Windows 98 Installation & Configuration Handbook

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What's New with Windows 98


by Keith Underdahl

Accessibility Wizard

Windows 98 offers support for persons with disabilities and significantly reduces the need for costly hardware add-ons. The Accessibility Wizard improves the setup process, ensuring that the PC is more accessible than ever. Improvements include visual enhancements for people with vision disabilities, as well as StickyKeys, MouseKeys, and ShowSounds to help those with other specific handicaps. See Chapter 3, "Selecting Windows 98 Components," for more on accessibility options.

Backup

The improved Backup utility provides enhanced support for various backup devices, including newer items such as ZIP drives. Backup helps you preserve important data in the event of a system malfunction or other loss. Backup is discussed in Chapter 13, "Setting Up Backup Systems."

Desktop Enhancements

Among the most obvious changes to come with Windows 98 are the many visual enhancements made to the desktop. The biggest news involves the new Web style navigation. With Web style navigation, you can now open icons and folders with only a single mouse click rather than the double-click you probably used with the Classic Style navigation of Windows 95 and earlier. And where before you might have single-clicked an item to select it, you now only have to point to an item to select it. These techniques also apply to other common windows, including My Computer and Windows Explorer. These features are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6, "Configuring Windows 98 Classic and Web View Desktops." If you have already been using Internet Explorer 4.0 with Windows 95, you might be familiar with these and other features.

Improved Start Menu

In addition to the new navigation methods used on the desktop, the Start menu has also been substantially revised. You can use drag and drop to add or remove items in the Start menus, and several of the menus have been reorganized. The reorganized menus arrange items into more logical subgroupings (see Figure A.1).

New Desktop Themes

Four themes from the Microsoft Kids! accessory program are included with Windows 98. In addition, all the themes that were previously part of the Microsoft Plus! add-in for Windows 95 are now included with Windows 98. Most of the other visual enhancements that used to come with Plus! are also incorporated, including smooth edges for screen fonts and the capability to show window contents when dragging. You can adjust these features by opening the Display Properties dialog box and choosing the Effects tab.

FIG. A.1 The improved Windows 98 Start menu.

Quick Launch Toolbar

The Quick Launch toolbar (see Figure A.2) provides a convenient way to open the programs you use most. It is located on the taskbar next to the Start button, and by default includes buttons for Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, TV Viewer, WebTV, Show Desktop, and Channels. The Show Desktop button works just like the Minimize All Windows command in the taskbar shortcut menu. You can also drag and drop shortcuts for other programs to the Quick Launch toolbar, or drag items off that you don't use often.

Dial-Up Networking Server Support

Support for making your computer a Dial-Up Networking server is now built in to Windows 98. This eliminates the need for specialized software previously required.

FIG. A.2 The Quick Launch toolbar.

Drive Converter (FAT32)

The Drive Converter is easily one of the most important features of Windows 98. It converts your 512MB or larger hard drive to a 32-bit File Allocation Table (FAT32), without the need to reformat your drive and lose existing data. FAT32 makes much more efficient use of the available space on your hard drive, eliminating the need for disk compression. It also allows hard drives larger than 2GB to be partitioned as a single drive. Learn more about the Drive Converter and partitioning in Chapter 10, "Installing and Configuring Hard Disk Drives."


NOTE: If you are upgrading from the OSR-2 version of Windows 95, your hard drive might already be partitioned with FAT32. To check your version of Windows 95, right-click the My Computer icon, choose Properties, and check the listing under System on the General tab. If the version number is 4.00.950A, you do not have OSR-2.

Internet Connection Wizard

The Windows 98 Internet Connection Wizard greatly simplifies the process of starting an Internet account on your PC and getting connected. What before was a confusing and often maddening process involving DNS numbers and scripting tools is now much easier to deal with.

Maintenance Wizard

The Maintenance Wizard automates many of the system maintenance functions that should be run periodically. You can choose from a list of utilities, including Scan Disk, Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, and others, as well as select when and how often they should be run. These utilities help your PC run more efficiently, and they can provide more free space on your hard drive. Chapter 14, "Configuring Memory, Disks, and Devices," covers proper housekeeping for your hard drive.

Multimedia Support

In keeping with technology trends in the world of PCs, Windows 98 offers vastly improved multimedia support through such programs as DirectX, NetShow, and more. See Part IV of this book for more on Windows 98 multimedia capabilities.

Multiple Display Support

Windows 98 supports the use of multiple displays on your computer. Assuming that you have the right hardware, you can in theory use as many monitors as you want, each one functioning as part of your Windows desktop. The most common use of this feature would be to enable two monitors, arranged side by side. If the monitors are set to 600x800 resolution, this setup would actually give you a 600x1600 desktop. Likewise, four monitors arranged in a grid would provide a 1200x1600 grid. See Chapter 7, "Configuring Monitors and Video Cards," for more on multiple display support.

New Hardware Support

Support for new hardware and technologies is an important feature of Windows 98. On the multimedia front, Windows 98 provides software support for DVD drives, allowing you to view DVD movies right on your PC. Also, WebTV for Windows supports TV-PC cards and integrates Web-based content with regular television viewing capabilities. Windows 98 also supports new bus technologies such as IEEE-1394 (Firewire), Universal Serial Bus (USB), and Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP).

Power Management

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is a new power management standard for emerging computer and peripheral technologies. Windows 98 provides support for this specification, ensuring efficient power usage for all of your devices. Learn more about configuring power-saving devices in Chapter 2, "Installing Windows 98 on a Desktop and Laptop."

Registry Checker

It doesn't take too much fiddling in the system Registry to completely corrupt your PC. Fortunately, Windows 98 automatically makes a backup copy of your Registry every time you boot up, just in case a problem occurs. The Registry is checked during each boot sequence, and if a problem is found you will be able to restore your system by using the backup Registry copy. Windows 98 also provides a System File Checker that looks at critical system files to see whether they have been corrupted.

Scan Disk

Scan Disk is nothing new; it is a useful utility that has been around since the days of DOS. What's new is that Windows 98 automatically runs Scan Disk during startup whenever the system was not shut down properly.

Web Integration

Another new key feature of Windows 98 is the integration of Web content into the user interface. The World Wide Web figures prominently in almost every aspect of the Windows 98 operating environment, and you can quickly and easily access Web pages from almost anywhere in Windows. Most windows contain an Address bar (see Figure A.-3) where you can type in paths to files and folders on your hard drive, or URLs for Web sites.

FIG. A.3 My Computer can be used to view contents of your hard drive, or a Web page.

Internet Explorer 4.0

The Internet Explorer 4.0 suite is an integral part of Windows 98. It includes the Internet Explorer Web browser, the Outlook Express email and newsgroup client, NetMeeting for Internet conferencing, and the FrontPage Express HTML editor. Components of Internet Explorer are covered in Part V of this book.

Channels

The Channels that are a part of Windows 98 use what is known as push technology. Channels are hosted by a variety of media and culture sources on the Internet, and when you subscribe to one, its content is automatically updated on your computer on a regular basis. In theory, this saves time because the information is already downloaded when you are ready to view it.

Active Desktop

Windows 98 offers a unique method of Web integration with the Active Desktop. It fully integrates the Internet into your Windows desktop, making it possible even to use a Web page on your desktop in place of wallpaper (see Figure A.4).

FIG. A.4 The Active Desktop enables you to set a Web site as your desktop wallpaper.

Windows Support from Microsoft

Microsoft has improved its support of Windows 98 in several ways. First, the Windows Help applet has been improved and is now easier and quicker to use. But more interesting is Windows Update, a method for obtaining new hardware drivers and other software updates quickly and efficiently via the World Wide Web. You can begin the updating process by clicking Start, Windows Update. l


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