We had one system that took well over two-and-a-half hours. For any 486 computers, expect at least one-and-a-half hours for the process to finish. Pentium and Pentium MMX PCs take about an hour. Pentium II systems take 25 to 40 minutes to complete the upgrade process. We were also able to use some Win95 drivers without a problem, including those for printers. Tip 10: Win98 includes most of the drivers, even for newer devices like DVD-ROM drives. Win98 does have some default drivers, but be warned they may not work properly (see Tips 15 and 16). Check the Web for any updated versions before beginning the upgrade. Tip 9: Get any and all drivers for each systems components, especially ones for network cards and monitors. Tip 8: Get the official Microsoft Win98 Upgrade CD-ROM (of course) with its matching 25-character product key (see Tip 19). Our minimum recommendations are a bit more robust: 166-MHz Pentium or faster, 32M memory and a 1.5G hard drive with 300M free. Tip 7: Check to verify that your PC components meet Win98s minimum requirements: 66-MHz 486 or faster processor, at least 16M of RAM and at least 200M of free hard drive space. It has better support for VPNs than Win95. Tip 6: Look at Win98s virtual private network support for remote use. Others with slower processors or less memory ought to go with Win98. We recommend that Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems with 64M or more of RAM run NT. Tip 5: Power users will benefit most from Win98, but Microsoft recommends the OS only for PCs that cannot run NT. Tip 4: Win98 is the only OS from Microsoft that is fully year 2000-ready out of the box. Microsoft representatives promised us that all patches and updates to Win98 will be available to every Win98 user throughout the programs life to ensure all clients remain consistent. Tip 3: On networks with several clients running different versions of Win95 and Windows 3.1, Win98 will consolidate all users on the same platform. Sometimes it still takes wiping and a clean install, as we found out. But the new OS fails to work miracles on all PCs. On some systems we worked with, Win98 did fix minor conflicts. Tip 2: If a PC crashes or has problems, consider upgrading. Although Win98 has some nice utilities, many of the improvements are cosmetic. Tip 1: If a PC is working just fine under Win95 without crashing and if that PC can support upcoming Windows NT 5.0, dont upgrade. If youre buying a new computer with Win98 installed, skip to Tip 34, where we begin with guidance about using the OS. Tips 1 through 33 focus on the upgrade process. Now, to help you out if Win98 is coming to your PC, the GCN Lab gives you 98 tips you need to know about the new Microsoft OS. Other features appear mostly cosmetic and, honestly, fun. Win98 offers more utilities and some improvements in ease of use. Our experiences varied, but we mainly had success. Since then, we have installed the OS on 15 PCs from a variety of makers (see chart, ). The final code arrived the end of last month. The GCN Lab has been running versions of Win98 since the first beta appeared more than a year ago. But not all of the enhancements will help out government users some are merely entertainment and game perks. NT still lacks PC Card and power-saving support for portable computers.Īs with every successive Windows OS, there are improvements over previous Microsoft OSes. On many new desktop PCs, buyers can opt for the more stable and powerfulbut less friendlyWindows NT Workstation 4.0. But like OSes before it, it will likely slip into oblivion. ![]() Some makers have said they will continue to offer Win95 for a time. Why? Most computer makers began installing Win98 earlier this month, although Microsoft officially released the OS only last week. ![]() update to its popular Windows 95 operating system, may be an unavoidable upgrade for government users, especially for portable PC buyers.
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