ere's the skinny on Windows 98: Microsoft's new operating system is really great, but wait a few months before buying it to upgrade your computer. If you are buying a new machine, don't opt for Windows 98 unless it is preinstalled on the model you want.
For the last few weeks I've been running Windows 98 (a prerelease version made available April 1) on my Sony laptop computer and loving it. The main reason is speed: Windows 98 really does start up faster, shut down faster, and launch applications faster than Windows 95. And the performance speed-up is more than skin deep: Programs like Word '97 and Outlook Express also ran noticeably faster once Win98 was installed.
But while I'm happy now, I wasn't happy at first. As soon as I installed Win98, my track-pad started acting strangely, and my laptop wouldn't go into ''suspend'' mode. I tried to install Win98 on another computer, and it wouldn't even ''boot'' after the 60-minute installation was finished.
The problem wasn't with Windows 98, but with the hardware device drivers for my laptop and desktop machines. Although Windows 98 is supposed to work with the latest version of most drivers - software that acts as a go-between for peripherals like modems and printers and the computer - it seems to be less tolerant of older drivers - presumably ones that have bugs. So if you are thinking about upgrading, be sure that you have downloaded and installed the most recent device driver for your mouse, video card, network card, and other interfaces before you start the upgrade process.
Even then, be prepared for the worst: I found that the only way that I could get my laptop to go into suspend mode after installing Windows 98 was by disabling the infrared port and the game port - apparently they don't properly support Microsoft's new advanced power management.
A few minutes into the Windows 98 installation, your computer will ask you if you want to save your computer's current configuration so that Windows 98 can be uninstalled in the event of a problem. The uninstall information takes about 100 megabytes of space on the disk, meaning that you'll need more than 200 megabytes of free space for the entire process. But this additional storage is space well spent: being able to uninstall Windows 98 from a bootable floppy is a huge safety-net.
While most of the press attention on Windows 98 has been about the integration of Internet Explorer with the Windows shell, I'm far more impressed by strides Microsoft has made in building a system that is easier to use and maintain. For example, Windows now has a Disk Cleanup wizard that automatically wakes up when the system is low on disk space and recommends files that you can delete - like those 100 megabytes of files you needed to revert back to Windows 95. And there is now a Windows Update wizard that will automatically go to the Web and see if program updates or new versions of device drivers have been released. If they have, the wizard can automatically download and install them for you.
If you should pull the plug on your computer, Windows 95 would ask you if you wanted to run the Scandisk program to fix the disk, then ask you lots of questions as each error was corrected. From a useability point of view, this was a huge mistake: Why would somebody not want to fix their hard drive? Windows 98 also runs Scandisk after a crash, but it fixes every problem it finds without asking permission. The new operating system also has a Registry Checker that looks for and fixes Registry problems.
Windows 98 now comes with a built-in screen magnifier. Designed for people with vision impairments, this program splits your computer screen, turning the top half into a magnified version of the bottom that automatically follows the cursor as you type. And a new Accessibility Wizard can guide you through the somewhat bewildering range of options of other accessibility features, such as using larger screen fonts and scroll bars, or substituting screen flashes for sound output.
Windows 98 has built-in support for Universal Serial Bus, the new high-speed method for easily connecting everything from printers to floppy disks to video cameras to the computer. With Microsoft finally supporting USB, we're likely to see more and more USB devices becoming available over the next year. That's great news for consumers, who for the first-time will be able to add high-speed devices to their computers without using a screwdriver.
There are a few things that I can't stand about Windows 98. The first is the excessive use of tool tips, those rectangular captions that appear in Word and other applications when the mouse cursor hovers over an icon or button. Windows 98 puts a tool tip over the minimize, maximize, and close buttons that are in the upper-right hand corner of every window. Tool tips come up instantly, they are terribly distracting, and there is no way to turn them off! Enough already!
Another really annoying feature is the way Windows 98 animates those tool tips, as well as all other menus, lists, and the Start button. Instead of simply appearing, as they do under Windows 95, menus now slide onto the screen. Not only is this distracting, it actually takes more time than the old way of doing things. And while you can turn this feature off, on my version of Windows 98 it keeps turning itself back on.
But overall, I'm really thrilled with Windows 98. Nevertheless, if you do want to upgrade, take my advice and wait a few months. Not only will more drivers be available, but it's likely that the price for the upgrade will have dropped.
Technology writer Simson L. Garfinkel can be reached at plugged-in@simson.net
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