Wunderbar98

Regarding Dillo and the built-in Google search engine, most results will display a 'cached' link. Cached links will allow Dillo to view the intended page, which may otherwise be inaccessible due to lack of JavaScript functionality or outdated security protocols. So if a search result link does not load the regular way, view the cached document and thank Google. After all this if a site still does not work i just move on to the next site. Even in GNU/Linux i rarely run JavaScript, there's plenty of information available to read and learn. A HOSTS file can make browsing more pleasant and safer. Without JavaScript running it's not as big an issue, but it will prevent a lot of gargbage coming through. Windows 98 has a C:\Windows\HOSTS.SAM file, this is a SAMple file. To activate a custom HOSTS file, copy HOSTS.SAM to C:\Windows\HOSTS and apply relevant entries. Blocked entries should point to 0.0.0.0. I got my list from MVPS, there are alternatives. If manually updating the HOSTS file, use Wordpad to handle the large file. Not sure if a modified HOSTS file works in real time, reboot. Try to load a few entries in a browser for testing, the site should immediately be inaccessible. Using the same hardware and other OS, including GNU/Linux, a large host file like MVPS will almost cripple internet usage. With Windows 98 there is no obvious slowdown. Is the internet safe in Windows 98? Is anything safe? Running a firewall, no JavaScript, enabling safer browser settings, using a HOSTS file, maybe not so bad. Although limited, Dillo is probably one of the safest browsers around. As the code base is small and simpler, there's less room for bugs and problems. By default it doesn't even keep cookies. If running a newer version of Firefox, for example, entering 'about:config' and reviewing built-in 'http' entries doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy.

Still on a Windows 98 in 2019 internet kick. Tried several bonus browsers, fondly remember Netscape Navigator and finally tried the DOS Arachne browser. This site has an outdated certificate as far as SeaMonkey v1.1.19 is concerned (expired earlier 2019). On SeaMonkey log in and use of this site is pretty good with JavaScript disabled. Changing View -> User Style to 'None' is required for the login information to properly display. Then change back to 'Default style' for the rest of the forum session until sign-out. As most of the built-in SeaMonkey certificates are now outdated, this will blank all trust settings. Go to Preferences -> Certificates -> Manage Certificates -> Authorities tab. Select all entries (click top, hold shift, click bottom) and click 'Delete'. When this popup is re-opened the default entries remain, but if you click an object token and select 'Edit', all trust settings have been cleared. So to SeaMonkey these certificates are no longer 'active'. Alternatively view each certificate individually and delete/reset outdated ones. Then when browsing you need to manually update individual certificates based on the pop-ups, which get added for management under the 'Web Sites' tab. Also in SeaMonkey there are a lot of popups to clear if the system does not have the required security protocols. Due to these hassles, SeaMonkey might be okay for visiting a few select workable sites, otherwise i stick with Dillo. This old SeaMonkey does not have an easy way to quick clear cache and cookies (multiple preference menu entries) so i run this script after exit. Still learning DOS, forgive if primitive: :: CLEANUP.BAT :: SeaMonkey DELTREE /Y "C:\WINDOWS\Mozilla\Profiles\default\Cache\*" DEL "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\kchn3v5h.slt\cookies.txt" DEL "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\kchn3v5h.slt\downloads.rdf" DEL "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\kchn3v5h.slt\history.dat" :: Other DELTREE "C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\*"

Hi jaclaz. Thanks for your post, nice meeting you. Agreed. As with all dual or multi-boot systems, there's a lot of booting going on. In addition to the advantages posted earlier, there is NO need to alter the MBR. For a tech savvy user like yourself, this may be a non-issue. From the perspective of a non-technical user who owns an old Windows 98 system collecting dust, it's a great way to increase functionality of the machine. Messing with PUPPY.BAT or even AUTOEXEC.BAT isn't going to lock out a user, as these files are processed after the F8 key safe mode boot, so little can go wrong. Most inexperienced users won't want to mess with MBR, for good reason, as it can result in a non-bootable system. Modifying a few *.bat files is easier than repairng MBR. If the MBR is not repairable and the user no longer owns the Windows 98 install CD or key, they are stuck.

Retrozilla v2.2 is pretty nice, spent some time with it. Read the long development thread too, hopefully if the developers have energy they will resume the effort. I have several coding projects on the go and know the feeling. Usually when a project is ~75% done, hit a wall, don't feel much like keeping on as most of the original challenge and joy is gone, now it's just work. RZ appears to run best with JavaScript disabled, probably the only reasonably safe way to browse in Windows 98 now anyway. The cert8.db file was same byte count as stock SeaMonkey v1.1.19 and appear outdated. Running both browsers, now my SeaMonkey system tray icon is the same as RZ, maybe some strange profile crossover. Tiny Personal Firewall notified of 'System' incoming and outgoing packets and incoming alert for 'TCPIP' kernel driver. Haven't pinpointed the issue but appears to be related to running these browsers. Cleared all about:config http entries that might call home, deleted all bookmarks, started new profile, disabled JavaScript, etc. Hmmm... Can't figure out if it's possible to install extensions, NoScript would be nice. The Get Extensions menu item loads a blank page. Thanks for the efforts developers. It will be interesting to see if there is any more action. Addendum. Now reviewing the certs, they are all REALLY updated, like 2036-2039. Maybe that's normal when they are up to date, no expert. Sorry if i jumped the gun. Will need to either uninstall RZ or SM, it seems there may be some sort of crossover issue. It would be interesting to get feedback from others. Myself, will probably stick with Dillo and SeaMonkey with JavaScript disabled.

One more thing, the user created Puppy Linux save file *save.2fs can be encrypted if desired. The user is cued during the first Puppy shutdown. As Windows 98 is not generally considered to be as secure as other systems, largely due to compromised web browser support, this is good to know. By default, runnng from Puppy will allow full access to Windows 98 file systems, but Windows 98 won't be able to access the encrypted save file.

If anyone is curious, the default PupWin98 PUPPY.BAT file: @ECHO Puppy Linux (/PUPPY/PUPPPY.BAT) 2005 1109 1315 @ECHO OFF ECHO . ECHO . ECHO Without entry, will start Linux after 30 seconds. ECHO . ECHO . ! ! ECHO . ! ! REM Ready to run Linux or Windows. Press L or W : choice /C:lw /N /T:l,30 Ready to run Linux or Windows. Press L or W : if errorlevel 2 goto WIN if errorlevel 1 goto LIN :WIN win :LIN C:\PUPPY\grub.exe --config-file=(hd0,0)/puppy/menu.lst :end And the default grub config file menu.lst file: timeout 0 title Puppy Linux rootnoverify (hd0,0) kernel (hd0,0)/puppy/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 acpi=off PFILE=pup001-none-262144 PHOME=hda1 initrd (hd0,0)/puppy/image.gz If anyone wants to try, newer Puppy releases use a different structure, a recommended setup might look like this: C:\PUPPY\PUPPY.BAT C:\PUPPY\grub.exe C:\PUPPY\initrd.gz [1] C:\PUPPY\linux3.ico C:\PUPPY\menu.lst C:\PUPPY\puppy_tahr_6.0.5.sfs [2] C:\PUPPY\tahrsave.2fs [3] C:\PUPPY\vmlinuz [4] C:\PUPPY\zdrv_tahr_6.0.5.sfs C:\Windows\Desktop\PupLinux.pif [5] [1] Old Puppy releases use image.gz (base Linux file system). New versions use initrd.gz. Modify menu.lst accordingly: initrd (hd0,0)/puppy/initrd.gz [2] Put all *.sfs files in to C:\PUPPY\, not C:\, to keep the install clean, ensure menu.lst reflects the directory structure. [3] A *save.2fs file is created after Puppy first run, you won't have to install it. Contains all user software/settings, easy back-ups. [4] Put the vmlinux (Linux kernel) in to C:\PUPPY\, not C:\, to keep the install clean, ensure menu.lst reflects the directory structure. [5] The C:\Windows\Desktop\PupLinux.pif file is just a pointer to C:\PUPPY\PUPPY.BAT and makes itself pretty with C:\PUPPY\linux3.ico. Additional menu.lst notes: - In Windows (hd0,0) is typically the C: drive. - Entry hda1 is the same as (hd0,0), first drive, first partition. - Entry acpi=off is for power management. Use it the first time, experiment with removal. Most reliable way to boot any system, may not allow full poweroff on shutdown. - Entries PFILE=pup001-none-262144 PHOME=hda1 may no longer be required, didn't bother to experiment. This should update PupWin98 nicely. Once again, PupWin98 can be downloaded here: https://archive.org/details/Puppy_Linux_OddsnSods Download the desired Puppy release from below and extract the required files from the *.iso: http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/ Learn more about the releases starting here: http://puppylinux.com/download.html

Windows 98 needs to exit. A DOS *.bat file launches the user choice menu and DOS launches the grub.exe boot loader. So a reboot is required to switch between Windows and Linux, there's no VM involved. Everything runs lean and efficient on bare metal. The Linux install is modular and clean, won't mess up Windows. If you wanted the boot menu to show everytime, instead of using the desktop shortcut, PUPPY.BAT could be added to AUTOEXEC.BAT.

Hi jumper. Believe i am using the original, definitely not D+. Properties indicate The Dillo Project, Dillo Web Browser, dillo.exe v3.0, 1297920 bytes, date stamp November 28, 2011. PS Going to stop posting from Dillo, too painful. Even SeaMonkey v1.1.19 hurts.

Discovered ancient PupWin98 and got it launching and running Puppy Linux from Windows 98. Originally based on Puppy v1 but these ancient repositories are all down, not allowing software installs and updates. With minor modification PupWin98 appears to be able to boot any Puppy release from DOS. I modified PupWin98 to successfully run Tahrpup, Puppy Linux version 6. Advantages: - Launch GNU/Linux via Windows 98 when required to run alternative software, such as an up-to-date web browser for banking. - All the benefits of Puppy Linux: easy hardware setup, firewall, huge package repository, etc. - No risk of breaking existing Windows 98 installation as it does not over write the master boot record, rather it launches the grub boot loader from DOS. - Does not require repartitioning or modifying the hard drive, Puppy Linux files stored on the C: drive, no issues with Fat32. - Easy and clean removal, just delete C:\Puppy and associated files when no longer useful, no registry entries. - Small hard drive footprint. The tahrpup experimental install used <400 MB of hard drive space. PupWin98 overview: http://www.freeveda.org/linux/puppy/PupWin98.htm PupWin98 download: https://archive.org/details/Puppy_Linux_OddsnSods Puppy Linux major releases: http://puppylinux.com/download.html To hack an upgrade, basically just extract the original PupWin98, replace the old image.gz and vmlinuz files with desired Puppy version, update the menu.lst file, copy PupWin98 Puppy directory and files to the appropriate locations. If anyone wants more detailed hacking instructions let me know.

Hi siria. Sorry didn't see your post earlier. Thanks for the information. I will likely try KernelEx eventually. For now i want to see how things get along with this vanilla install. Old SeaMonkey is stil my favourite, plan to hack to see if it kickstarts and runs better. You mentioned two versions of Retrozilla v2.2, which one is best to try? Thanks.

Content deleted, duplicate/similar post to above, darn Dillo on Windows 98 isn't ideal for this forum :)

My cheap gamepad from ~20 years ago still works great but the drivers i copied from the install floppy wouldn't work correctly for some reason, despite numerous re-installs and re-boots. Never had this issue before in any previous Windows 98 or XP installs. Sucked as it's an 8-button gamepad and Windows 98 Control Panel > Gaming Options only allows adding a '4-button gamepad'. Slow on the uptake, took me a while to figure out that selecting a '4-button flight yoke w/throttle' would work. The direction pad and four default buttons work as normal, the four additional shoulder buttons are recognized as throttle and rudder controls, something like that. Anyways, now i can play Sports Car GT with working shoulder buttons to simulate manual transmission shifts. The world has mostly moved on, maybe this helps someone else get their hardware configured. Late edit: To clarify, selecting '4-button flight yoke w/throttle' gets the gamepad running but also check/enable the little Rudder/Pedals box in the Game Controller popup.

Dillo was ported to Windows once, now defunct. Confirmed download and executable from: https://samiam.org/software/dillo/ Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillo My version doesn't have the plugins directory/content but works fine. Once run, the config file is C:\WINDOWS\.dillo\dillorc. Hope this helps. PS Dillo with Gmail didn't work but this site still does.

Didn't last, couldn't resist the nostalgia and thrill of getting such an old OS online. Running Windows 98 SE, official updates, no kernel extensions. Tiny Personal Firewall v2.0.14 and Dillo v3.0. Tweaked ethernet speed with TCPOptimizer v308. No JavaScript, fast and reasonably secure. Dillo was able to log in to this site to post this message. Last working versions Firefox v2.0.0.20 and SeaMonkey v1.1.19 now have even more issues with outdated certs and difficulties establishing secure connections, making them almost non-functional. Links v2.1 works pretty well, for a text browser pretty user friendly. To me Windows 98 would still be a viable OS today if it wasn't for the lack of a secure, up-to-date, full featured web browser. It has a rich history with lots of good old software, such a shame. Having fun hacking and tuning the system. Playing with some hardware and configurations resulted in a persistent blue screen 'vxd' boot error. No problem with DOS fallback. Running SCANREG /RESTORE fixed the issue without much drama or wasted time. Lots of respect for DOS based systems.

Odd problem. Although there may have been different releases, my Road Rash CD says 'Windows 95 Native'. Have you tried hosting the game from the other computer? If there are firewalls running, maybe temporarily disable.

These posts are actually from Windows 98 and Dillo. Amazingly able to sign into msfn.org and post without JavaScript, thought the site was captcha protected . Still using Gmail's HTML only version, old Dillo might work there too, may try later. See ya.

Windows 98 SE, official updates, no kernel extensions: - Tiny Personal Firewall v2.0.14 - TCPOptimizer v308 to tweak ethernet speed - Dillo v3.0 - Dual boot GNU/Linux with SeaMonkey and NoScript Dillo works well for speed, images and downloads. No hang-ups with certs and SSL like the outdated full featured Windows 98 browsers. Actually prefer the lack of JavaScript support.

Some good comments here. Agreed Windows 98 has been relegated to special duty, either due to hardware limitations or for specific old software. As an online system, not overly useful.Freshly installed Windows 98 on different 2000 era hardware recently. For off-line use only to run MS-DOS and early Windows applications, primarily retro games. The thread title should be renamed 'Running Windows 98 in 2019...'. Surprisingly all required hardware drivers can still readily be found on the interweb, even for DOS. There is still lots of useful documentation online for DOS and Windows 98. So many years later i am finally properly learning to configure and utilize DOS, fun experience. The current setup is very functional, dual boot into Devuan GNU/Linux to retrieve online data, boot offline into Windows 98 with network card disabled for gaming. Best of both worlds. This old hardware does not have the horsepower for emulators like DOSBox.

New patch includes XP, came across today, source: https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-xp-patch-very-bad-sign/ Don't forget to disable remote desktop, all my WindowsXP systems are already offline.

Thank you also GH0st and all others. WindowsXP isn't going away anytime soon, pending the ability to online activate, queried above. I've used many 'outdated' OSs over the years, especially Linux. They can still run modern software and services for years following drop of support. The best thing, they are finally STABLE :)

The community is stronger with members like heinoganda that do good work, thank-you. For users willing to put in a few hours of labour while the official updates are readily available, just perform a fresh install on a spare partition, download and apply all applicable updates, save and archive them from the download directory for future re-use. Activate the new installation while you're at it, in case MS stops the service, and you have a fresh new install ready to go as a backup. Is there a chance MS would stop online or phone activation? I noticed the online Microsoft update library still even had Windows 2000 updates available for manual download. Will the download library be shut down later this year too or just the ability to automagically apply system updates?

Additional KBs were noted as problematic when researching issues on non-SSE2 capable systems, listed below. Fresh installs may not see all these updates, which may have been replaced by later KBs: 3163249 (.NET Framework related) 4042007 4050795 4074852 4093257 4134651 4340937 Anyone using this older hardware may simply choose not to install updates, especially if the system is running well and/or is only used offline. Alternatively, avoid installing updates from August 2018 onward, when these SSE2 issues first appeared. Darn it MS for breaking hardware support during the 'supported' lifecycle of an OS.

This might help users running old hardware with SSE support only, non-SSE2 or greater. There was scattered information on this thread and elsewhere regarding update breakage, which was experienced on an old system with a fresh POSReady2009 install (contains SP3) updated to this last patch Tuesday, >200 updates from 2009-2019. Fresh installs can selectively exclude culprit updates or just mass update and use Add/Remove Programs to clean up the carnage. No Virtual Machine here, lots of painstaking reboots to confirm the breakages reported. The setup is simple, no .NET Framework, no additional MS software (eg. no Microsoft Office, don't use Access), no scanner or printer connected. No extensive testing, just a test install to ensure the following works: boot, shutdown, Windows Explorer, Control Panel items, sound, USB, internet, IE8, WMP11, etc. All updates were hoarded for future installs, should Microsoft choose to shut down updates. These items were flagged 'SSE2', as other users reported possible issues with these updates on non-SSE2 capable hardware. Items appended 'INSTALLED' were installed anyway, as they did not appear to cause breakage on the limited test system. 201708_SSE2_KB4034775_NoObviousProblemMayAffectJetDatabase_MS_Access2000_INSTALLED 201808_SSE2_KB4343674_BREAKS_WMP_IE8 201809_SSE2_KB4458000_BREAKS_WMP_IE8 201809_SSE2_KB4458006_NoObviousProblem_INSTALLED 201810_SSE2_KB4462987_BREAKS_WMP_IE8 201810_SSE2_KB4463573_NoObviousProblem_INSTALLED 201812_SSE2_KB4473077_BREAKS_WMP_IE8 201902_SSE2_KB4486463_NoObviousProblem_INSTALLED 201902_SSE2_KB4486464_NoObviousProblem_INSTALLED 201902_SSE2_KB4487085-v2_BREAKS_WMP_IE8 201903_SSE2_KB4490385_BREAKS_WMP_IE8 201904_SSE2_KB4495022_BREAKS_WMP_IE8

To Windows 98 diehards this will have little relevance, everyone has software favourites. After much digging, trial and error, this is what i consider essential (couple non-essential) for a decent Windows 98 machine in 2017/2018. May save someone a lot of research time and effort to set up a fresh system ASAP. To my knowledge, at or near last working versions. Yes, i've also hoarded all this great software. Results in a functional and reasonably secure system, due to obsolesence and a firewall. Still an up to date OS should be used for sensitive work, preferably lean Linux or BSD, which will still run great on old Windows 98 era hardware. 7Zip_4.57.exe - AFAIK Windows 98 has no built-in archiver, 7Zip is great. CCleaner_2.29.1111.exe - Used this for years, various versions, great stuff. Cute_PDF_Writer_2.7.exe - Occasionally useful, especially if no printer installed. Defrag.exe - Install Defrag.exe from Windows ME, keep the original just in case. The performance of ME's Defrag.exe over the Windows 98 version is remarkable, never saw a system defrag so quickly. Yes, the system ran great afterward. dillo-win32-3.0p9.exe - My favourite no-JavaScript browser for Windows, lean and fast. With some creativity and searching, still possible to find many sites that work acceptably without JavaScript. On old hardware, nothing more crippling than JS consuming CPU cycles. DirectX_9_dec2006.exe - If you're going to game, this would be essential. EasyCleaner_2_0.exe - Used this for years, various versions, never a problem. EusingFreeRegistryCleaner.exe - Used this for years too, not my favourite but works okay, don't know version. Firefox_2.0.0.20.exe - Not a Firefox fan, but probably best chance at getting some modern JavaScript sites running, especially if you want to avoid installing KernelEx. Foxit_Reader_2.0.1414.exe - Most systems need a PDF viewer. FreeWindowRegistryRepair.exe - Generic name, not my favourite but okay. Not in Windows at the moment so can't confirm version, believe it's from regsofts.com. Links-2.1-install.exe - If you want something even leaner than Dillo, for a text-based browser it's pretty user friendly. OpenOffice_2_4_3.exe - Still miss OpenOffice <sigh>, would use it over LibreOffice anyday. pinball_3D_Pinball_Space_Cadet.exe - Believe this was from Windows ME, maybe XP. Classic misson-based pinball, runs well in Windows 98. RegClean.exe - This was Microsoft official, be wary of imposters using a similar product name. Think the version is RegClean 4.1a (build 7364.1, December 30, 1997). Some claim this isn't stable, i've never had a problem, plus it creates a restorable registry file in the regclean.exe directory. As with all registry cleaners, back up existing registry first, only use one registry cleaner per session until a fresh boot confirms existing sofware runs well. Scandskw.exe - Install Scandskw.exe from Windows ME, keep the original just in case. Didn't notice a performance gain, like with Windows ME's Defrag.exe, but seemed to run okay. seamonkey-1.1.19.en-US.win32.installer.exe - Personal favourite for full-featured browser. Since it will become harder to properly run many JavaScript sites in Windows 98, having several browsers installed can't hurt. TCPOptimizer_v308.exe - This is a must have for Windows 98 installs running a modern high speed connection. As Windows 98 defaults for dial-up, using even the generic TCP Optimizer tweaks should result in a HUGE increase in available bandwidth utilization. http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/175553-list-of-working-web-browsers-on-windows-9x/?page=4&tab=comments#comment-1145082 Tiny_Personal_Firewall_2.0.15.exe - Extremely lean and useful firewall, easy to run and uses almost no system resources. TweakUI.exe - Numerous Windows tweakables to play with, don't know the version off-hand, install notes: Run TweakUI.exe, extract to \WINDOWS\TEMP\ - Right-click 'tweakui.inf' and select install - Run TweakUI from Control Panel applet VLC_0.8.6d.exe - This rocks as a general purpose audio/video player. winrogue_0_1.zip - Every system needs at least one classic roguelike.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. @pionner never did get back to me, looks like my hoarded Win98 SE updates won't get hosted. If anyone needs these to run legacy hardware or software post to this thread, i only log in if i see activity here. Thanks @sdfox7 for the printer information. For now my printing needs are minimal, mostly for my wife's graphic software, she still has a well running Windows XP. Having spent some Windows XP time yesterday with retro gaming (SimCopter still rocks), must say my previous sessions with Windows 98 SE were preferred. As mentioned earlier in this thread, finding working drivers is still easy, for my hardware anyway. Next Windows installs will likely be Windows 98. I do, however, have POSReady 2009, but can't remember noting how it worked with printers and gaming, definitely enjoyed that it was a more stripped-down version of XP.