Updates for Win98SE: goodbye?

[ssjx]

Hi

I'm an italian user and I don't speak english very well so excuse me if I wrong

I've read that fron this summer MS will not support the Win 9x family anymore ............. I use Win 98SE and I want to know if also Windows Update will cess to support this OS or if the updates released in past will remain available in future

And if this appens how can i save the existing updates for future installations?

Tnx

[Eck]

It's unclear to me whether Microsoft will leave Windows Update working with the older updates or they will just make them available in their download site, as they have announced they will be.

You could use the Windows Update Catalog to download all the updates they make available there and burn them to a cdr. However the mdgx.com site is a more complete way to do it. He offers a zipped up file with all the directions, or you could just print out his web pages. Whichever, you still need to download all the actual update files. I did this, and put them into clearly labeled folders based upon his descriptions so I'll know what I'm installing.

I think there's an Italian version of the Unofficial Service Pack for 98SE. This installs many of the updates, then I just install most of the other stuff from the MDGx download's I have saved to cdr. (I put 'em on the hard drive and remove the read-only status first - cd \MDGx folder, ATTRIB -r *.* /s.)

OF course we won't be getting any more security patches from Microsoft. Eventually that will become a problem, especially for users who use Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. But for now, fully updating and using VirusScanners, Firewalls, and Spybot removers make things pretty secure. Especially for Firefox, Thunderbird users.

If your system runs too slow for Firefox try using SeaMonkey 1.01 (or whatever is latest) from Mozilla. It's basically the old Netscape/Mozilla suite updated with bug fixes and security updates. It uses less memory than Firefox and may be a good solution for older computers.

You should be okay for quite some time as long as you set things up using the tools currently available here and at the MGDx site. It can get confusing and is a hastle, but that's what we get for keeping our old machines running much longer than intended by the businesses that built them. They need profit to stay in business. They can't keep supporting older technologies forever.

[Ghosty_Gool]

You could also try the Opera webrowser and email client, it uses less memory than Firefox but the email isn't as good as Thunderbird.

[jaclaz]

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=46654

and/or try contacting maninabox

The link to the sp2.01 file is still valid.

Also, do not use the word "cess to" instead of "end" or "terminate", an English user won't understand it, whilst an Italian that knows English will probably laugh to death!

jaclaz

Edited May 29, 2006 by jaclaz