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Windows 98 Special Features
Introduction to Windows 98 features
Key Topics
Windows Installation
Checking for Anti-Virus Programs
Expanded Internet Capabilities
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
Windows 98 Internet Features
Windows 98 Desktop Settings
Custom Settings Options
Supports Multiple Monitors
Converting to FAT32
Expanded Hardware Capability in
Windows 98
System Information
Dr Watson
Registry Checker
Maintenance Wizard
Windows Help
Question
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Windows 98 generally has the
same engine as windows 95 but has made improvements by adding a number of
components which make the environment more interactive, faster, easier to
use, more up to date with technical developments, automated maintenance
and recovery
features, more informative and
internet ready.
-
The Windows 98 improvements
over windows 95 include:
-
Easier Installation
-
Less steps in the
installation
, better CAB
file organization, and Anti
Virus checker.
-
Enhances internet
capabilities
-
Added tools for the internet,
Internet
connection Wizard
-
Improved Display capabilities
-
Dual monitor Support
.
-
More comprehensive hardware
support
-
Extended
hardware support, Support
for FAT 32
-
Added maintenance and
troubleshooting
tools
-
System information
, maintenance wizard, DR Watson, Registry checker, Windows help.
-
Windows 98 has improved its
installation
performance
by making the process more
automated, informative and has reduced the interaction of the user
throughout the installation.
-
Windows 98 has reduced the
number of steps for installation
from 11 steps to 5 steps.
-
The information
required from the user is
gathered at the beginning of the installation
and the rest of the
installation is fully automated.
-
The installation
improvements are :
-
Installation steps have been
reduced to 5 steps
-
An anti-virus
program checker has been added
before installation
begins.
-
The CAB
source files
have been better organized
.
-
The hardware detection
process caters for more modern
hardware and a wider range of hardware.
-
An accurate information
bar has been added for user
-
An anti-virus
program contains TSR’s
(Terminate and Stay Resident)
components designed to protect the boot sector against any changes.
-
This feature of anti-virus
programs
could cause your installation
to fail in mid process since
installation would inevitably result in boot sector changes.
-
The anti-virus
checker checks for active anti
virus programs
at the beginning of the
installation
and informs you to disable the
TSR before installation could proceed.
-
Windows 98 has a number of web
components built in to it,
which caused a big controversy for Microsoft when it was launched.
-
The web
features added to the Windows
environment include the
-
Internet
Explorer
IE4 browser
,
-
Outlook Express
for viewing, creating emails,
and sending emails, and communicating with newsgroups.
-
Net Meeting used for hosting
and attending an Internet
conference using your system
microphone, speakers
, web
cam, and other tools.
Internet
Connection
Sharing
(ICS
)
-
You can allow several computers
to access the Internet
through a single fast Internet
connection using ICS
.
-
The computer which has ICS
installed on it has direct
access to the Internet
and provides a pathway for the
other computers in the local LAN
to access the Internet.
-
GUI was changed to a web
oriented user interface
.
-
Built in internet explorer
features on desktop which make the windows environment look more like a
browser
including single click rather
then double click, open all windows in single window etc.
-
The user can opt to use the new
web
environment or the old default
classic style of windows desktop.
-
There are three possible
desktop settings within Windows 98:
-
Web
Style
, which make your environment, respond like a browser
. Allow you to use a single click hyperlink option.
-
Classic
Style
that is the Windows 95
standard desktop setup. Double click on icons by default to run
applications
.
-
Custom
, which is a hybrid between Web Style
and Classic style that can be
set by the windows user.
Custom
Settings
Options
-
You can set:
-
The desktop to active or
classic,
-
Your browse folder to open each
folder in the same window or its own individual window,
-
You can view web
contents in folders
with HTML
or identified web pages.
-
Open object by single clicking
or double clicking on the object.
-
You can expand your work area
using multiple monitors that is useful in graphical tasks.
-
You can use the application on
one screen and yet have your main window open on another screen.
-
There are several steps
involved in having a dual screen setup in windows 98:
-
Install a second SVGA
card on your system preferably
a PCI
card; ISA
cards may not operate for this
dual Monitor function.
-
When windows 98 starts up, it
will detect your second SVGA
card and plug and play will
install the appropriate drivers
.
-
Once windows recognizes the
second SVGA
card it will activate the
card, which can then be configured to expand the screen by configuring the
display properties
-
Since FAT32
is a more efficient filing
system than FAT16
, it will be advantageous to convert
to a FAT32 filing system in
drives larger then 512MB that are not dual booting between DOS
and Windows.
-
You can convert
to FAT32
in two separate ways: a) Run
Windows 9x FDISK.EXE
utility which means all data
is lost and then install Windows 9x b) use the convert tool
inside Windows 9x which is
demonstrated next.
-
System information
is a windows 98 utility
providing you with detailed information about your system resource usage
including CPU
, RAM
and hard drive
resource usage.
-
System information
also has built-in tools
including:
-
Skip Driver
-
Skips drivers
, prevent windows from loading some selected drivers and logs them in
ASD.LOG file.
-
Registry Checker
-
Backup
and recovers the registry
-
System Configuration
-
Modify configuration
temporarily during troubleshooting
.
-
System File Checker
-
Scans for corrupted or lost
system files
and recovers them from the
windows CD
.
-
Dr Watson
is a utility provided by
windows to monitor and record system and program errors
.
-
Dr Watson
records all its coded
information
that can be checked with
WWW.Support.Microsoft.Com in different files
located in \WINDOWS\DRWATSON\
folder on your hard drive
.
-
The File names are generated
automatically using the following format
WatsonXX.WLG where XX is an
incrementing number.
-
The registry
checker is a tool provided by
Windows 98 to make repeated daily backups of the registry in the WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP
folder, and to repair a corrupted registry files
.
-
To access these backup files
you must use the startup
disk to boot and be in real
mode
, and then you can try the following options of SCANREG.
-
SCANREG/RESTORE Restores
registry
from backup
-
SCANREG/FIX Repairs a
corrupted registry
-
SCANREG/BACKUP makes
new registry
backup, only use when the
registry has no problems.
-
SCANREG/OPT optimizes the
registry
making its file size smaller
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RUNNING
MAINTENANCE WIZARD
-
Click on Start
à
ProgramsàAccessories
à
System ToolsàMaintenance Wizard
.
-
On the Maintenance Wizard
screen, you can select
Express
or Custom
.
-
Choose the Express
radio
button and click on Next.
-
On the Select a
Maintenance Schedule
section night,- midnight
to 3:00 am and click on next.
-
On the Windows will
perform the following tasks: Windows notice the three tasks checked,
-
Speedup your most
frequently used programs
-
Check hard disk for
errors
-
Delete unnecessary files
from hard disk and click
ok to finish.
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Windows help is a database of
all information
related to windows clearly
explained.
-
Windows 98 also has
troubleshooting
information
that guides you step by step
to diagnosing your most common hardware problem and also eliminating the
problem.
-
This comprehensive help will
ask you questions and diagnoses you problem from your responses, and also
links you to the place where changes need to be made in the system.
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