Stabilizing Win98se maybe?

[ryanmartini]

im installing win 98se on my new pc, i hate win2k and xp [bloated to all hell]

so anyone have any good tips/tweaks to help win98 be more stable? thanx!

[JimmyG]

There is no way to make a basically unstable OS like win98 into a stable OS. The reason that W2K and XP came along was because win98 was unstable, among other things. Bloat is not such a problem these days because hard drives are so cheap. If you are having trouble with W2K or XP I'm sure someone here can help you.

[ryanmartini]

is there any programs that can make it less of a hog to use? id be very interested in that.

[snafumaster]

check ou nlite

[DonnieM]

im installing win 98se on my new pc, i hate win2k and xp [bloated to all hell]

so anyone have any good tips/tweaks to help win98 be more stable? thanx!bloated? Gee, I thought it was the other way around...

[DrSlinky]

I think he's talking about XP being a memory hog. But as long as you have 256MB, you'll be fine. There's absolutely no excuse for a new PC coming with 128 anymore.

[DaWiper]

If you really want to mess around with win98 you could try something like win98lite:

Read more:
http://www.litepc.com/98lite.html

The best way I've found to make win98 stable was to NOT install any software. Not much fun, but kind of reliable for, uhm, boring stuff.

[Como]

98 is generally stable if you dont use instable software.
The problem with this is you cant get stable software.

[Brundle Fly]

"so anyone have any good tips/tweaks to help win98 be more stable? thanx!"

...epoxy the 98SE CD to your computer desk, set a big rock on top of it. Stable? We're talkin rock solid, and that's the only way to get 98 stable, although all things being relative, it's a step up from 95... :D

...this is a site I used to frequent when using 98SE, have a look, lotza stuff there...

http://www.mdgx.com/

[Yuriman]

98 is a very poor OS. It can only utilize 256mb of your ram, and I think I heard only 64mb actively(dont hold me to it). Many new drivers wont work on 98 either. If your pc is any faster than about 1.5ghz, and has more than 256mb of ram, XP and 2k will be much much faster. If you dont want bloat, get linux. If you want an OS that can run all your programs, get XP.

[greywood]

ryanmartini - dude you're talking about trying to make something useful out of a POS.
Win-Xp may be bloated as all hell, but compared to 98SE - it just bl**dy works.

I useta run 98SE and BSOD's were at least a daily routine - at best every other day.
As often as not, when I re-booted Scandisk would truncate yet another piece of some
data-file, application or OS file. Every month or two, I got the joy of re-installing the OS and all my apps.

I finally got fed up enough to make a change when I built my last new system. I went
with 512MB Ram, a 60GB hard-drive and Win-Xp Pro. I've never since looked back!

Sure, I can still crash Xp once in a while (in decreasing order of frequency):
1. When I push something WAY too far in OCing the box.
2. When some pi**-poor app or game decides to go berserker.
3. When some never-enough-damned "marketing-genius" (oxymoron)
or "l33t-h4xor" (another one) magages to get past both Firewall and AV scanner.

Point is - Never have I had Xp just "go belly-up" for no discernable reason.
Just for insurance, I keep a known good Image-Copy of my C: drive on another drive,
and backup volatile files regularly. So, even in the worst cases, I just start an image
restore. Then 15 - 20 mins later I'm back in business.

Bottom Line - If you LIKE constantly fiddling, stay with 98SE; if you want an OS that
works, move up to Xp. Did I mention Xp is faster than 98 (at least seems so to me).

[BudJB]

Faster probably because you got XP along with your new hardware. I just installed XP on a celeron (p3 based) 700 mhz with 384 megs of ram, and it CRAWLED, but 98 flew on it. XP is tons better if you have the hardware to support it.

[diggingforgold]

It's unlikely you can make 98se anywhere near as stable as an nt os like 2k, xp, or 2k3.

[Yuriman]

XP uses your hardware a lot better than 98, I know my machines are a lot faster with it, even my K6-3 450. I used to have a P1 233, with 64mb of ram, it did run better on 98...

[Redstone]

I am surpised you think Win2k is bloated but, if you want to try win98 go for it. I had it on my rig up till last fall and it's not like you going to be hurting anything. I felt it was stable as long as you keep your system lean and clean. You may run into some driver issues with cutting edge hardware but Microsoft's support for Win98 has been extended to June 2006 simply because it is still on more computers than any other operating system. I am thinking of setting up a dual boot system to play older games.

There is an absolute ton of optimization links for win98 on the net including one here at OC.com
A Beginner's Guide to Optimizing Windows 98 (http://www.overclockers.com/tips120/index05.asp)

You can run 512 mb of ram. Just do not use any individual sticks bigger than 256k.

Cacheman is a nice program for managing Win98 efficiency.

[Audioaficionado]

im installing win 98se on my new pc, i hate win2k and xp [bloated to all hell]

so anyone have any good tips/tweaks to help win98 be more stable? thanx!
I used and loved running 98lite back in my win9x days. It cuts a lot of bloat from 98 and most importantly dis-integrates the IE browser from the OS. That makes 98 soooo much more stable. You can even reinstall IE and it won't be integrated anymore like it was. It can't take the OS down when it frequently crashes. Also get cacheman to manage 98's poor memory management.

BTW wk2 is only slightly larger running code wise than full 98se install. I noticed no slowdown when I switched over. However I was running a dual PPro200 rig and that second CPU kicking in SMP might have had something to do with that :D

[snafumaster]

I still have a 98 machine up and running right now. I use it for f@h 24/7. It keeps trucking

[ryanmartini]

i have 98 lite's micro98 mode running, very impressed! i use like NO resources. =) i think it said i am using 50mb for the os!

[IZON]

Fast? You wanna see fast? Stick Windows 3.xx on a 2gig rig and you'll see fast.

[Yuriman]

I tried win95 on my Athlonxp system, and it crawled. I guess its just that it doesnt take advantage of new features....or something...?

[JigPu]

Good to hear you're happy with 98lite :) I've heard nothing but good reviews of it, and hope it does well for you.



Fast? You wanna see fast? Stick Windows 3.xx on a 2gig rig and you'll see fast.
If you're going to put Win3.xx on a rig, why bother even loading it? You've got a whole other resource unintensive OS waiting at your fingertips...

MS-DOS 6.0 BABY!!! (the king of all MS-DOS versions!) :D

JigPu

[Audioaficionado]

I have MS-DOS6.22/wfw3.11 on a PII 333 and it flies faster than anything else but it's hard to find driver support for anything much newer.

[orange400]

Linux. Now's your chance to try it - you have an open HDD, and you want something light and stable ... DSL (Damn Small Linux) is an excellent example. It's 50MB and it's very usable! Even better, it boots and runs off of the CD and your RAM so you can try it out. I'm not saything this to push a penguin ass in your face, I'm being practical. If you don't like 2k and xp, and want a zippy OS, linux would be your true answer (you just have to get to know it before you get to do stuff :))

[DrSlinky]

Agreed. I've been pushing people I know to try Fedora Core Linux for the past few months. It's not going to be nearly as small and fast as DSL or Knoppix, seeing as it takes up 4 installation CDs now. But it's a very easy step to take from Windows to Fedora.

[BudJB]

Fedora Core is probably the easiest transition Linux distro IMO. Setup is cake, and it flows like Windows. Also, there are 4 cd's, but even on the development install (I think that's the name), it only uses the first 2 cd's. I've never used cd 3 or 4. And besides, if you know Unix-based systems not only can you brag about it but you're worth more salary-wise ;] Also, it's free, so what do you have to lose besides HD space?

[Audioaficionado]

Yoper boots as fast as Gentoo and gets to the desktop even faster.

http://www.yoper.com/

Our own Arkaine23 is on the dev team.