Mulligroup Email Newsletter - Goodbye Windows 98 & ME

Dear Mr. Langa, Great newsletter! I have been a subscriber for some time and have found your advice very valuable.

Like many other subscribers, I have equipment that cannot be upgraded to handle the new OS's (XP or Win2K), but at the same time, the equipment is fully functional. For example, I have a laptop that will run Win95 or Win98 just fine, but because the memory cannot be upgraded, it is unable to run Win XP or Win 2000.

Being environmentally minded, I was hoping to prolong retiring my older equipment to the city dump by extending its useful life as long as I can. With that in mind, I was thinking of getting all necessary software upgraded before July 31st (the date Microsoft is going to discontinue support).

Unfortunately, with all the different kinds of software out there, compiling a list of patches, upgrades, etc. seems daunting. Would you have a recommended list of software patches or upgrades for those of us trying to prolong the useful life of our 95/98 machines?

Obviously, going to a Linux version (like Puppy Linux) sounds interesting, but in the short run, a Windows solution seems easier to implement.  ---Frank Peavy

There's nothing wrong with continuing to use Win98, Frank. It won't stop working when Microsoft withdraws support, of course. It just won't receive further updates. That means that the OS basically becomes frozen in time, and will no longer be modified to handle new technologies or to meet new threats.

I think the analogy we've used before is a good one: It's like an older car. It may still run fine, and is OK to drive. But it won't meet current safety standards, may not handle as well as newer models, and over time will require more and more tinkering to keep running, especially as parts become scarcer and scarcer. Eventually, Win98--- like an antique auto--- will become a curiosity rather than the thing for which it was originally designed and used.

As an amusing aside, take a look at the early Windows shown below: It's from a different discussion, but you'll see Windows 3.0, Win3.1, Win3.11, Win95, Win98, WinME, Win2000 (representing the whole NT family), Win XP, and DOS 6.22 thrown in for good measure, all running simultaneously. When I look at the old Windows--- like 3.0 and 3.11--- I'm amazed that we once thought of them as "advanced" interfaces and state of the art computing. <g>

Std Edition Subscribers: http://www.freetune.com/extras/vpc.htm

Win98 is on a steady march to the same kind of curiosity status as 3.0 and 3.1 have. Win98 was great while it lasted, but its day really is done.

That said, yes, you can keep Win98 running cleanly, almost indefinitely: The very best way I know to try to preserve Win98 is to do one final grand mal cleaning: In shorthand form, you'd reformat, reinstall, and then run Windows Update iteratively until all relevant updates are in place. Run a good Registry cleaner, defrag the system, and then make an image backup of the newly-installed, "perfect" setup. Store that image in a safe place. Then, in the future, if your Win98 setup gets munged when updates and downloads are no longer available, you can always restore the image, and get your Win98 back to that just-installed, perfect setup again.

In more detail:
System Setup Secrets
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17500413

System Setup Secrets Updated
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=12802747

Ten Ways to Make Windows 98 Run Better
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=12803660

Win98 Cleanup
http://langa.com/cleanup_bat.htm

Win98 Backups/Images
http://langa.com/backups/backups.htm

Curing Win98 Resource Leaks
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17200587

Yes, there are less thorough ways of spiffing up Win98, but they produce less optimal results. For example, you can just run the cleanup, above, and a good Registry cleaner, plus a defrag, and probably improve the current operation of a Win98 setup. There's also a "no reformat" reinstall option that cleans up more: http://tinyurl.com/m5kqp

But Win98 is about to become unsupported, so I think it's time to bite the bullet and do one final, fresh, total reinstall. Make that install as perfect as humanly possible. Let Windows update decide what patches and updates to install. Polish, prune, clean, defrag it until it shines. Then preserve that perfect setup as a disk image, and save the image in a protected place. That way, you'll *always* have access to a perfect, like-new install of Win98, no matter what else happens!

Still more info:
http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml?authorID=1111