Win98 vs Win98 SE

I'm putting together PC's to donate to local charities. I typically do
not get the media from the original owner ( or anything else other than
a keyboard or a mouse) so rather than doing a clean install I usually
have to go thru it and strip off any personal info/ ms office apps and
then run spyware cleaners /ccleaner etc to get it "unpersonalized" (
close to back to factory settings) . I then go to windowsupdate and get
whatever I can updated.

Today I got a Dell R400 that has Win98 ( not SE) , with Media Player 6.
When I tried to update I got a message - "no can do ". It's got to be
Win98SE to get a lot of the updates. I never owned a Win98 PC so I'm not
sure of the differences. I do have an old Dell Win98SE factory CD ( not
sure which Pc it came from). Is that an "upgrade" to whatever's on
there? or is that a complete new install ? Is Win98SE a 2 minute
upgrade to Win98 or a complete OS that needs its own license , may/may
not install, etc

Anyone been here before ?

 

Maybe this helps. I have original discs 98 and SE. SE is a complete
install and will
accept updates and other additional programs from the internet
for which 98 is not eligible. k35454.


I'm putting together PC's to donate to local charities. I typically do
not get the media from the original owner ( or anything else other than
a keyboard or a mouse) so rather than doing a clean install I usually
have to go thru it and strip off any personal info/ ms office apps and
then run spyware cleaners /ccleaner etc to get it "unpersonalized" (
close to back to factory settings) . I then go to windowsupdate and get
whatever I can updated.

Today I got a Dell R400 that has Win98 ( not SE) , with Media Player 6.
When I tried to update I got a message - "no can do ". It's got to be
Win98SE to get a lot of the updates. I never owned a Win98 PC so I'm not
sure of the differences. I do have an old Dell Win98SE factory CD ( not
sure which Pc it came from). Is that an "upgrade" to whatever's on
there? or is that a complete new install ? Is Win98SE a 2 minute
upgrade to Win98 or a complete OS that needs its own license , may/may
not install, etc

Anyone been here before ?

 

Win98 or Win98SE are like win95a and win95b, it's a newer version of
the operating system.
A win98 or a Win98SE CD is not an upgrade CD unless it says so. And a
win98 upgrade cd is intended for upgrading from Win95, but could
probably work for a lower version of the same OS. e.g. upgrading Win98
to Win98 SE.

Your Win98SE CD is a fresh install, unless it says upgrade

Also, know this.

Dell Windows CDs have Dell serial numbers. And if you do install
drivers, you really want not just the Dell windows CD, but the Dell
driver CD (perhaps called something like dell service cd). As an
alternative to the Dell driver cd, you can go online to get the drivers
, you go to the dell site and enter the dell tag - written on the case
- and it'll give you drivesr.

But a Dell driver CD Is better 'cos it interrogates the system and give
syou the exact drivers you need. The website may show you more drivers
than you need, and some are wrong drivers, with no indication on the
site that the drivers are wrong. This is true when I messed with
getting drivers off dell in 2005.

if you do a fresh windows install on a dell , you'll certainly need the
dell driver cd or go to the website and download the drivers - a bit
more hassle .

 

Ok, thanks for the info That was really my concern: I don't know which
drivers are on the site and if I COULD upgrade to SE using the drivers
that I have - fine, but if I'm not sure, I'm not gonna try and maybe
end up with a boat anchor. I think I'll just donate as-is and if they
want/need to, they can upgrade it as THEY might have a free (charitable)
license for... 98 or Win2000 but I have none. In the meantime it is a
useful Pc for someone.

 

that doesn't make much sense but your conclusion is fine ;-)

Drivers that work for 98 work for 98SE too.
Avoid the term upgrade if you are not using a "windows upgrade CD".
It's too ambiguous.

The drivers on the site will be alright, you do enter the "service tag"
(number on your dell). So it identifies all the drivers you need + one
or two you don't want. But as you said, you don't need to bother with
the driver cd at all if you just leave it as it is.

yeah, it will be.
Windows 98 (even not SE) is fine. The problem with 98 (SE or not) is
it doesn't have a firewall. It is good enough behind a router though.
And that's the typical way people connect to the internet nowadays.

I don' t suggest installing typical firewall software (PFW - personal
firewall) on it. e.g. zone alarm, sygate, . It'd make it harder to
use. Not suitable for somebody buying a free computer. And PFWs aren't
that good anyway.

Win XP has a nice built in firewall for blocking incoming, which is
important - though it is more likely to be taken down by e.g. a browser
exploit. But a router is alright, it'll block incoming too.

If they are using "dial up" then they probably won't be behind a
router, and it's a bit too insecure.

You may want to install Mozilla or some other browser. Not internet
explorer. That is one of the best things you can do. For security's
sake. It's important, especially if you have adventurous browsers

security should be your only thought as regards updates. and you don't
need any updates, just thought as to provisions like the above. e.g.
diff browser.

 

I'm 90% sure on that!

considering that typically drivers work for Win9X (win95,98) . Or maybe
that's just nowadays.. Anybody?

 

What I meant was... there are some pc cards in the box ( Aztek isa sound
card and a DEC205 nic ) for which drivers probably don't come on a
win98CD or at the dell site. That's why if it involves "wiping the
current OS and then installing a new version of 98", I'd rather leave
as-is, since they currently work fine. If THEY want to replace the
current OS , the charity can do it at their site.

I'll drop them off today.
Thanks to everyone.

 

update - I gave away 4 pc's and got 2 more in - trying to clean them
up/get donor's info off them.
On a clone, the HDD was toast so I put a spare drive into it - the drive
had Dell's Win98 on it.
I figured I'd wipe it out and reinstall so I booted from storebought
Win98SE CD and chose new install. I got a few warnings "no going back"
type messages - I clicked OK. The install goes for 4-5 minutes and then
I get

" Warning SU0168
Your computer already has an operating system installed, which cannot be
upgraded by this version of Setup. Please obtain the Windows 98
Upgrade." I wasn't trying to upgrade which is WHY I chose the "full
install CD".

I see a workaround at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/225252/EN-US/

I'll try what they suggest ( although I'm not going from 95 to 98 I'll
look for similiar files) or fdisk and reformat , but any ideas as to WHY
I got that message when I did not ask to update ? Just so I "get it"
and will know in the future.

Thanks,
Bobb

 

I understand that Dell and others have a special, hidden section on
the hard drives that acts in concert with their version of the BIOS.
That is what "proprietary" means, and i interpret it as "lock the
customer to our expensive crap".

 

But when I use a store-bought CD, and choose new install, why does
microsoft consider that an "UPGRADE" and not iverwrite everything on the
drive ( as I elected from their menu) ?
BTW I did try the workaround - failed so I did an fdisk and reformat
then install went fine.

 

When (most versions of a particular MS OS) "see" any version of MS
GUI, it is considered an "upgrade" even if the version is exactly the same.
I say "versions" because (say) you got Win2K; versions (or variants)
may be OEM, retail upgrade, retail full, retail professional, corporate
upgrade, corporate full, and who knows what else.
And they all act differently at some time in the installation phase.
Some cannot be used to upgrade an older OS, some can be used only to
upgrade from an older OS or same OS, etc.
And a quick look at the CD is, in many cases insufficent to determine
what you really have.
And if you have not used a number of these variants, you will not be
aware of those differences.
It is a mess that will continue...

 

So IF a HDD has an OS on it , AND I buy the full version of the new OS,
it wouldn't work ?
( if I didn't know how to format/manipulate what's there ? ) Just asking
from "an average person's" point of view. That seems unbelievable -
wouldn't MOST people buying an OS off the shelf be installing it on a PC
with an OS on there ? I can see that if you HAD an OS it would be
cheaper to buy the upgrade, (I've done that) but if you wanted to start
fresh, the install CD doesn't even give the option to "Erase what is
there?" and start fresh - very strange.
I'll accept it as fact but seems crazy that it wouldn't at least state:
" This HDD has an OS on it - are you sure that you want to overwrite
it?"
Bobb

 

A newer release of Linux is an option also, instead of Win98 SE.