For those that don't know about Microsoft's latest update..

[Head Boy]

I've been using 98 since '99 (I'm a slow starter). I've never had to do a forced re-install or had destruction of the OS. But this could be due to the fact that I have active-x disabled all the time, and j/script on prompt, and it's not very often that I allow it. I even went as far as making my own index page for a board that converted to a j/script index. I also do deep deletions of "temporary internet files" and I have freed off up to a gig on some machines after the files had been deleted in IE. I haven't allowed ICQ onto an important computer either since AOL bought it. That's another virus highway.

I've got SuSe here, and Linux will be my next OS, There's no way that I'm going to be installing Dickhorn. (well I might have a test rig just to see how my sites display to the surfing sheep).

[Barron]

I'm running XP SP2 with no problems. But, it wasnt a smooth transition.

Maybe my experience will help someone.

I was running 98 and did the "upgrade". This was on a Microstar 6167 mb with 256meg of ram. The result was horrible. I reloaded win98. Shortly after that, I loaded Win2000. I took an immediate dislike to it. The worst thing was the way it handles video with two monitors. It works, but not like I wanted it to. 3 days later, back to win98.

Then a MCSE aquintance told me not to do the "upgrade" to XP. Instead, do a clean install. That made all the difference. XP ran very smoothly for about 4 months. Then it wouldnt boot. After about 6 hours of not being able to figure out why, I reloaded win98. Golly, the difference was immediate. XP was far better than 98. The most noticeable difference was the speed of the caches "virtual memory". My machine seemed to slow down about 30% with 98.

After getting a couple of tips from my MCSE friend, I reload XP. Again, everything ran smooth. I loaded Sp1, again everything was smooth. However, Sp2 did not like my Microstar 6167 mb. My MCSE friend told me that Sp2 is very picky about drivers. Btw, the install of Sp2 crashed the machine and I had to reinstall XP. That was annoying.

Somebody asked if you could recover or "uninstall" Sp2 if the install failed. Microsoft may have a way to do it, but it wasnt possible for me.

Then I made a trade for a newer computer. Sp2 loaded loaded just fine and I havent had any trouble with it. This machine is a AMD 1200, and with XP Sp2 its blazing fast.

Edit:
The new machine only had 128meg, XP was dead slow. I upgraded to 256meg, XP then became blazing fast.

I havent run XP Home, I hear it sucks, I have XP Pro and I have been warned never to use XP Home. In my mind, XP is what 95 should have been. I want to move to freeBSD, but the thread a couple of weeks ago about Wine has me rethinking it.

Cleo, XP has what it calls, "Restore Points", I still dont have a handle on that. Your suppose to got back to previous configuration, but I havnt used it. Also all Windows, 95-XP, has an option to save/backup the Registry. Its recommended that you back the Registry up before adding any new software, but nobody does it. Ghosting the drive is possible, but it doesnt come with Windows and I would bet that 98% of the average users have no clue what that is. Besides, if it isnt for free they wouldnt use it anyway.

I recently discovered in IE6 with Sp2 there is a new option under Tools called "Manage add-ons". You can disable any unwanted shit that loaded without your knowedlge, very cool feature.

For those running 98, the time is drawing near for Microsoft to stop supporting it. They were going to stop last year, but to many new machines are still being sold in Asia loaded with 98. I "think" they said about another year or year and half then they would stop. That was last year. Windows NT is getting close to time also.

Suggestion, upgrade to XP and ride it out. Check deja for work arounds. Cams not working? My first guess is its a port problem, not an OS problem. Something somewhere had a closed port. Remember to check for closed UDP ports. Also, firewalls work both coming and going.

my 2 cents


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