Updates for Win98

I am trying to find out for a friend if Win.98 is still supported with updates by Microsoft. If not, when did MS stop? Or, are updates online and have to be done manually? Can anyone provide me with any links that would lead to this topic. Thanks.

 

Hello Peaches4U
MS stopped supporting Win98 sometime earlier this year we believe. We found out to our dismay the same as you have just learned. But - take hope. Win98 is not susceptible to some security problems as 2000 and XP are.

Sometimes the updates available pertain to Win98n as well as the other later versions of Windows so one can still download them if they say they are good for Win98. Many updates are available for Internet Explorer also independently of the operating system. The page for Windows Update is here. The page for Internet Explorer Updates is here.

Best wishes and let us know if any of us can help further.

 

Thanks for such a quick response. In the meantime I went on the hunt for information and lookie here what I found on the Fred Langa site - I hope this is good news, at least temporary, for users of Win98. I use WinXP. OOps, LWM has it straight from MS .... anyway, it confirms Langa's article should have checked LWM's URL first.

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-06-12.htm

Microsoft Grants 2nd Stay Of Execution To Win98!
As recently as about two months ago, Microsoft pegged June 30 2003 as the shutdown date for Win98 support. The basic plan was that, as of that date, two weeks from now, Win98 would no longer be patched, updated, or bug-fixed. (See http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=8700301 )

But sometime in the last few weeks, Microsoft quietly extended the date. This will affect tens of millions of users worldwide!

Now, the "'nonsupport" date for Win98 has been rolled back 6 months to Jan 16 2004, and the new "end of life" date has been pushed back to Jan 16 2005.

This is the second time Microsoft has pushed these dates back, which--- on the plus side--- suggests MS is being receptive to its customers' needs: The company probably was getting tons of negative feedback on ceasing support for so enormously popular an OS. On the other hand it also suggests that MS may not be seeing the rate of XP upgrades it hoped for; and/or may be fearing that users will defect to Linux instead of moving to XP. Keeping Win98 alive at least keeps those users in the Microsoft fold for now.

In any case, this buys a little time for those still using Win98. At some point, the OS will cease to be supported--- eventually, there won't be any more patches, updates, and such--- so if you're still using Win98, you still need to make concrete plans for the future. Sooner or later, the lights will go out on this venerable OS. But at least there's a little more breathing room, now!

The latest word from MS is in the section titled "Product Life-Cycle Road Map" towards the bottom of the page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycleconsumer.mspx .

 

Thank you for the great news!

 

Hello,

I believe the key to the update issue for Win98 is the fact that the continued support until Jan. 2004 only applies to updates that were already made available in the past. To the best of my knowledge, the issue FanJ is referring to in this thread:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=14636;start=msg92418#msg92418

There is no link to download the fix for this problem, if you are on Win98. This was the first update I was unable to get.


Concerning this vulnerability:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/ms03-044.asp


This problem may or may not apply to Win98, it does apply to WinME. What is relevant is the fact the bulletin clearly states that other versions(substitute 98 here) are not supported.

Microsoft does say that you can ask to have a vulnerability that may exist, tested, and they may issue a fix for your version up until the January deadline. With all the understanding and compassion they have shown for their customers in the past, I wouldn't hold my breathe too long.

In the eventuality that you at some point in the future may decide to reformat your computer, well it remains to be seen whether these updates will still be available to you. Perhaps now would be a good time to download and burn a copy of every update available so that you can at least be "protected" up to this point in time.