I normally advocate sticking with whatever operating system comes bundled with your PC. Upgrades cause problems.
But I have an HP notebook that came with Windows ME. Despite doing a complete reformat and reinstall from the original disks earlier this year, almost nothing works with ME. The built-in modem, USB printers, card readers, "automatic" Windows updates, many new application installation - all balk at ME.
I don't think this notebook is a good candidate for XP or Windows 2000, so I've concluded that I need to "upgrade" to Windows 98 SE.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing that I won't be able to install the 98 upgrade onto a PC that has a newer version of Windows already installed. I don't have a full version of 98 and I don't think you can buy it any more. (No, I haven't tried eBay.)
I may have to do a clean install of Windows 3.1
(the last pre-ME operating system that I have a full version of) and then upgrade to 98 SE. Then I'll have to go to the HP site and download a bunch of updated drivers.
Any thoughts? Any of you ever done this?
I guess I could buy a new notebook with XP, but it goes against my grain to abandon a perfectly functional (albeit obsolete) PC just because the operating system is a nightmare.
But I have an HP notebook that came with Windows ME. Despite doing a complete reformat and reinstall from the original disks earlier this year, almost nothing works with ME. The built-in modem, USB printers, card readers, "automatic" Windows updates, many new application installation - all balk at ME.
I don't think this notebook is a good candidate for XP or Windows 2000, so I've concluded that I need to "upgrade" to Windows 98 SE.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing that I won't be able to install the 98 upgrade onto a PC that has a newer version of Windows already installed. I don't have a full version of 98 and I don't think you can buy it any more. (No, I haven't tried eBay.)
I may have to do a clean install of Windows 3.1

Any thoughts? Any of you ever done this?
I guess I could buy a new notebook with XP, but it goes against my grain to abandon a perfectly functional (albeit obsolete) PC just because the operating system is a nightmare.