98 tips for using Windows 98

Windows 98, the Microsoft Corp. update to its popular Windows 95 operating system, may
be an unavoidable upgrade for government users, especially for portable PC buyers.

Why? Most computer makers began installing Win98 earlier this month, although Microsoft
officially released the OS only last week.

Some makers have said they will continue to offer Win95 for a time. But like OSes
before it, it will likely slip into oblivion.

On many new desktop PCs, buyers can opt for the more stable and powerful—but less
friendly—Windows NT Workstation 4.0. NT still lacks PC Card and power-saving support
for portable computers.

As with every successive Windows OS, there are improvements over previous Microsoft
OSes. Win98 offers some useful improvements. But not all of the enhancements will help out
government users; some are merely entertainment and game perks.

The GCN Lab has been running versions of Win98 since the first beta appeared more than
a year ago. The final code arrived the end of last month. Since then, we have installed
the OS on 15 PCs from a variety of makers (see chart, Page 33).

Our experiences varied, but we mainly had success. Win98 offers more utilities and some
improvements in ease of use. Other features appear mostly cosmetic and, honestly, fun.

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. Tips 1 through 33 focus on the upgrade process.
If you’re buying a new computer with Win98 installed, skip to Tip 34, where we begin
with guidance about using the OS.

Tip 1: If a PC is working just fine under
Win95 without crashing and if that PC can support upcoming Windows NT 5.0, don’t
upgrade. Although Win98 has some nice utilities, many of the improvements are cosmetic.

Tip 2: If a PC crashes or has problems,
consider upgrading. On some systems we worked with, Win98 did fix minor conflicts. But the
new OS fails to work miracles on all PCs. Sometimes it still takes wiping and a clean
install, as we found out.

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.

Microsoft representatives promised us that all patches and updates to Win98 will be
available to every Win98 user throughout the program’s life to ensure all clients
remain consistent.

Tip 4: Win98 is the only OS from
Microsoft that is fully year 2000-ready out of the box.

Tip 5: Power users will benefit most from
Win98, but Microsoft recommends the OS only for PCs that cannot run NT. We recommend that
Pentium Pro and Pentium II systems with 64M or more of RAM run NT. Others with slower
processors or less memory ought to go with Win98.

Tip 6: Look at Win98’s virtual
private network support for remote use. It has better support for VPNs than Win95.

What’s needed to upgrade?

Tip 7: Check to verify that your PC
components meet Win98’s minimum requirements: 66-MHz 486 or faster processor, at
least 16M of RAM and at least 200M of free hard drive space. 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 8: Get the official Microsoft Win98
Upgrade CD-ROM (of course) with its matching 25-character product key (see Tip 19).

Tip 9: Get any and all drivers for each
system’s components, especially ones for network cards and monitors. Check the Web
for any updated versions before beginning the upgrade. Win98 does have some default
drivers, but be warned they may not work properly (see Tips 15 and 16).

Tip 10: Win98 includes most of the
drivers, even for newer devices like DVD-ROM drives. We were also able to use some Win95
drivers without a problem, including those for printers.

Tip 11: Time is needed. Pentium II
systems take 25 to 40 minutes to complete the upgrade process. Pentium and Pentium MMX PCs
take about an hour. For any 486 computers, expect at least one-and-a-half hours for the
process to finish. We had one system that took well over two-and-a-half hours. Also note
that installing over the network may take a little longer depending on traffic and speeds.

Tip 12: As we have pointed out, this
upgrade can fail. At minimum, back up all essential data on a medium that can be accessed
should the upgrade fail. Even better, perform a complete back up of the entire hard drive
(also see Tip 76).

Tip 13: Disable any antivirus programs.
Remember that under MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, and Win95, the antivirus program may be loading a
terminate-and-stay-resident program from within the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. If
possible, use an uninstall feature to remove the antivirus product.

Tip 14: Use a CD-ROM for easier
installation. For $14.95 more, you can order 31'2-inch floppies with the Win98 upgrade.
But expect at least 35 floppies.

Tip 15: Drop the video resolution to 800
by 600 pixels with 16-bit color depth or even lower. On a couple of systems, the refresh
rates from the video card had problems syncing with monitors during the upgrade process.
This may be due to a different default refresh rate for the monitor. When this happened,
we could not see anything on the screen and had difficulty getting Win98 to shut down
gracefully.

Tip 16: If any problems, such as the
video refresh problem, occur during the installation, keep a boot disk handy. Better yet,
if you’re far enough into installation, enter Windows Safe Mode to correct problems.
To enter Safe Mode, press F8 the moment the Windows splash screen first appears. Be
quick—do it right at the moment when the hardware BIOS hands off the processes to the
hard drive.

Tip 17: Check with the PC’s
manufacturer to make sure the BIOS is current. The BIOS version is often the first thing
displayed when the PC is turned on. After writing down the revision number, visit the Web
site of the PC manufacturer to see if there is a more current version.

Do not go to the BIOS manufacturer’s site because they often charge for the latest
BIOS revisions.

Tip 18: There is usually a
readme.txt file included in the downloaded .zip file; read it. It will often contain the
exact instructions to upgrade the BIOS. Usually, you copy the new BIOS file to a bootable
floppy. After booting up on the floppy, run the application to flash the BIOS with the new
file. Follow the instructions provided with the BIOS update.

Tip 19: Win98 installation begins by
first checking the c: drive to make sure the hard drive is in good shape and has enough
space. It also checks that processor speed and RAM meet minimum specifications.

Tip 20: The Win98 installation wizard
starts and the Microsoft License Agreement pops up, requiring the person installing Win98
to agree before proceeding.

The 25-character product key must be entered. The key is different for every CD-ROM.
Win95’s 11-character key wasn’t CD-ROM specific.

Tip 21: Win98 checks the Registry
database for information stored by Win95 about products installed and user preferences.

Tip 22: Set-up lets users upgrading from
Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS choose which components to install. Users upgrading from Win95 get
no choice—Win98 installs only those components in the current Win95 installation. The
wizard rechecks available disk space.

Tip 23: At this point, you select whether
to keep the old OS information in case Win98 is uninstalled later.

Depending on the components, the uninstall information can take from 35M to 70M. If you
do keep the old info, the old OS files are saved to the hard drive.

Tip 24: The wizard asks where
geographically the PC is located; United States is the default.

Tip 25: The wizard prompts for a
31'2-inch floppy to create a bootable disk in case something ever goes wrong. This step
can be skipped by hitting "Cancel" when the wizard asks for the floppy to be
inserted. We recommend creating at least one disk because it can come in handy. You can
create more disks later by launching the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Control Panel and
selecting the Startup Disk tab.

Tip 26: At this point, the process
becomes automated without feedback. Win98 then copies files to the hard drive. "Sit
back and relax," Win98 insists as the actual installation of the OS begins.

Tip 27: Once all of the files copy and
install, the PC needs to restart. Then the splash screen "Getting ready to run Win98
for the first time" appears.

Tip 28: Win98 initializes its driver
database and installs any Plug-and-Play devices. Depending on the devices and components
on each PC, Win98 may need to restart as it finds each and installs it.

Tip 29: Win98 then attempts to find any
non-Plug-and-Play devices and installs the drivers for it. Again, this may require a
reboot.

Tip 30: Win98 starts setting itself up
for functions such as the Control Panel, Start Menu, Help and MS-DOS programs. It also
tunes up application launches and completes the system configuration. Again, you will sit
through a reboot.

Tip 31: Once up, Win98 builds a database
of the installed components. Under most installations, Win98 then notices the
Plug-and-Play monitor, as it always terms it. If there are drivers available for the
specific monitor, point Win98 to them. If not, let Win98 install the default.

Tip 32: Win98 then sets all personalized
settings. If you have been using Win95 and made any choices for application or the OS
appearance, those are set up now. If not, Win98 sets them all to the default.

Tip 33: Win98 should now be running.

Tip 34: Win98 often welcomes you with a
prompt to register. The Registration Tool asks information like name and address. It then
does a system inventory to see what hardware devices are installed. You can choose whether
to send this information to Microsoft.

Tip 35: The Welcome to Windows feature
includes two wizards and a multimedia tour of the OS. One wizard connects the PC to the
Internet, but because most government folks are already connected through TCP/IP on the
local area network, just select the final option, which begins "My computer is
already set up for the Internet … "

Tip 36: The Discover Win98 feature takes
you on a pretty good multimedia tour that includes a section for former Windows 3.1 users
and another for those accustomed to Win95.

Tip 37: The Maintain Your Computer
feature launches the Maintenance Wizard, a powerful update. The wizard pulls together a
beefed-up version of Disk Defragmenter and Scan Disk, which were both part of Win95.
Defragmenter can now move application files closer together on the hard drive so they
launch more quickly.

Tip 38: Disk Cleanup, the third portion
of the Maintenance Wizard, offers to delete unneeded files such as temporary files, files
picked up while surfing the Web and other disk-gobbling stuff. You’ll find that the
new Disk Cleanup is a handy tool.

Tip 39: Maintenance Wizard, also found in
the System Tools folder inside the Accessories menu, prefers that the computer be left on
all the time. It defaults to run all system maintenance between midnight and 3 a.m. When
you launch the Maintenance Wizard, you can choose to run it immediately or select a time
for it to run later. Because it can take a while, consider starting it before taking a
long lunch if you don’t leave the PC on all the time.

Tip 40: To stop Discover Win98 and its
opening music from activating each time the computer starts up, deselect the box at the
lower left corner of the screen. If you need the Discover Win98 window later, you can find
it in the Welcome to Windows item under System Tools in the Accessories folder.

Tip 41: Certain component configurations
can make Win98 take up to 200M more space than Win95. Remember that up to a third of that
space can include the Win98 uninstall routine to return the system to its former OS.

Tip 42: Yes, Virginia, Win98 can be
uninstalled. If you saved the former OS, (Tip 23), then select "Uninstall
Win98’’ after launching the Add/Remove Software icon in the Control Panel. We
followed the process on a few systems, and the older OS reappeared without a problem.

Tip 43: If satisfied with Win98, delete
the uninstall information to free up a nice chunk of hard drive space. This can be done in
two ways: Under the Add/Remove Software icon in the Control Panel, select "Delete
Win98 uninstall information," or run the Disk Cleanup utility and choose the same
entry.

Tip 44: To gain back some of the space
taken by Win98, convert the hard drive to 32-bit File Allocation Table, better known as
FAT32. On one system, we had 777M available on the FAT16-formatted 1.1G hard drive. We
launched the FAT32 Drive Converter, found under System Tools in the Accessories folder. At
the end of the process, the hard drive had 904M available. The 4K clusters freed up 127M,
a gain of more than 11 percent.

Tip 45: Unfortunately, hard drives with a
capacity of less than 1G cannot be converted to FAT32.

Tip 46: Under FAT32, Win98 may
occasionally incorrectly report the amount of free disk space, especially after a system
crash or if Windows was not shut down properly. If you believe Win98 is showing less free
space than there is, run Scandisk. Although this won’t fix the problem permanently,
it does provide a workaround for the bug.

Tip 47: Win98 includes Windows Update,
which provides access to the latest OS updates and driver files. It also provides a quick
shortcut to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and Microsoft technical support.

Tip 48: Windows Update scans the OS first
for installed components and all the versions. Then it checks the Microsoft Web site to
check if any patches or new files are needed. You choose what to download and install. We
found this feature worked pretty well, although we were testing it before any critical
files were available to download. We did install some of the optional files available.

Tip 49: The Windows Update icon is also
hidden at the bottom of the Settings folder, not just at the top of the Start Menu.

Or, if it’s lost completely, the URL is http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/.

Tip 50: Perhaps one of the most powerful
utilities in Win98 is System Information, found under System Tools in the Accessories
folder. SysInfo first examines the hardware, components and software. It notices any
address conflicts or other problems.

Tip 51: Using SysInfo’s Tools menu,
launch 10 other utilities to help diagnose problems, conflicts or more. The Windows Report
Tool gathers data on the PC to help report problems and bugs to Microsoft. To get a lot of
useful data, including the speed of the processor installed, select Collect Information
under WRT’s Options menu.

Tip 52: Another handy component of
SysInfo is Dr. Watson, which monitors for crashes and then gathers information to send off
to Microsoft for diagnosis.

The Registry Checker corrects problems in the Windows Registry Database. System
Configuration Utility opens a tool to select and deselect drivers and settings that are in
the config.sys, autoexec.bat, win.ini and system.ini files and load on boot-up. The
Version Conflict Manager allows a reversing of course if newly installed drivers fail to
work as well as older drivers. System File Checker examines the integrity of imperative OS
files, backing them up or restoring them as needed.

Tip 53: This is just a taste of the many
powerful utilities in System Information. Be careful. Only experienced users should
attempt major alterations here.

Tip 54: Win98’s Help system acts
like a mini-Web browser. It has more illustrations and is a bit easier to navigate than
that of Win95. Launch it by clicking Help in the Start Menu.

Tip 55: The Taskbar in Win98 has been
made over. You can move it to sit along any of the four edges of the screen: top, bottom,
left or right. The Taskbar incorporates additional Toolbars beside running applications.
Add shortcuts to applications, data files, Web addresses and even customized tool bars.
Right-click on the Taskbar and select Toolbars.

Tip 56: Taskbar’s default includes
the Quick Launch Toolbar. To add an application, move the cursor over that app’s
icon—even from the Start Menu—and press the right mouse button and hold. Drag
the icon to the Quick Launch Toolbar and release the button. Click "Create shortcut
here."

Tip 57: The right mouse button is more
powerful than ever in Win98, especially in moving items around on the Start Menu.
Let’s say a shortcut icon isn’t in the right folder. Highlight it with the
cursor, press and hold the right mouse button, drag it to its correct place and then
release.

Tip 58: Win98 can launch data files or
applications with a single mouse click. To engage single clicking, open My Computer and
select Folder Options from the Views menu item. Press the Settings button beside Custom
views.

Tip 59: Under the Control Panel, the
Accessibility icon lets you automatically set monitors to have high contrast and
easy-to-read fonts. The purpose of this feature is to help the visually impaired, but it
makes screens easier to read for everyone.

Tip 60: One of the first things users may
want is their old Win95 interface. A Web-like interface may be appealing to some, but not
all. To go back to the classic Win95 interface, double-click on the My Computer icon.
Normal drive icons will appear on the right with the left side filled with some shading, a
little picture and the words "My Computer." To get rid of the useless pretty
pictures, click on View from the menu, then deselect the option "as Web Page."
The old, simpler and quicker window will appear.

Tip 61: Well, that fixes it for that
folder. Now what about all the other folders and subfolders? Under View on the menu again,
select Folder Options. Then click the View tab, which is between General and File Types.
Select the button at the top that says "Like current folder," and that will
format all the other folders like the My Computer folder already open. Clicking on the
Reset all folders button will set all the folders to their default Web display setting.

Tip 62: Users of Win95 Plus pack may be
familiar with Desktop Themes, which change icons, backgrounds, sounds and cursors to make
Windows a little more entertaining. Win98 integrates Desktop Themes and introduces a few
more, such as baseball and underwater. Launch the Add/Remove Software icon in the Control
Panel, and select the Windows Setup tab. Click the box next to Desktop Themes to install
the 31M feature (also see Tip 96).

Tip 63: A new feature of Desktop Themes
is automatic rotation to a new theme each month. Click on the Desktop Themes icon in the
Control Panel and select the box at the bottom that activates monthly desktop theme
switching. We wish Win98 had weekly or even daily rotation.

Tip 64: We ran before and after
benchmarks on almost all of the systems we upgraded. Win98 causes no apparent changes in
performance, except perhaps if the hard drive is converted to FAT32. Then some systems
slowed down slightly during large-file access.

Tip 65: Does it seem that the screen
redraw is a little slow? If Active Desktop is turned on, it may be. If it’s off,
screen refresh is normal. Moreover, Active Desktop often crashes itself or loses its
bearing. To turn off this feature, right-click on a vacant area of the desktop and choose
Properties. Click the Web tab then uncheck the box "View my Active Desktop as a Web
page."

Tip 66: Microsoft claims Win98 boots up
faster and shuts down quicker. In some cases, we did see a swift shutdown, but not always.
Win95 waited for network connections to time out; Win98 just ignores the network
connection. However, we did not notice an accelerated boot up.

Tip 67: If you are not using a notebook
computer, some alterations can make Win98 boot up a little faster. Go to the Win98 Control
Panel and launch System icon. Select the Performance tab and then click on the File System
button. Select the Floppy Disk tab, and deselect "Search for new floppy disk drives
each time your computer starts." The only reason to have select this is if Win98 is
on a notebook in which the floppy drive may be switched out for a CD-ROM or battery.

Tip 68: For another performance
enhancement, repeat the above steps, but instead of clicking on Floppy Disk, select the
Removable Disk tab and select "Enable write-behind caching on all removable media
drives." This will increase the write performance of floppy drives, Zip drives and
other removable media.

Be aware that in some instances, it can cause problems. System crashes and power
outages can pose a bigger risk by more easily corrupting files when this setting is
enabled.

Tip 69: Win98 is not the best way to
format floppy disks. To quickly format a floppy, go to the MS-DOS prompt under Programs on
the Start Menu. Insert the floppy and type "Format a: /u". With this method, you
can continue to work in other programs while the floppy is formatting. The /u sets the
Format command to unconditional mode, which means it will not save information to unformat
the disk later.

Tip 70: With 6.4G, 8.4G and even 14.1G
hard drives standard on many new machines, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for some
people to use the DoubleSpace features provided in Win98.

If there’s no need for disk compression, delete the drvspace.bin and dblspace.bin
files from the root c: directory and from the \command directory under the directory where
Win98 is installed. This will increase available memory and increase the speed of system
startup.

Do not do this, however, if DriveSpace or DoubleSpace drive compression is in use, as
it will make the hard disk inaccessible.

Tip 71: Be aware that some non-Microsoft
utilities that worked under Win95 will not do so under Win98. Although we can not supply a
complete list of the utilities involved, be prepared to upgrade some applications. Check
the software maker’s Web site for compatibility issues. Also, check for software
products that have earned the Windows NT/98 logo from Microsoft, at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/thirdparty/winlogo/.

Tip 72: Win98 includes 15 Troubleshooting
Wizards for such problem areas as networking, printing, hardware conflicts and modems. To
find them, just have a problem. The appropriate wizard will start. Or check out all the
help information in the c:\windows\help directory.

Tip 73: Searching the PC and the network
for a file or folder is a lot easier with Win98. Win95 allowed only one drive to be
searched at a time. Win98 allows searching just local drives, just the network or
everything. Select Find in the Start Menu and check all the options under the "Look
in" drop-down menu.

Tip 74: Looking for Character Map, the
tool that shows what characters appear under different fonts? Microsoft moved it from the
Accessories to the System Tools folder.

Tip 75: SCSI devices can be added to an
existing SCSI chain without rebooting Win98. But reboot manually because Win98
doesn’t continually poll the SCSI card. To update SCSI devices, go to the System icon
in the Win98 Control Panel and select the Device Manager tab. Choose "View Devices by
Connection" and then click the Refresh button. Although this may not work with all
SCSI devices, it will work with most and will save having to reboot.

Tip 76: If the hard drive crashes because
of some non-fatal error and the backup was made using Win98’s own backup utility, the
backup cannot be restored without first doing a clean install of Win98. Do that first.
Most of the files in the Win98 directory—especially those containing configuration
and program information—will not be able to be restored because the files will be in
use. To get around this, back up the entire hard drive, including the directory where
Win98 is.

When restoring, install Win98 with a minimum of files. Restore all directories except
the Win98 directory. Restore the Windows directory to a new directory and call it W98bkup.
Restart the PC in MS-DOS mode and copy all of the files in W98bkup to the Windows
directory. This will likely restore the former Win98 configuration.

Tip 77: Even if a television adapter card
is not installed, consider installing the Web TV components found in the Add/Remove
Programs icon in the Control. With a TV card, this will allow program viewing on the
computer screen. Without a card, users have access to a program guide that describes what
movies and television shows are playing each day.

Tip 78: Win98 comes with Microsoft
Outlook Express, a basic application for e-mail and reading postings in Internet
newsgroups. For a more robust e-mail program with some scheduling features, download
Microsoft Outlook 98. Hurry! It’s free until tomorrow. Visit
http://www.microsoft.com/outlook/outlook98/ for more information.

Tip 79: Dual-boot configurations should
already be stable before upgrading or you must start with a completely wiped or new
system.

Tip 80: Those wanting to dual-boot
between Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Win98 should remember that NT can’t see FAT32
partitions and Win98 can’t see NTFS partitions.

Tip 81: The best way to get a Win98-NT
dual-boot system is to start with either a stable Win95-NT dual-boot system, or a computer
with only Win98 installed. With a Win95-NT system, boot up under Win95 and start the Win98
upgrade process. Once finished, the NT Boot Manager will give the option of NT or 98.

Tip 82: On systems with only Win98,
simply start the NT installation process. Choose to keep the existing OS and install NT to
a directory separate from where Win98 resides. The NT Boot Manager will pick up the other
OS and present the choice of NT or 98 when finished.

Tip 83: Putting Win98 on a computer with
NT 4.0 already installed takes fancy footwork. Boot from a floppy that has drivers for the
CD-ROM drive or, under NT, copy the Win98 Setup folder to the hard disk.

Install Win98 to a different directory because it will not recognize the NT
installation. Notice that the Windows NT Boot Manager does not appear. Use the NT
installation diskettes and, if possible, a recovery disk to repair that. Once done, the
NT-98 dual-boot system should be up and running. Do not attempt this if NT installation
floppy disks are not available!

Tip 84: Win98, as noted in many legal
briefings, tightly incorporates Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. The browser is used to
browse the Web as well as the local network and even the PC’s own drives.

The browser pops up everywhere. To cut back on how much real estate Explorer consumes,
right click on the icon tool bar and uncheck Text Labels. If the icons aren’t clear
enough, just pause the cursor over it; a little window appears with the appropriate text
explanation. You can click the Fullscreen button to maximize the Web window, although the
Taskbar will disappear.

Tip 85: When setting up an Active Desktop
Channel for news and information, click the check-box that says "Always trust
information from this site" to prevent the box from reappearing each time that
channel is accessed.

Tip 86: The Channel Bar appears the first
time Win98 starts. To be rid of it forever, just close it.

A dialog box will pop up asking if the bar should appear again. Choose "No."

Tip 87: The Microsoft Channel Guide helps
users find what channels they would most likely enjoy without having to subscribe to the
more than 3,000 options.

Tip 88: If you subscribe to an Active
Channel, the news will update much more frequently and the content will download faster.
Users who watch a channel often should subscribe to it.

Tip 89: Network administrators should pay
attention to the bandwidth requirements of Active Channels. Restrictions and even
disabling the feature may be required.

Tip 90: The Microsoft Plus 98 pack
contains more than 10 new Windows desktop themes, as well as some utilities, a virus
scanner and games.

Despite the mostly recreational aspect of the Plus pack, a few components—such as
the McAfee VirusScan, compressed folders and improved file cleaner—may be of interest
to government users.

Tip 91: McAfee VirusScan shields the
computer against software viruses and includes a 6-month subscription for free virus
updates. Do not install McAfee if another virus scan product is on the computer.

Tip 92: "Compressed folders" is
just a fancy term for Zip-compressed files. One may recognize PKZip and other similar
products that can use algorithms to shrink the size of files. Plus 98 better integrates
Zip files, showing them instead as folders. Just drag and drop files to and from a
compressed folder, so designated by a zipper on the folder icon.

Tip 93: Unfortunately, Win98 does not
show compressed folders within other application windows. Say a Word 97 document is saved
in a compressed folder, for example. From the Open File dialog, the document cannot be
seen until it is dragged outside the folder.

Tip 94: To create a new compressed
folder, right-click anywhere on the desktop, choose "new," then select
"Compressed Folder," or right-click any folder or file, select "Send
To," and then choose "Compressed Folder."

Tip 95: Two new features added to the
Win98 Disk Cleaner by Plus come in handy. The File Cleaner, a licensed portion of
CyberMedia’s Uninstaller, helps choose which files can be deleted safely. Start Menu
Cleaner checks for broken links with shortcuts within Start Menu.

Tip 96: You can install additional
Desktop Themes that will occupy about 100M of hard drive space.

Or pick and choose from the dozen or so themes, including cartoon favorites such as
Doonesbury and Peanuts. We’re still wondering if Microsoft Federal might create an
Uncle Sam theme.

Tip 97: The Deluxe CD Player for music
disks improves with some awesome new features. For one thing, the program automatically
detects what music CD is in the drive, even with older CDs. It scans the Internet and
determines the band, album name and often the names of each track.

Tip 98: Win98 itself was devoid of new
games, so Plus 98 makes up with three entertaining games. Microsoft Golf, an advanced
solitaire game called Spider or the Tetris-like Lose Your Marbles can occupy time if
installed. But be wary, because some agency offices enforce a "no fun on government
time" rule.