Images of people standing in line at midnight, clamoring for the first copies of the new software, fed on our insecurities and enhanced an overwhelming sense of being left behind. "What do they know that I don't?" people asked frantically.
Foremost on the minds of PC users is the obvious question: Should I upgrade to Windows 98? The answer is equally simple: It depends. This next step in the evolution of the Windows system software is clearly an improvement over Windows 95, but it's certainly not worth standing in line at midnight just to get the first copy. In fact, if you're pleased with your present system performance under Windows 95, I probably wouldn't recommend a Win 98 upgrade at all.
If, however, you are consistently experiencing system crashes, error messages, or device driver problems, then a fresh operating system would be in order. The original Windows 95 operating system contained many known glitches and bugs that were addressed and fixed by Microsoft in a series of service packs that have been released over the last three years. While these "fixes" have been readily available from Microsoft, you'd have to take the initiative on your own to download each service release.
Windows 98 is the cleaned-up version of Windows 95 that embodies all the fixes that have taken place since the original Windows 95 release. Additionally there are a host of new, built-in utilities that can assist in troubleshooting those cantankerous problems that bog down your PC.
The new FAT32 conversion utility in Windows 98 is another good reason for the upgrade if you're running low on hard disk space. FAT (File Allocation Table) is part of the filing system that determines whether disk clusters are free or allocated to a file.
Converting from Windows 95-based FAT16 to FAT32 makes more efficient use of existing disk space, thereby freeing up precious hard disk real estate. I gained almost 400MB of free disk space on my system under Windows 98 when I ran the FAT32 conversion utility.
Additionally, if you're using advanced hardware devices such as DVD (Digital Video Discs) or USB (Universal Serial Bus) peripherals, then Windows 98 is a must since it supports these new technologies. DVD is an optical storage medium with improved capacity and bandwidth over the CD that is geared primarily toward entertainment.
While the documentation may read otherwise, Windows 98 requires lots of muscle and runs best on newer systems that have plenty of CPU power, memory and available disk space. Older 486 and Pentium-based systems running at 100Mhz speed or less probably won't experience the improvement in speed and performance that newer systems will enjoy.
I found this to be true when I installed Win98 on a 486DX4 with 16MB RAM. The PC runs just fine, but I didn't notice any great improvements in speed as I did when I installed the upgrade on a Pentium 200 with 64MB RAM. Figure, as a minimum, that Pentium 200+ systems with at least 32MB RAM will find the most benefit from a Win98 upgrade.
The highly touted and litigious integration of the Internet Explorer into Windows 98 is overrated and the worst of all reasons to upgrade. Enabling the Active Desktop and Channels slows down your system and is mostly fluff. If you're interested in these features, you can access them already by simply installing Internet Explorer 4.01. It's free and doesn't require a complete overhaul of your operating system.
If you're buying a new PC, you should absolutely get the latest operating system available. In fact, soon you'll be hard-pressed to find a new computer system around that doesn't have Windows 98 already installed, unless you're a corporate user.
This upgrade will probably be the last incarnation of the Windows 9x family, since the next major upgrade will be a consumer version of Windows NT, Microsoft's "New Technology" operating system software designed for high-end corporate networks.
Microsoft launched Windows 98 Thursday with the following theme: "Route 98: Another milestone on the computing highway."
Unless it's broken or you simply want the latest and greatest, however, I think you can still get there from here on Route 95.