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> I found a CD I made umpteen years back that has Windows ME with all the updates. I think it was one of those platforms that didn’t require any interaction with Microsoft to activate, just the key I wrote on the case. Do you think it’s young enough to handle most of the current environment without extensive modifications? Not games, just seeing the internet and performing basic interactions.

Not gonna work, in general, and highly unsafe.

WinME was the last of the MS-DOS family of Windows releases. The programs that are written for the NT family of Windows generally won’t run on the MS-DOS family releases.

MS-DOS family (major releases): 1.0, 2.0, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, ME.

NT family (major releases): NT3.1, NT3.5, NT4.0, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10.

The reason it probably wouldn’t work for you is that the two families are generally incompatible, and programs that are written for the NT family almost never work on the MS-DOS family.

The reason it’s highly unsafe is that the MS-DOS family releases were never designed for security. They are wildly, insanely, insecure. They are terribly unprotected against virtually everything.

Finally, WinME was the last member of the MS-DOS family, and was designed to fail. It was intended to drive users away from the MS-DOS family and into the NT family. And it was so bad, that strategy worked.

The only thing anyone should use an MS-DOS family release for, these days, is an ancient but beloved program that won’t run on the NT family releases, and then ONLY if the computer is NOT connected to the internet.

Wow, I knew ME was advanced DOS but not about all the vulnerabilities. It will be consigned to a non-internet POS for amusement with Doom and such. Thanks for the lesson and warning.

I've installed Linux Mint 19.3 on my other computer. What a long strange trip it is as my ability to learn has apparently shrunk with age (yeah, yeah...that's what HE said). But we're getting there with all the support it has. We now return to the normal channel...