Hi I have Windows 98 Se. AMD 400 3DNow processor. 20GB Hard Drive (14GB Free). 256MB Ram. Is it possible to install Windows ME or Windows 2000. I have reformatted my Drive and reinstalled Windows 98 Se on 2 occasions recently but am having problems with Explorer responding extremely slowly. I have installed FixIt with PowerDesk which responds promptly. I Have defragged, checked Registry, run ScanDisk and checked everything I can think of. There may be something wrong with windows explorer but nothing shows up. I have checked for viruses etc. I am hoping that an update to a later operating system might correct the problem. I have been using Windows 98 SE for some years now and have only recently incurred this problem. Thanks John from Oz

John, I think you can install either of the operating systems you mentioned. If the problem has only recently popped up.. and continues to exist even after formatting and reinstalling 98SE.. it might be hardware related or it might be a driver or software you have added recently. New mouse? Camera? etc. How i would troubleshoot.. back data up to removable disk.. format the HD, install only the operating system. Do not load any 3rd party drivers or software yet. Run the system.. does the problem exist? If so.. it helps rule out software/drivers. If the problem does not exist now.. start loading drivers for items that didnt get native drivers. Printer, scanner for example. One at a time.. run the system a bit after and so on and so forth until your able to determine where the problem is or till everythings loaded and no problem exists. If no problems exist after all drivers are loaded.. begin installing software.. one at a time.. running the system for a while after. Continue installing programs one at a time until the problem shows up. You mentioned that you reinstalled windows and the problem still exists. In my experience.. people having problems with a new software title for example.. will format, reinstall the OS, then reinstall all the software and drivers.. and of course the problem shows up again. Since everything got installed at once they have no way of telling what is causing the problem. The one by one method helps pinpoint the buggy app. If your problem is hardware related.. a new OS wont solve anything. You might try posting this in the 9x forum. Lots of good techs over there who can help walk you thru error messages, give you ideas about what to check etc. Im a tear it apart and put it back together while looking for a leak person. Sometimes this isnt the best/ easiest method and not neccesary for simple problems.

I agree... but if u have already installed win98se yet again and don't want to go thru the process again, maybe u should d/l the latest drivers and go thru the step process... latest drivers will do wonders... and ur windows question... well i've got winMe and altho it worked fine recently it started to become unstable SO I think its time to do a clean install. BUT after looking at the forum most ppl would go for win98se over winme, so u have been warned!!! I've also been told that win2K is an memory eating OS and ur amd400 can cope i guess but could be slow me thinks... with ur spec i think i would go for SE personally...

Jay- Have you checked your start menu..? If your start menu is not overloaded and you have, step by step, gone thru everything that ShutMeUpOrDown listed above there are a couple of things of might try. 1) download a tweak program ( I am partial to FreshUI )theres alot of good, free tweak programs...TweakUI is another. Those will allow you to change some Windows settings that are usually hidden. That could help speed things up a bit. As far as Windows ME is concerned, I am using a update to ME from 98x (even though I stress clean and full installs..lol) and I love it. It is a little demanding sometimes but for someone who is on there computer alot, takes care of it and cleans it often (cleaning meaning dumping temp files and defrag'n regularly) it is a great OS in my opinion. And its noticeably faaster at start-up and shut-down than 98 or 98x... Also, I dont know if it is still a free program or not but Windows Washer, from Webroot, is an excellent "cleaner of Windows and IE " if you will. good luck..

Hi to ShutMeUporDown: Octo: Crow. Thank you for your input. I think I have found the source of my problem. I have been running a little program called MemTurbo to check on my memory usage. I have been removing program by program to see if that may have any affect on Windows Explorer and lo and behold the minute that I removed it I am back to normal for the response times in Windows Explorer.I have used it in both my last 2 reformats. I feel pretty confident that was causing all my problems. Thanks once again for all your terrific suggestions. Do you think my AMD 400 + 20GB Hard Drive and 256MB Ram will run Windows ME or 2000 Regards John from OZ

Jay- I am not familiar with AMD's so I dont know what it is comparable to in terms of Intel's products, But I don't think you'd have a problem one with running ME. I havent worked much with 2000 either so cant say bout it. I can tell you that just the difference alone in booting up with ME as to 98x is worth it. And if your into media stuff ( I like winamp and there vis's) you'll wish you had upgraded to ME earlier. Try it out.. while your installing ME it will give you the option to save your 98x files in case you want to go back to 98x. You have nothing to lose really...

Win Me will run fine on your system. I have a similar system and it runs great. Although i wouldn't advise it. Wait for awhile and buy a CPU motherboard combo off pricewatch.net and you can get an OEM of XP Pro at the OEM price (with the motherboard). XP Pro is far superior to win9x and not that much more money.