For many home computer owners, Windows ME represents a logical upgrade from Windows 95 or 98, and it's true to say it does have more features and a great deal going for it in general.

Windows ME has, though, received criticism for being basically a revamped version of Windows 98. Indeed, if users have Windows 98 already, Windows ME is an upgrade of dubious value since some key components such as Windows Media Player can be downloaded free of charge from Microsoft's Web site. Given the cost of upgrading, for most users more RAM or another system component upgrade would be money better spent. Some users might also feel that Windows ME is a 'crippled' version of Windows 98 since some old features such as the command prompt and the ability to copy DOS system files to a floppy disk have been removed.

It's mainly for customers buying a new PC that Windows ME has its advantages. In the world of the PC, there are many different possible configurations of hardware, and while ME might not support all of them directly, hardware vendors will nearly always have written software drivers to support it, so if users want to get the best from consumer hardware such as digital cameras, scanners, printers, etc., Windows ME is still going to be the one to go for. Additionally, when it comes to gaming, Windows ME is hard to beat, with a new version of DirectX providing even better support for 3D acceleration and other functions.

This all boils down to an argument about the inevitability of Microsoft software. If users buy a new PC, the chances are that it will now come with Windows ME pre-installed by default. ME has some good features, but its success is somewhat predetermined by the success of Microsoft. For more information about Windows ME, see our earlier stand-alone review here.