A regression took place during the upgrade between Windows 95 and Windows 98. The Windows 98 shell is arguably much less stable than its older, yet still fully featured brother. While the actual kernel of Windows was improved, the shell became even more unstable than the original Windows 3.1 shell. Random crashes are common, to the point where Windows 98 has to be reinstalled nearly twice as often as Windows 95. In some common configurations, the Windows 98 shell will even continuously crash itself! In this article, I will discuss the variety of ways you can stabilize the Windows 98 shell, and for Windows 95 users - or those that remain unsatisfied with the stability and speed of their system - other shell alternatives will also be discussed.
Stabilizing the Windows 98 Shell
This is the easiest way to improve the stability of Windows 98. Begin with installing IE 5.0. This version of Internet Explorer is much more stable and also easier to separate from Windows 98 - not to mention it has a lot of really cool new features. Installing IE 5.0 on top of the Windows 95 shell should not be a problem, but it is better to be safe rather than sorry.
I used to tell you how to do this operation manually, but Shane Brooks has improved his programs so much since the first article that I now find the exercise pointless. This program is called 98Lite and it can be found at 98Lite.net. I personally recommend the PRO version - it only costs 25 dollars and adds a huge number of functions to the already excellent [free] 98Lite software. This program now optimizes and automates EVERY conceivable way of stabilizing the Windows 98 shell, and the PRO version allows the users to even determine which, if any, features from the Windows 98 shell they want to keep!
Here's a list of the things that 98Lite will let you do:
Remove IE from your system
Separate IE from your OS
Change standard Windows features into options you can remove *
Remove the MS HTML engine from Windows 98 entirely (less than 70 Mb. Total) *
Choose which parts of the new Windows 98 shell to keep and which to ditch *
Lay the Win95 shell on Win98 for maximum stability and performance
Install Windows 98 or Win98 SE without IE ever hitting your hard drive *
* - Available only and/or expanded in the PRO version
Impressive huh? The entire program is automated and very easy to use - so I won't go into any further details (unless I get enough requests, anyway). One thing I'd like to mention, however. If you have your autoexec.bat file set to delete your temp directory on reboot, REM out the line before you proceed with using 98Lite.
Exactly what do you get for your trouble?
You might be asking yourself, is it really worth all of this trouble? I mean, hell, if anything goes wrong with this configuration, you may not have a support base any longer (however, Microsoft will continue to support 98Lite installations unless you overlay the Win95 shell over Win98) and you could very well introduce new bugs into Windows 98 using this method. And I'll be honest with you, I ran some 3D and business benchmarks, and there was no substantial performance increase. So what gives? After trying it out on windows 98 with win98 shell with ie4 removed at time of installation I got speed and stability. With single click and other features kept working. I installed ie5 on top of it and voila it worked just as fine and stable. It is worth the trouble.
The Importance of Current Drivers
Keeping your drivers up to date can make or break your system. Newer drivers are generally faster and more stable, not to mention that they often support new features.
To freshen up your drivers, begin by going to Windows Update and clicking on the device drivers link. This little area of the web site will check your drivers against the versions that Microsoft supports, and will update any drivers that need to be.
Next step would be to go to your computer manufacturer's web site and check for the newest drivers they have there. Many times, these drivers will be more up to date than the ones that Microsoft has access to. Another bonus of working with your manufacturer's site is that any drivers that you download off their web site, they are required to support.
You could also go to the manufacturer's web site for each specific component and download their newest drivers. Generally these drivers will be based on the newest internal driver builds, but remember that these drivers, while faster, may not necessarily be any more stable. In fact, some of these drivers are less stable than their older cousins. So if you are planning on using these drivers (especially if they are called beta), make sure you keep a copy of your older drivers to fall back on if there is a problem.
If you are having trouble finding your manufacturer's web site, check out Drivers Headquarters or WinDrivers. They have links to drivers for almost every piece of hardware made in the past few years and some of them go back to Win3.1.
System Cleanup Utilities
Commercial system cleanup and optimization packages are the big thing these days. Norton's Systemworks, First Aid, Nuts & Bolts, Safe & Sound, and other such products are out on the market vying for your dollars. The good news for consumers is that because of the large amount of competition, new features are being added all the time. Honestly, you'd think by that by this point, these packages would be full of stuff that optimizes your system - but you'd be wrong.
After testing copies of Nuts & Bolts, Safe & Sound, First Aid, and Norton's Systemworks, I would have to give them a thumbs down. That's not to say they are totally ineffective - the stuff that works, works well. It's just that there isn't enough of the stuff that works, and too much of the stuff that doesn't. Take, for example, the disk defragmenter. Each of these packages come with an excellent disk defragmenter. Not only do they defragment the files, but they also optimize their placement on the hard disk and make sure that the swap file it placed on the fastest part of the drive. The problem is, the disk defragmenter that comes with Windows 98 does the same thing - albeit at half the speed.
The emergency disk that the majority of these programs create do their job well enough, but except for the virus scanning capabilities, they are nearly identical to the startup disk created by Windows 98 - and in some cases, the Windows 98 disk is better.
But that doesn't explain what is so bad about these packages - it just shows places where they could be improved with extra features. The most current package I tested was a copy of Norton's Systemworks. The program touts a registry cleaner that looks impressive. In fact, it detected 80+ entries that were no longer viable. The problem was, it only let me delete two of them. And here's why: most of the other errant entries had been created by the package itself! I don't know why this mattered - they were, after all, errant entries but the program determined that they shouldn't be deleted - and apparently what the program says is gospel, because for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to delete them. There may very well be a way to do it; but if there is, I couldn't find it.
That wasn't the only flaw in the program, however. At one point, its "Crashguard" crashed my system. Yes, you heard me right - and it wasn't just some little shell crash, either - it required a full reboot.
Ok, I know it sounds like I'm taking it hard on Norton's package, but in reality, all of the packages had similar problems. Let's take Nuts and Bolts 98 for example. A launch accelerator is included in this package and, believe it or not, it actually does work. What it doesn't tell you, however, is that in exchange for the extra launch speed, you give up a large amount of system resources that are devoted to a database of quick-load information. If you work with office applications every day, it might be worth your while, but otherwise, it's something to avoid like the plague.
And be warned, any package that touts "RAM-doubling capabilities" or some other such nonsense, is actually compressing the information in the RAM so it can stuff more in - in exchange for speed. Once again, if all you are working with is business apps, this is fine - but for gamers like myself, not a chance.
My recommendation, if you are out to buy a virus scanner, these packages cost just about the same as a stand-alone scanner, so you might as well get one. Otherwise, avoid these packages and take the steps mentioned in this article for a faster, more stable system.
Booting CD Rom System Cleanup CPU & Motherboard Hard Disk Sound Card
Modem Monitor Mouse System Enhancements Windows Shell
Some part of this document is taken from www.tweak3d.net and www.pcguide.com.
