apparent reason--that is, until I realized that AutoUpdate was busy downloading files. (AutoUpdate checks for OS upgrades when your Net connection isn't busy, like when you're reading a Web page.) It's weird to relinquish control of your PC to Microsoft. At least AutoUpdate asks for permission before installing new files.
But let's say you really like AutoUpdate. You can get a similar feature without upgrading to Windows Me. First launch the Windows Update feature from Windows' Start menu. Your browser will load the Windows Update Web page. Click the Product Updates button. After scanning your PC, Windows Update will recommend the Critical Update Notification utility, a tiny 50K download.
Once you've installed Critical Update, Windows will alert you every time an essential patch, such as an Internet Explorer security fix, is available for your PC. Granted, Critical Update isn't as hands-off as AutoUpdate, but it's a good freebie upgrade that keeps your version of Windows up to date.
Some of me isn't free
Not all of Windows Me's perks can be glommed gratis. Home-video buffs may want to upgrade for the Windows Movie Maker video editor. If you have two or more PCs, the Home Networking Wizard makes it easier to hook them together--ideal for sharing a printer or an Internet link. Windows Me also has Internet Connection Sharing, which allows one or more PCs to share an ISP account simultaneously--but so does Windows 98 SE.
System Restore is another only-in-Me feature. If you install a rogue software app, System Restore allows you to "roll back" Windows to a time when it worked correctly. Some third-party programs such as Adaptec's GoBack and PowerQuest's SecondChance also do this, and actually provide better security while giving you more roll-back options (e.g., more dates/times for restoring your system). Bad news: Each app retails for about $69.
Windows Me also has SmartMenus, a nifty interface tweak first seen in Windows 2000. Smart Menus studies your usage habits and displays only the programs and features you use most often. If you routinely launch Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Premiere, those apps will be the first to appear on an abridged Programs list. But Windows 98 users must upgrade to either Windows Me or 2000 to use this feature.
Hey, if you want it all, shell out $90 for Windows Me. But if you only want a few features--and want to save a few bucks--check out the freebie apps listed above.
Contributing Editor Jeff Bertolucci is a freelance writer based in Denver. A former staff editor at PC World, Byte, and c|net, he can be reached at jbert@aol.com.
