# Windows 98 in 2021



## Satisfoxy (Sep 25, 2021)

Hello! I just wanted to let people know that its still possible to use Windows 98 in 2021, at least for basic stuff.

Computer: Dell OptiPlex GX1
OS: Windows 98 Second Edition w/Unofficial SP3 & Plus! 98
CPU: Pentium 3 @ 450MHz
RAM: 128MB
Graphics Card: Nvidia TNT w/16MB
Web Browser: Internet Explorer 6

Search Engine: frogfind.com
News: 68k.news
Office: Microsoft Office 97' Professional

You can make a shared folder that can be accessed from Windows 10 over the network, which will allow you to transfer files easily to it.
If you need drivers a handy-dandy USB floppy & CD burner on a modern computer takes care of that problem.


----------



## Outré (Oct 1, 2021)

I’ve been so tempted to install windows 98 just so that I can experience upgrading to windows me again.


----------



## Matt the Terrier (Oct 1, 2021)

We've got a Gateway tower down in the basement that uses Windows 98. We literally only use it to play older PC games, and that's it. It's completely disconnected from the internet, and it's probably going to stay disconnected.


----------



## Kellan Meig'h (Oct 18, 2021)

Win98 was okay, for the day. That was probably my fourth or fifth OS that we used at home and at our family contracting business. I thnk we used 98 SE variant. Yeah, nowadays, don't connect that to the 'net; it's so riddled full of holes a script kiddie can get into your box and have fun.

I still have Windows 1(?) on an old IBM desktop - actually, it just has a build number. Runs on DOS 1.0 okay, better on DOS 3.0. Fire it up, type WIN then return, go make coffee plus a sandwich, and it still hasn't booted fully when you get back. We thought that Window$ GUI system was really great back then  . . . right!


----------



## Mambi (Oct 18, 2021)

Satisfoxy said:


> Hello! I just wanted to let people know that its still possible to use Windows 98 in 2021, at least for basic stuff.
> 
> Computer: Dell OptiPlex GX1
> OS: Windows 98 Second Edition w/Unofficial SP3 & Plus! 98
> ...



I use it all the time in a virtual environment. It lets me talk to older hardware, and is so obsolete that most modern hacks simply don't ever think you'll be using something so archaic and therefore it isn't written to be compatible. Funny to watch some scripts on webpages just wither and die as you try to load them._ <giggle>_


----------



## ben909 (Oct 18, 2021)

you measure ib M not G...


----------



## Outré (Oct 18, 2021)

The thing I like best about pretty much any version of windows is that I don’t use it.


----------



## SnowBorne (Oct 18, 2021)

im installing windows 2000 right now i just bricked windows me lol


----------



## Outré (Oct 18, 2021)

Why not Windows NT 4.0?


----------



## SnowBorne (Oct 19, 2021)

SnowBorne said:


> im installing windows 2000 right now i just bricked windows me lol


Never mind didnt work so im back on windows me and i also replaced the HDD


----------



## SnowBorne (Oct 19, 2021)

Stay Fluft said:


> Why not Windows NT 4.0?


NT 4.0 is good but the usb drivers are pain to get to work


----------



## KesTheWolf (Oct 23, 2021)

Windows 98 is fine if you don't do stuff online.  Microsoft end-of-life'd Win 98 years ago and no longer provides security updates to the OS.  Thus, it is a massive security risk to go online with Windows 98.

Note that Windows 7 will be end-of-life'd by Microsoft in 2023... so you may want to updated to a later OS at some point.


----------



## Khafra (Oct 27, 2021)

I have no doubt you _can_ still use Windows 98 or XP as of today, and probably for many years to come as well.
The better question is, _why._


----------



## Pomorek (Oct 28, 2021)

KesTheWolf said:


> it is a massive security risk to go online with Windows 98.


I beg to differ. Logically speaking, malware needs to assume a target operating system, or a range of them. I find it hard to imagine a malware being in active circulation in 2021 that would target a system EOLed since 15 years which has at most a small fraction of % of users online. Sure there are "ancient" features in Windows design retained to this day, which could be used for an attack by modern malware on an older Windows version, but do they reach _that _far back into the past?

As to more directed attacks, they would have to be motivated by existence of some obscure-but-juicy targets still running Win 98 (bank systems in third world countries??? just guessing...), I haven't heard of anything like that. Of course you could theoretically attract the attention of a script kiddie (_provided he could find you to begin with_), but even then, what could he do? Erase your copy of Quake? I wonder if any truly vulnerable thing, such as online banking, would even agree to function on Win 98 these days.

Now, I may be wrong, I don't have a Win 98 machine handy to perform any testing, but...



KesTheWolf said:


> Note that Windows 7 will be end-of-life'd by Microsoft in 2023... so you may want to updated to a later OS at some point.


Isn't it EOLed since early 2020 actually? 2023 being available only for paying corporate customers.

Personally I keep Win 7 on my old-ish but still good PC, using in only for games (I have Linux for everything else). There's a basic free antivirus installed and I'm getting no problems with it at all. Moreover, in work situations I encountered production systems, connected to the internet, running Win 7 because of old-ass hardware/software/other specific needs. Sure it shouldn't be like this but world ain't perfect. Now, you'd think these systems should be infected like no tomorrow, I thought so too - but nope, zero issues. Overall, while attacks on unpatched systems are a serious thing beyond any doubt, I wonder if the fear for security of _outdated systems proper_ isn't fostered by Microsoft to increase its sales.

EDIT: this is not to say that one should be careless with old systems, but IMO they can work pretty fine with some caution, and causing them _massive _risk goes too far. If anything, zero-day exploit on Win 10 is much worse than that.


----------

