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FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 26th 04, 04:37 AM
JM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.

1) Upgrading to IE6 on a Win98 machine will probably end up in a lot of
trouble. Many people had problems after installing IE6. IE6 was clearly
not written for Windows 98.

2) Upgrading to Windows XP on a sub ghz machine, it can be too slow. It'll
probably work on a Pentium 3 processor, but don't install XP on anything
lower than that.

3) Ok. So now what? Does that mean our aging computers are stuck with
Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 5 ? NO!

I must blow away Microsoft's little secret. The version of windows you want
is Windows 2000. Windows XP is basically just Windows 2000, but with all
that cute graphical bloat added (among other useless bloat). Windows XP's
bloat just adds to the memory requirements, and processor load. Windows XP
was clearly written for multi-ghz machines.

Windows 2000 is 99 percent compatible with Windows XP. Windows 2000 is
actually about 10 percent faster than Windows 98. So, it translates to
this. You can take that old 120 mhz machine, and install Windows 2000 on
it, and it'll run a bit faster, and it will be compatible with Windows XP.
And you'll be able to install Internet Explorer 6 without problems.

Ebay is a great place to get almost any Windows version. You should be able
to easily get a copy of Windows 2000 from Ebay easily.

Windows 2000 will run with as little as 64mb of ram, but at least 128mb is
recomended for additional work space.

Some very important factors when installing Windows 2000. Because 2000 is
the same as XP, 2000 also has the same security flaws out-of-box. Remember
all those viruses that infected XP machines from just being connected to the
internet? Well, 2000 has the same problem out-of-box. VERY IMPORTANT: When
installing, Do not expose the computer to the open internet. If you do,
it'll get infected in minutes. For now, you can just disconnect the
computer from the internet.

Ok, when you're finished installing Windows 2000, you will need to visit
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to fix the security flaws. Because you
can't expose the freshly-installed Windows to the internet, you will need a
firewall or router. If you are on a broadband connection you probably
already have a router. Make sure your router is setup to route incoming
connections AWAY from your IP address. If you do not have a router, then a
software firewall will work. You will need to find the software firewall on
a cd-rom, or perhaps off of a local LAN connection. I like Tiny Personal
Firewall, for example. Once Installed, block incoming connections, or at
least block ports 135-139 and 445, is where the viruses come in.

Ok, now that you setup your router or firewall, you can now safely
re-connect your computer back to the internet. Direct Internet Explorer to
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com . In the list of Security patches, there
will be one named "Service Pack 4" The total download will be more than 45
megs, so a broadband connection is a must if you want to get it done
quickly. After SP4 is done installing, reboot the computer. Now go back to
Windows Update, and there will be some more patches. Install all the ones
that are "Security Update". Reboot computer, come back to Windows Update
and repeat until the Security Update patches are gone. It usually will take
at least a few times. That's it. Now from here the computer is patched
over, and the security flaws will be gone.

*** Sometimes you'll get lucky, if you got a later version on 2000, SP4 will
already be included. That means that fewer patches will have to be
downloaded.

From here, you may install Internet Explorer 6 if you want. It works
wonderfully with Windows 2000. It is available from Windows Update. But
please go back to Windows Update after installing, there have been several
security patches for IE6 since it was released. There are also Direct X
9.0b (for games) and Media Player 9 . If you thought the previous version
of Media Player was slow, Media Player 9 is faster than the previous since
Microsoft did a wonderfull job on it this time. As always, go back to
Windows Update to for the patches since both Media Player 9 and DirectX 9
both have security patches for them since they were released.

All in all Windows 2000 far less prone to the "blue screen of death" and
other crashes, vs Win98 since it is so stable. It is about 10 percent
faster, and there's a neat little video performance boost also.


This is a little about Windows ME. What is Windows ME? WinME is
basically just Windows 98 redressed and some additional features added. It
does not address "blue screen of death", crashes. It may be even worse than
Win98. It is not compatible with Windows XP. If you want to upgrade to
Windows 2000, treat it as Win98.


That's all for this FAQ. If you have any questions about this, or anything
else about Windows 2000, like "How do I remove the logon screen?", or "How
do I close ports 135-139 and 445?", or anything else, please email me at
. You may post your reply here, if you'd like.


  #2  
Old July 26th 04, 05:31 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.


-----Original Message-----
1) Upgrading to IE6 on a Win98 machine will probably end

up in a lot of
trouble. Many people had problems after installing

IE6. IE6 was clearly
not written for Windows 98.


Absolute crap--I have no problems whatsoever with IE6 &
WIN98!

2) Upgrading to Windows XP on a sub ghz machine, it can

be too slow. It'll
probably work on a Pentium 3 processor, but don't install

XP on anything
lower than that.

3) Ok. So now what? Does that mean our aging computers

are stuck with
Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 5 ? NO!

I must blow away Microsoft's little secret. The version

of windows you want
is Windows 2000. Windows XP is basically just Windows

2000, but with all
that cute graphical bloat added (among other useless

bloat). Windows XP's
bloat just adds to the memory requirements, and processor

load. Windows XP
was clearly written for multi-ghz machines.

Windows 2000 is 99 percent compatible with Windows XP.

Windows 2000 is
actually about 10 percent faster than Windows 98. So, it

translates to
this. You can take that old 120 mhz machine, and

install Windows 2000 on
it, and it'll run a bit faster, and it will be compatible

with Windows XP.
And you'll be able to install Internet Explorer 6 without

problems.

Ebay is a great place to get almost any Windows version.

You should be able
to easily get a copy of Windows 2000 from Ebay easily.

Windows 2000 will run with as little as 64mb of ram, but

at least 128mb is
recomended for additional work space.

Some very important factors when installing Windows

2000. Because 2000 is
the same as XP, 2000 also has the same security flaws out-

of-box. Remember
all those viruses that infected XP machines from just

being connected to the
internet? Well, 2000 has the same problem out-of-box.

VERY IMPORTANT: When
installing, Do not expose the computer to the open

internet. If you do,
it'll get infected in minutes. For now, you can just

disconnect the
computer from the internet.

Ok, when you're finished installing Windows 2000, you

will need to visit
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to fix the security

flaws. Because you
can't expose the freshly-installed Windows to the

internet, you will need a
firewall or router. If you are on a broadband connection

you probably
already have a router. Make sure your router is setup to

route incoming
connections AWAY from your IP address. If you do not

have a router, then a
software firewall will work. You will need to find the

software firewall on
a cd-rom, or perhaps off of a local LAN connection. I

like Tiny Personal
Firewall, for example. Once Installed, block incoming

connections, or at
least block ports 135-139 and 445, is where the viruses

come in.

Ok, now that you setup your router or firewall, you can

now safely
re-connect your computer back to the internet. Direct

Internet Explorer to
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com . In the list of

Security patches, there
will be one named "Service Pack 4" The total download

will be more than 45
megs, so a broadband connection is a must if you want to

get it done
quickly. After SP4 is done installing, reboot the

computer. Now go back to
Windows Update, and there will be some more patches.

Install all the ones
that are "Security Update". Reboot computer, come back

to Windows Update
and repeat until the Security Update patches are gone.

It usually will take
at least a few times. That's it. Now from here the

computer is patched
over, and the security flaws will be gone.

*** Sometimes you'll get lucky, if you got a later

version on 2000, SP4 will
already be included. That means that fewer patches will

have to be
downloaded.

From here, you may install Internet Explorer 6 if you

want. It works
wonderfully with Windows 2000. It is available from

Windows Update. But
please go back to Windows Update after installing, there

have been several
security patches for IE6 since it was released. There

are also Direct X
9.0b (for games) and Media Player 9 . If you thought

the previous version
of Media Player was slow, Media Player 9 is faster than

the previous since
Microsoft did a wonderfull job on it this time. As

always, go back to
Windows Update to for the patches since both Media Player

9 and DirectX 9
both have security patches for them since they were

released.

Why all that fuss?? Just order the Windows Update Security
CD it's free and you don't need to go anywhere near the
internet to install: http://tinyurl.com/4bezh


All in all Windows 2000 far less prone to the "blue

screen of death" and
other crashes, vs Win98 since it is so stable. It is

about 10 percent
faster, and there's a neat little video performance boost

also.


This is a little about Windows ME. What is Windows

ME? WinME is
basically just Windows 98 redressed and some additional

features added. It
does not address "blue screen of death", crashes. It may

be even worse than
Win98. It is not compatible with Windows XP. If you

want to upgrade to
Windows 2000, treat it as Win98.


That's all for this FAQ. If you have any questions

about this, or anything
else about Windows 2000, like "How do I remove the logon

screen?", or "How
do I close ports 135-139 and 445?", or anything else,

please email me at
. You may post your reply

here, if you'd like.

Be prepared for virus and spam laden email after posting
your email address in a public newsgroup
  #3  
Old July 26th 04, 05:40 AM
Ron Martell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.

"JM" wrote:

1) Upgrading to IE6 on a Win98 machine will probably end up in a lot of
trouble. Many people had problems after installing IE6. IE6 was clearly
not written for Windows 98.


Was true with the original release of IE6 for some people at least.
With the release of Service Pack 1 for IE6 these problems have been
resolved and there have been very few problems with IE6 on Windows 98
Machines since then. I use it myself on the one Windows 98 machine in
my home and I recommend to all my customers who are running Windows 98
that they upgrade to IE6SP1.



2) Upgrading to Windows XP on a sub ghz machine, it can be too slow. It'll
probably work on a Pentium 3 processor, but don't install XP on anything
lower than that.


RAM can compensate a lot for a slower CPU with Windows XP. I am quite
comfortable with the performance of Windows XP on machines with CPUs
as slow as 400 mhz provided there is at least 512 mb of RAM for CPUs
under 800 mhz and at least 384 mb of RAM for CPUs in the 800 mhz to
1.2 ghz range.



3) Ok. So now what? Does that mean our aging computers are stuck with
Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 5 ? NO!

I must blow away Microsoft's little secret. The version of windows you want
is Windows 2000. Windows XP is basically just Windows 2000, but with all
that cute graphical bloat added (among other useless bloat). Windows XP's
bloat just adds to the memory requirements, and processor load. Windows XP
was clearly written for multi-ghz machines.


Windows 2000 is quite seriously lacking in support for a lot of
specialized hardware and is not a good choice for anyone who does a
lot of multimedia work and/or who plays a lot of games. I am also not
certain of the level of USB support, especially USB2, that is
available in Windows 2000.


Windows 2000 is 99 percent compatible with Windows XP. Windows 2000 is
actually about 10 percent faster than Windows 98. So, it translates to
this. You can take that old 120 mhz machine, and install Windows 2000 on
it, and it'll run a bit faster, and it will be compatible with Windows XP.
And you'll be able to install Internet Explorer 6 without problems.


No IE6 problems, but then Windows 98 doesn't have these any longer
either, not since Service Pack 1.

And Windows 2000 does require more RAM than Windows 98.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
  #4  
Old July 26th 04, 06:40 AM
JM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.

quoting:

1) Upgrading to IE6 on a Win98 machine will probably end up in a lot of
trouble. Many people had problems after installing IE6. IE6 was

clearly
not written for Windows 98.


Was true with the original release of IE6 for some people at least.
With the release of Service Pack 1 for IE6 these problems have been
resolved and there have been very few problems with IE6 on Windows 98
Machines since then. I use it myself on the one Windows 98 machine in
my home and I recommend to all my customers who are running Windows 98
that they upgrade to IE6SP1.


Duly noted. I'll have to look into that. I was not aware of SP1 being
fixed.



2) Upgrading to Windows XP on a sub ghz machine, it can be too slow.

It'll
probably work on a Pentium 3 processor, but don't install XP on anything
lower than that.


RAM can compensate a lot for a slower CPU with Windows XP. I am quite
comfortable with the performance of Windows XP on machines with CPUs
as slow as 400 mhz provided there is at least 512 mb of RAM for CPUs
under 800 mhz and at least 384 mb of RAM for CPUs in the 800 mhz to
1.2 ghz range.


Is the 400mhz a Pentium II or III makes a big difference. Is the GUI set
to "classic" and animations turned off? That makes a difference, too. If
the 400mhz is a P3, then with the GUI tweaked, then the speed would be
pretty good.

It's true. If you put a half gig of ram in your 400mhz machine, it's going
to build quite a heck of a system cache. But like I said, you can do the
same thing with a modest 128mb, or 256mb at the biggest with 2000.


3) Ok. So now what? Does that mean our aging computers are stuck with
Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 5 ? NO!

I must blow away Microsoft's little secret. The version of windows you

want
is Windows 2000. Windows XP is basically just Windows 2000, but with

all
that cute graphical bloat added (among other useless bloat). Windows

XP's
bloat just adds to the memory requirements, and processor load. Windows

XP
was clearly written for multi-ghz machines.


Windows 2000 is quite seriously lacking in support for a lot of
specialized hardware and is not a good choice for anyone who does a
lot of multimedia work and/or who plays a lot of games. I am also not
certain of the level of USB support, especially USB2, that is
available in Windows 2000.



I must admit, I've tested 2000 on several Pentium 2 machines 166mhz to about
500mhz and AMD 550mhz, which is like a P2 at 200mhz. For some reason or
another, raw 3D performance with the same video card was overall 10-15
percent better than the same machines with XP. (Of course due the slower
processors, many were too slow to be playable anyway.) When I tested it on
multi-ghz machines. In XP, raw 3D performance was 20-30 percent better than
2000. And then overall faster than XP for application lounches, video
performance for the slower machines, and about 10 percent faster than 98
overall. So that says that Windows 2000 is great for too-slow-for-XP
machines.


Windows 2000 is 99 percent compatible with Windows XP. Windows 2000 is
actually about 10 percent faster than Windows 98. So, it translates to
this. You can take that old 120 mhz machine, and install Windows 2000

on
it, and it'll run a bit faster, and it will be compatible with Windows

XP.
And you'll be able to install Internet Explorer 6 without problems.


No IE6 problems, but then Windows 98 doesn't have these any longer
either, not since Service Pack 1.


And Windows 2000 does require more RAM than Windows 98.



Yup, 32mb more. Actually I was able to get one down to 56mb at bootup when
I removed alot of the unneeded running services and closed the open ports.


  #5  
Old July 26th 04, 06:45 AM
JM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.

quoting:
Be prepared for virus and spam laden email after posting
your email address in a public newsgroup



Yea, I know. My email addresses are pretty old now. I am already on
thousands of spammer's lists now. I now run an email server with spam and
virus filtering so I don't see 90 percent of it.


  #6  
Old July 26th 04, 01:30 PM
FACE
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 23:37:55 -0400, "JM" in
microsoft.public.win98.performance wrote:

1) Upgrading to IE6 on a Win98 machine will probably end up in a lot of
trouble. Many people had problems after installing IE6. IE6 was clearly
not written for Windows 98.


100% agreed here. It was a real dog on SE and probably the second worst
mistake I made in PC computing. The first worst was 'experimenting' with
the DOS FOR/IN/DO command a decade ago and wiping out several hundred
painstakingly handcrafted image files.

However, IE 6.0 rolled back nicely to IE 5.0. Well.....mostly nicely....I
lost some custom functionality.

Yes, how DO you close those ports?


FACE

  #7  
Old July 26th 04, 01:44 PM
FACE
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default FAQ: Win98 users: Upgrading to WinXP, IE6, etc.

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 01:40:52 -0400, "JM" in
microsoft.public.win98.performance wrote:

quoting:



Yup, 32mb more. Actually I was able to get one down to 56mb at bootup when
I removed alot of the unneeded running services and closed the open ports.

I ran Win98 original release on a P1 133 with 16mb of RAM (later increased
to 32) and it ran like a champ. Probably would have bogged down big time
with SE. Now on a 1.66g with 256mb RAM running SE.

FACE
 




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