Cascading My Computer folder

Just drag the My Computer icon from the desktop to the Start Button. Now you have a cascading menu for My Computer available when you press Ctrl-Esc. This gives you easy access to your disks, CD-ROMs, mobile devices and network connections.

Error message log

WindowsME keeps track of previous error messages, their date, time and more detailed information. Just open the \windows\Faultlog.txt file

Installing MS backup

By default, Windows Me does not give you the option to install MS Backup. However, this program is on the original CD in the \Add-ons\MSBackup directory.

Protection popups

If System File Protection performs an action and you want to see a popup window notifying you, start Regedit. Go to HKey_Local_Machine, the Software tab, and click on Windows.

Now click on CurrentVersion \ System\ File Protection. Change the value of ShowPopups from 0 to 1. The items you will be notified about are restoring a protected file, removing a security catalog, and adding a security catalog.

Bypass check

You can bypass the 150 MHz CPU speed test during Windows Me setup by using the /nm switch on the command line. This is useful if your computer fails the test, or while installing on a machine slower than 150 (don't try this unless you have at least 128 MB RAM).

Disabling PC Health

To uninstall PC Health, click on Run and enter \windows\pchealth\support\pchsetup /uninstall. This will also disable the Help engine. In order to get this back, you will have to re-install Windows Me.

Running ScanReg

In Windows Me, you can open a DOS window to run scanreg, scanreg /restore, or scanreg /opt. The prompts tell you that computer must restart to finish. Earlier, this was only available when booting straight to DOS.

Deleting unnecessary files

You can save approximately 150 MB of hard drive space by deleting the file in the \Windows \ Options \ Install directory. These are the source files for Me that you should be having on CD.

Automated installation

You can use the same Batch 2.0 program available by Microsoft for Windows 95 and 98 to create a fully unattended installation of Windows Me.

With it, you can enter the product ID as well as what components you want to install.

Compiled by C. Ramesh