by Ed Bott
If you were to walk up to a computer running Windows 98, you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish between it and a PC running Windows 95 with Internet Explorer 4.0. When you work with Windows 98 for even a few minutes, though, you'll feel the difference.
Only three years passed between the first release of Windows 95 and the debut of Windows 98, but it might as well have been a millennium as far as personal computers are concerned. CPUs are up to 10 times faster and cost one-third what they did three years ago. Gigabytes of storage and gobs of RAM are commonplace. Practically everyone has email. There are literally tens of thousands of applications that let you work and play on a Windows PC.
And, of course, there's the Internet. In 1995, the World Wide Web was still brand new, and the Internet was a gathering place for hard-core techies. Today, you can't pass a billboard or switch on a television without seeing a web address, and the Internet has become the defining technology of our time.
Taken together, those two changes define Windows 98. Because Internet Explorer 4.0 is tightly integrated into Windows 98, you won't need to install any additional software to access the World Wide Web. And Windows 98 also does a superb job of getting the most out of all the new types of hardware and software that have sprung up since 1995. Yes, this is an upgrade to Windows 95, but the list of significant improvements seems endless:
If you've grown accustomed to the Windows 95 interface, you'll see some changes in Windows 98. The Windows Desktop Update, first introduced with Internet Explorer 4.0 and standard in Windows 98, adds hundreds of improvements to the tools and techniques you use to manage files, folders, and programs in Windows. Most of the changes are simple refinements, but if you're willing to turn on some of the new options, you can radically change the way Windows works. For a full description of the changes to the Windows interface, including its many options, see Chapter 5, "An Overview of the Windows Desktop Update."
You'll notice a new Quick Launch toolbar just to the right of the Start button, for example. You can add your own shortcuts here to make it easier to get started with your favorite programs. The Start menu is also improved. Most notably, you can now reorganize items on the Programs menu by dragging them directly from one place to another.
Windows 95 offered the Windows Explorer for file management and a separate Internet Explorer for web browsing. Internet Explorer 4.0 brought the two Explorers into a single window, and Windows 98 incorporates that feature. If you prefer to browse files and folders using the single-click navigation techniques of Internet Explorer, you can configure Windows to work that way. And you can view any or all your folders using HTML templates so that they look and act like web pages.
TIP: Why would you want to treat your files like web pages? See Chapter 8, "Managing Files Using Web View," for a description of some of the benefits.
When you use Windows 98, you'll have ready access to the web. There's a new Favorites option on the Start menu, which lets you jump quickly to your favorite web sites. And if you turn on the Active Desktop, you can embed live HTML components (such as news or stock-quote tickers) or even entire web pages on the Windows desktop.
In a corporate setting, the Active Desktop can be a mixed blessing because of its ability to consume network bandwidth and the inevitable instabilities it adds to Windows. Fortunately, it's possible to disable virtually all the "active" features in Windows 98.
If you've used Netscape Navigator or previous versions of Internet Explorer, you're already familiar with the basic concepts of web browsing. Windows 98 includes the full suite of Internet applications Microsoft introduced with Internet Explorer 4.0. There's much more than just a web browser.
The single biggest objection to the Internet (at least for users with ordinary dial-up connections) is that it's too slow. IE4 addresses that concern by letting you set up web subscriptions, which you can use to download individual pages or entire web sites at regular intervals. Then, when you tell IE4 you'd like to work offline, you can browse the stored pages without dialing up and waiting for them to download.
You'll find it easier to find information on the Internet with IE4, and its tools enable you to organize that information more intelligently, too.
Corporate network administrators and individual users concerned with protecting PCs and servers from unauthorized access can fine-tune Internet Explorer's security settings. You can completely disable ActiveX controls and Java applets, for example, or shut down the browser's ability to run scripts. You can also define security zones that allow greater capabilities for pages on the corporate intranet than for those on the Internet. See Chapter 30, "Web Browsing with Internet Explorer 4.0," and Chapter 32, "Internet Security," for more details.
With Windows 98, Microsoft officially replaces the Windows 95-vintage Exchange Inbox with a new Internet-standard email program called Outlook Express. The new mail client software is easy to set up, easy to use, and easy to customize. If you receive large volumes of email, you'll appreciate the Inbox Assistant, which lets you define rules the software can use to automatically manage messages for you. Outlook Express also acts as a reader for accessing Internet news servers, like those that offer support for Microsoft products.
Windows 98 won't let you set up a web site that can compete with Yahoo!, but it does include basic tools you can use to create web pages. FrontPage Express is a graphical web-page editor that incorporates a subset of the features in Microsoft's award-winning FrontPage program.
Windows 98 also includes Personal Web Server software that lets users host a simple web site on a desktop PC. To publish HTML pages to any web server, use the built-in Web Publishing Wizard. Of course, you wouldn't want to use this software to run a commercial web site, but it's an ideal way to add intranet capabilities to a corporate network. It's also a useful tool for developing and testing web sites before posting the pages on a full-strength web server.
Chapter 37, "Using the Microsoft Personal Web Services," offers complete instructions for setting up a web server on a Windows 98 PC, configuring it for intranet access, and posting pages to the server. You'll learn more about Windows 98's web-page authoring capabilities in Chapter 36, "Creating Web Pages with FrontPage Express."
Maintaining the health of your PC is like visiting the dentist: Even highly motivated PC users do irksome maintenance chores less often than they should. Windows 98 can't supply extra motivation, but it does include software that automates some of the more unpleasant tasks. Most notable is the Tune-Up Wizard, which regularly scans local hard disks for errors, defragments disks, and cleans up unneeded files--all without requiring any work from you.
And if you've ever tried to troubleshoot a hardware or software problem using Windows 95, you've probably experienced information overload. With Windows 98, you'll find a new System Information tool that consolidates a wealth of data--about system resources, hardware, components, and running tasks--in a single location. This well-organized window is also a launching pad for other troubleshooting tools, such as the System File Checker (which undoes the damage when a crucial file becomes corrupted) and the Registry Checker (which automatically backs up your database of system settings for quick recovery in the event of trouble). And whenever Microsoft issues a Windows patch, you can install it automatically by clicking the Windows Update icon. (See Chapter 16, "Maintaining and Troubleshooting Your System.")
Previous versions of Windows offered no way to recover from such system disasters as a hard disk crash. Windows 98, however, includes a new, easier-to-use Backup program. If you use Backup in conjunction with the new System Recovery utility, you can completely restore a system's configuration if necessary. Chapter 18, "Backing Up Your Data," offers step-by-step instructions for using these new features.
The preferred way of adjusting most Windows settings is to use the Control Panel. Sometimes, however, you have no alternative but to edit the Windows Registry directly. Navigating through the six main Registry keys can be a daunting process, and if you make a mistake, the results are potentially disastrous. For a comprehensive overview of safe and effective ways to use the Registry Editor, see Chapter 19, "Working with the Windows Registry."
If you've installed Windows 98 at home, you're probably expecting your PC to work hard and play hard. For game players, there's DirectX5 technology and MMX support, two technologies that make multimedia more appealing. In addition, the broadcast architecture components let you watch TV on your PC (if you have compatible hardware, of course).
Are you concerned about setting up a single PC that every member of the family can use? The Family Logon option lets you create custom desktops for everyone, and you can use IE4's Content Advisor to block access to web sites that contain violence, pornography, or other material you deem undesirable.
In a corporate setting, you're most likely to be concerned with getting Windows 98 to work smoothly with an existing network. From an administrator's viewpoint, Windows 98 doesn't look dramatically different from Windows 95--although it's smoother in operation. You'll find support for many more network cards, for example, and you'll find it easier to connect with Windows NT or NetWare networks. Windows 98 also makes it easier to configure a TCP/IP connection (the default protocol in Windows 98), eliminating the sometimes tortuous steps that Windows 95 required. See Chapter 38, "Configuring Windows Network Components," and Chapter 42, "Setting Up a Simple Windows Network" for more details on basic network setup.
How do you manage Windows 98 PCs on a network? The operating system includes a collection of tools, services, and utilities that let network administrators view and edit the Windows Registry, inspect system configurations, and perform other essential administrative tasks from a distance. Chapter 41, "Windows 98 Network Administration," offers a complete set of tips and techniques intended especially for administrators of corporate networks. l
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