Windows 98SE???

My daughters found an old 98SE installation-disk and have asked me to put it on their old computer. It was their first pc and first OS, so there's no talking them out of it. It's a 256M/1Ghz Dell that would be perfect for Linux, but they want 98!!! They want it just for surfing and messenger, while I hog the family (xp/ubuntu) 'puter. I have three questions before I take on this endeavor though. It'll be behind a router.
1)Can I still get the MS-patches for it,
2)What version of Opera would work, and
3)What a/s, a/v, etc., would be lightest and usable
Free or pay, and set-it-and-forget-it(-somewhat)...thanx in advance for any suggestions!!!

 

1. You can try the UNOFFICIAL Windows98 Second Edition Service Pack.

2. The latest version still supports Windows 98.

3. AV: AVG or NOD32
AS: SUPERAntiSpyware

 

Does that contain all patches

I finally found that out @ their site

Did not know about SAS, thanx

 

Sorry, I should have remembered...
"Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But I made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE updates from Windows Update site and more." Thanx4linx,dLo'ing now!!!

 

Dear 19Monty64 ,
Hi , I'm using a PIII 450 mhz 256K RAM ten year old PC with 98SE and Ubuntu 7.04 dual booted on a three HDD setup 10G, 10G , with 20G backup . 98SE works fine with Kerio 2.1.5 lightweight firewall and I think thru' googling you should be able to find a final 98SE patch file to download (although it'll probably work OK out of the box) . I don't use Opera regularly being a FireFox user with No script and Adblock , but there was no problem when I tried it a year or two ago , and I've been ignoring the increasing warnings about the updating of my machine from FF as I suspect the warnings about the need for RAM capacity in Windows are related to XP etc. Hilariously at the computer shop the other day a defective card reader I returned was met with much sucking of cheeks ('I don't know if it'll work with 98SE etc') but took seconds longer to fail on the technician's XP and Vista machines as it had on my 98SE and boot up and running was significantly faster on the old setup . As regards an AV I always used to use Norton but with FF , Lavasoft , Spybot S&D and A2 never finding anything I've disabled it as a timewaster . Extra kit I've got thru' E-Bay , so far satisfactorily ,
Derek

 

The old PIII has a 30G/HD so I'll try to talk them into giving 10-15G for WUBI-Ubuntu. While dLo'ing ServicePack from majorgeeks, I noticed that Avast & AntiVir still support 98 too! OH NO!!! I think I might be working on (hogging) their '98 for a while!!!
Thanx for all the imput!!!
SO MANY OS'ES AND SO LITTLE TIME!!!

 

I patched a Windows 98 laptop just a few months ago that had not been updated in a long while (of course, it could only be updated up to a certain point until last year when the updates stopped). Any of the programs in my signature line will work with a Windows 98 system. I believe all of the major browsers still support 98.

 

Ime 98se doesn't need an AV.

AS yes, AV no.

 

256M/1GHZ is more than sufficient for 98. I'm using much less with no problems.

Regarding the patches, M$ might not be releasing any "official" patches anymore, but other parties have taken up the slack. The unofficial 2.1a service pack mentioned is good. Version 3 is being assembled now, but is not yet ready for release. MDGX is a great site for official and unofficial patches, updates, apps, etc for 98.

Kerio 2.1.5 is an excellent firewall. On 98 boxes, few can match it. 98 can also run without an AV. I haven't used a resident AV in 2 years now. If you're up to configuring it, the free version of SSM is about the strongest protection you can get for a 9X box. Both SSM-free and Kerio 2 run very light on 9X units. They do take some time to set up, but once finished, a 9X box is equally secure as a newer OS, maybe more so. If you're up to working with SSM and Kerio, you can run with no anti-anything software and do it safely.

Regarding browsers, most work fine on 98. I'm partial to Sea Monkey, used to be called the Mozilla Suite. In many ways, it's comparable to FireFox but has the mail handler and other components built in. Many of the FireFox extensions work with it.

The obsolescense of 98/ME is quite exaggerated. Much of it is artificial. More apps and hardware work with 98 than the vendors admit. In more than a few cases, the only reasons apps won't install on 98 is because of a version check built into the installer. There's more info about this at this site and at MDGX. My primary box is 98 first edition, so I run into even more of this planned and fake obsolescense. Several apps and hardware items that aren't supposed to run on 98 work fine on my box.

In your first post, you mentioned a preference for "set it and forget it" software. With the exception of certain apps, that approach doesn't work well with 98 anymore. With vendors dropping support for 9X systems, their users need to be more "hands on" to keep it running effectively. About all you can expect from M$ and the major software vendors is their telling you to upgrade. With the right care, 98 can be used quite safely and can perform most of the normal functions you'd expect from a newer system. Providing the support yourself is a learning experience in itself. IMO, 98 will be a viable system until IPv6 is fully implemented, maybe longer.

It's really up to you how far you want to go. A few well chosen security apps, unofficial patches, etc can make 98 completely usable. With a bit more work, 98 can be made to do about anything you want it to at almost zero cost, even today. If your daughters computer interest is anything more than just casual internet or gaming, modernizing a 98 box could be quite an education.
Rick

 

Well, I dLo'ed everything that I would need for '98 and burned it to cd. I re-arranged the computer room to accomodate the new addition to the home network. To make a long story short, the cd-rom don't read no more.

 

Do you mean a CD ROM drive failure? If so, I am not surprised. Those tend to fail first.

 

- CD-ROMs drives are very cheap (new or used)
- Most CD-ROMs failures can be repaired (cleaning dust, cleaning the laser diode, adjusting the laser's power, replacing the strap, etc).
- You can borrow a optical drive from another PC to install Windows + software and then return it to its original place.

 

Yes, exactly. In running chkdsk (I've already lost 10G of the original 30G) and repairing lost sectors, I had it run over 24hrs, and it was stuck at 6%, so I'm looking for another "re4mat-project" from the repair-shop techie. Running '98 is definitely something that I want to do. Looking for compatible s/w for it brought back fond memories of the days of '98!!!