Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me, is the new home operating system for PC's that brings the richness and convenience of the digital world to your home.

Windows Me is designed specifically for the home PC user. It represents the first major milestone towards advancing the vision of the Windows Division and further simplifying the computing experience for consumers.

Windows Me delivers in 4 key areas: The Best in Digital Media; Improved User Experience; Enhanced Home Networking; and Rich Internet Experience.

As with previous versions of Windows 9x, Windows Me offers the broadest support for consumer hardware and software.

Benefits

• The Best in Digital Media: New technologies and features make it easy to share digital photos, videos, and music. Windows Me includes Movie Maker, Windows Media Player 7, new imaging technology for digital still cameras and scanners, and superior 3D graphics and sound support.
• Improved User Experience: Advanced help functions make it the most trouble-free operating system for the home. System Restore lets users easily return their systems to a working state, and System File Protection safeguards key system files. Help and support resources are easily accessible from a single location, and AutoUpdate lets users easily schedule automatic updates from the Windows Update site.
• Enhanced Home Networking: The improved Home Networking Wizard simplifies the process of setting up a home network, and Internet Connection Sharing allows users to share a single Internet connection across multiple PC's. There's a new TCP/IP network protocol for improved reliability and security on the Internet, and also support for Universal Plug and Play -- the next generation of smart devices.
• Rich Internet Experience: Internet Explorer 5.5 improves the online experience with faster browsing and easier printing. Outlook Express and MSN Messenger Service keep you connected with friends, family, and the world around. Internet-ready versions of classic games let you participate in online gaming fun.

Features

Windows Movie Maker
Easily create, edit, and share movies over the Internet using content from sources such as camcorders, video tape, and digital still cameras.

Windows Media Player 7
You can download favorite music from the Internet or record music from CD's you already own. Create custom playlists, transfer music to portable devices, and listen to Internet radio stations.

Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
WIA is the next generation of imaging device support for Windows. It lets users obtain pictures from cameras and scanners, and perform simple operations on those pictures without additional software.

System Restore
Restore your system to a working state in the event of a significant problem, and quickly get back to using the PC.

System File Protection
This built-in safeguard prevents users or applications from deleting or overwriting key system files.

Help and Support Center
All help and support resources, whether on the web or the local PC, are easily available from the new Help and Support Center.

AutoUpdate
An extension of Windows Update that let's users easily schedule regular, automatic updates of their Windows Me PC. hello.

Smart Menus
Smart Menus minimize the amount of clutter on the desktop and adapt to the way a user works, showing the most frequently used features and programs.

Support for Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)
UPnP will enable the next generation of smart networking devices. Windows Me has built-in support for UPnP so its ready to work with these devices as they become available.

MSN Messenger Service
Find out which of your contacts is online, and send and receive messages instantly with MSN Messenger Service.

Internet Connection Sharing
With Internet Connection Sharing, Windows Me allows you to share a single internet connection over multiple networked PC's.

Suite of Tools for Internet Communication
Includes: Outlook Express, an e-mail and news reading client; Microsoft NetMeeting, Internet conferencing; Personal Web Server, an easy way to publish Web pages; Windows Media Player, streaming multimedia services, and more.

Home Networking Support
Windows Me supports popular ways of creating a home network, including Ethernet, HomePNA, and RF.

DirectX
Adds depth to multimedia and gaming experiences by increasing the realism and quality by providing better imaging, built-in support for Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and MMX technologies. Also supports force-feedback controllers.

Troubleshooters
More than 20 new or improved troubleshooters provide easier ways for home users to learn how to accomplish a task or recover from problems. Examples of new or improved troubleshooters include Setup, Startup and Shutdown, Internet Connections, Home Networking, Printing, Games and Multimedia, and Hardware.

Windows Driver Model (WDM) support
This new, unified driver model for Windows 9x and Windows NT enables new devices to have a single driver for both operating systems. It allows Windows 9x to maintain full legacy device driver support while adding support for new WDM drivers.

Support for the Latest Hardware
Built-in support for the 5-button mouse, speedracer keyboard, USB broadband modems, and device bay.

Major hardware standards supported: Universal Serial Bus (USB), IEEE 1394, Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), and DVD.

Dr. Watson Utility
If this utility is enabled, it will intercept software faults and indicate what software has faulted and why. It also collects detailed information about your system at the time of the fault and logs this information for reference later.

Internet Connection Wizard
The Internet Connection Wizard is designed to make a first time connection to the Internet simple. It gives you a list of National ISPs to choose from, then the Wizard will do all of the software configuration for you.

PCMCIA Support
Supports: PC Card32 (Cardbus) -- enables notebooks to implement high-bandwidth apps; PC Cards operating at 3.3 Volts -- lets hardware manufacturers make lower power consumption devices; and Multifunction PC Cards -- two or more functions on a single PC Card.

Built-in Support for the Infrared Specification
Supports the Infrared Data Association (IrDA) standard for wireless connectivity with a driver set that provides infrared-equipped computers with the capability of networking, transferring files, and printing wirelessly with compatible infrared devices.

Windows Maintenance Wizard
Schedules tune-up jobs to run automatically, making your PC more self-maintainable. It helps you delete unnecessary files and makes sure your hard disk is optimized and properly functioning. Includes Disk Defragmenter, ScanDisk, and Disk Cleanup features.

Microsoft WebTV for Windows
With a TV tuner card, your PC can act as a receiver of broadcast information. You can use your PC to find and watch TV programs, view interactive TV programs that provide supplemental information about shows, and receive other information.

Client Support for Virtual Private Networking
Virtual Private Networking is networking support for remote users to access their corporate network via a secure connection. It utilizes the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). Support for this service is natively built-in to Windows Me.

Driver Signing
By working with industry partners to ensure that drivers are tested and certified to run well in Windows, and by giving Windows Me the ability to recognize certified drivers, Microsoft is working to ensure that home PC users will enjoy increased performance and reliability.

Windows Scripting Host
Allows you to save time by automating actions such as creating a shortcut and connecting to or disconnecting from a network server.

Multiple Display Support
Now you can use multiple monitors and/or multiple graphics adapters on a single PC. Displaying your work environment on multiple monitors can let you "spread out" and interact more easily between documents and applications.

Support for Intel MMX processors
Provides support for third parties to build software that takes advantage of the Intel Pentium Multimedia Extensions (MMX) for fast audio and video support on the next generation of Intel Pentium processor.

Automatic Skip Driver Agent (ASD)
Automatic Skip Driver Agent (ASD) identifies hardware devices that fail to respond; displays a dialog box indicating that it has detected a failure; prompts you with the option to bypass this action on subsequent startups.

Online Services Folder
The Windows Me desktop contains an Online Services Folder with links to America Online (AOL), AT&T; WorldNet, and Prodigy. When you click the link to an Internet Service Provider, a setup program starts and automatically registers you.

Display Settings Features
Provides support for dynamically changing screen resolution and color depth. Enhancements include: full window drag, font smoothing, wallpaper stretching, large icons, hi-color icons, and more.

Web-Aware User Interface
With Windows Me, Internet access is a seamless part of the user interface. Windows Me provides you with one utility to universally view local, network, intranet, and Internet data, so you can get to the information you need faster and more easily.

Home Networking Wizard
An improved Home Networking Wizard simplifies the process of setting up a home network with easy step-by-step instruction.

Online Games
Play online versions of classic games like Backgammon, Hearts, Reversi, Spades, and Checkers with easy access to well-matched online opponents.

Power Management Improvements
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) power management lets you switch on or off your PC like you would your TV set. In addition, Windows Me supports Hibernate mode, which means it can remember the exact state of the PC when it is shut down, and quickly return to the identical configuration when it is powered up again. (These features are only applicable to newer PC's with the proper hardware configuration.)

ScanDisk and Defrag
Both of these utilities have been improved to support the new, larger hard drives that now ship with new PC's. Defrag performance has been improved, reducing the amount of time needed to perform this task.

Accessibility Enhancements
These include the integration of Intellipoint mouse features in Windows Me, Calculator improvements, system support for changing of cursor width, and support for Microsoft Accessibility Architecture 1.3.

TCP/IP stack
A new version of the TCP/IP network protocol is included for better security and reliability on the Internet.

Smarter Error Messages
Improved error messages that describe problems and provide possible solutions in ways that new users can understand.

Internet and Multimedia Enhancements
With updated versions of Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and DirectX, your PC will deliver an even better on-line and multimedia experience.