Windows 98

Here are just a few of the things you will find new to Windows 95 v.3 Memphis  Windows 98

Web Integration

Windows 98's Web View makes Windows explorer look just like Internet Explorer. This is a concept that takes a bit of "getting used to", but with the advanced features like previewing files before opening them, this will prove to be a handy tool. It performs single-click navigation; it provides a way to view and customize the appearance of folders; and it adds a fifth icon view to the original four (large icons, small icons, list, details and now: web style)

Active Desktop is Microsoft's name for using a webpage as your wallpaper or screen savers. The Active Desktop wallpaper displays Web components that can be ActiveX controls, Dynamic HTML pages, WebCast sites, Java applets and Microsoft Active Channels, all in resizable, movable windows. If you are worried that you never see your desktop under all your open applications, there is now a button added to the task bar allowing one click desktop access.

MIS managers can lock down and preconfigure user Desktops via Active Setup and the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK). Combining the two, an MIS department can set new users up with, say, a Web component configured to automatically provide company info and updates.

Active Desktop is easily controlled and setup, just a right click on the desktop starts it all...

- The Taskbar has changed with some new features to aid in accessing information. Favorites has been added to the start menu, as well as "Find... On the Internet" has been added to find.

A toolbar feature has been added to the taskbar which allows drag-and-drop document, application and folder shortcuts directly onto the taskbar, the way they can with the Office97 Shortcut bar. Win98 sets up a predefined IE4 toolbar provides buttons that launch Outlook Express, IE4 and the WebCast channels screen. A fourth Desktop button minimizes all open windows, giving you a clear view of the Active Desktop content.

Webcasting
- Basic Webcasting allows you to be notified when web site content has been updated. The whole process is integrated into "Favorites", from setup to scheduling, to notification. If you are not continually connected to the web, Win98 will dial the phone, check sites, notify you of updates, and hang-up automatically.

- Managed Webcasting is designed to notify you of web site updates as defined by the webmaster.

- True Webcasting allows webmasters and MIS offices to broadcast content and have the content be received by many users on an intranet or across the web. This uses much less bandwidth than the conventional method of each user downloading the content individually.


Performance Improvements
- Disk Defragmenter Optimization Wizard tracks the programs you run most often, then clusters those programs on the fastest part of your hard disk. To use it, close down all applications and launch the wizard. It lets you choose programs you run frequently, launches them and notes which files are accessed from the hard disk for each.

- Speed increases include: A faster shutdown time, faster removable disk access, and faster modem and ISDN dialup times.

Win98 includes a new HSFLOP.PDR floppy disk driver, which will significantly improve access speed to many diskette drives. Internet access via ISDN and 56K modems is potentially much faster in Win98 as well. And if you receive faxes from within Win98, you may be pleasantly surprised at the performance of a new Kodak Imaging applet, which replaces FAXVIEW.

Automation Enhancements
- Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is the successor to the revered DOS batch file format. WSH will be a standard feature of all future versions of both Windows and Windows NT. WSH incorporates both JavaScript and VBScript, allowing batch files (now called scripts) to be written in either language, with a full range of features. Click here for more on the features of WSH

- Dial-Up Scripting uses a new scripting language. It enables you to build a template of your provider's log-in requirements and record the entries you need to get in. You can specify additional scripts that you can activate once the connection is made.


New Device Support
- MMX (Multimedia Extensions) is a set of 57 instructions that Intel has added to certain x86 processors to speed multimedia tasks. Each instruction greatly speeds up processing by abbreviating the multiple instructions previous processors require to accomplish a given task. MMX-enhanced processors include Intel's P55C Pentium and Pentium II, AMD's K6 and Cyrix's 6x86MX. So far, relatively few applications take advantage of the MMX capability. Windows 98 will be the first operating system to support MMX, which means improved performance for image processing, video, audio, videoconferencing and similar functions.

- USB offers greater speed than traditional serial buses (up to 12Mb per second, compared to the 115.2Kbps speed of serial connections), and provides a means of daisy-chaining up to 127 devices off a single port. The connector also provides power across the bus.

- IEEE 1394 (also known as FireWire) provides high-bandwidth, high-speed data transfers in excess of what USB offers. It can support data-transfer speeds from 100Mbps to 400Mbps-roughly four times as fast as a 100BaseT Ethernet connection. The current implementation of the standard supports up to 63 devices on a single bus. Still not mainstream, this is a "coming soon" technology.

- DVD support native to Windows 98 should be as seamless and easy as the CD player was to 95

- Windows CE support built in will allow palmtops to be treated as devices by Windows 98

- FAT32 is support in Win98 is similar to Win95b. The main difference is that Win95b is available only preinstalled on a new system. Windows 98 will be sold to users who will install it on systems that already have FAT16. Win98 comes with a conversion utility called the FAT32 Converter, which is a wizard that guides you through the process. There are potential hazards to the conversion process, as many users are likely to find out.

- Multiple Displays allows you to plug up to eight monitors into your PC and use them all as a single Desktop. That means you can drag and drop, resize and move Desktop items like windows, folders, icons and applications from one monitor to the next.

You don't need special video cards to take advantage of multiple displays. You need just one standard video card (and the available PC slots to plug them into) per monitor. They don't all need to be the same type of card, so you can mix and match. The standard also supports the use of special video cards that let you plug more than one monitor into a single card.

With Win98's multiple display support, each monitor can be set with a different resolution and color depth. Win98 picks one of the monitors as the main unit based on how the displays are plugged in. Some older applications may run only on the main monitor. By default, the taskbar and Desktop icons are displayed only on the main monitor.

- PC Card Power Management lets Windows 98 shut down PCMCIA devices in notebook computers. Shutting down devices individually prolongs battery life while leaving the rest of the system in use.

Internet Applets included are the Internet Explorer 4.0 set:
- Outlook Express E-mail and organization program
- NetMeeting conferencing and communication package
- NetShow Client to receive broadcast web content
- FrontPage Express simplified version of the popular web site editor
- Personal Web Server HTML server, not much change from the Win95 version

Power-User Utilities
- HelpDesk builds technical support right into the operating system, a technique that began with the extensive help files and wizards in Win95. We found HelpDesk tucked discreetly into the Start menu. The HelpDesk links to an HTML file offering three levels of support: Local Help, Web Resources and Contact a Support Engineer

- Windows Update Manager keeps your system as current as possible. It's a Web site that checks your system for out-of-date files and links you to the latest replacements.

- Microsoft System Information Utility (MSI) version 4.1 that comes with Windows 98 looks like the old version found in some Microsoft applications. Check the Tools menu and you'll find a whole lot more under the hood, including old favorites ScanDisk, the Registry, ScanReg and Dr. Watson. Still, the best MSI stuff is brand new. click here for more

- System File Checker (SFC) automates the process by storing version information for key Win98 files--monitoring DLL, COM, VXD, DRV, OCX, INF, HLP, SCR, EXE, SYS and 386 files--in an SFC file that lets you update a corrupted system by clicking a Restore Defaults button.

- System Troubleshooter System Troubleshooter lets you select which processes to activate during the Win98 Startup, giving you an opportunity to isolate trouble spots with a checklist. This helps to eliminate a lot of the painstaking remarking of lines in autoexec.bat, config.sys, and windows ini files that used to be a big part of troubleshooting the boot-up process.

- Tune-Up Wizard wizard lets you automate ScanDisk, get rid of extraneous files or defragment hard drives on a user defined schedule. You can, for example, set ScanDisk to run on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, or whenever you boot or log onto the system. You can select the time to initiate a sequence or, with advanced options, run different schedules during different calendar periods. Better still, you can also select the time to stop an operation. A Settings button lets you choose options for each utility.

- Kodak Imaging is a TWAIN32-compliant applet designed to handle graphics imported by digital cameras and scanners. It also serves as the FAX viewer utility, replacing FAXVIEW. In addition, you can use Kodak Imaging as an all-purpose image tool. It supports TIFF, Fax (AWD), Windows Bitmap, JPG, PCX, XIF, GIF and WIFF file formats.

- Backup in Win98 is a lite version of Seagate's Backup Exec. boasting a  wider compatibility and supports parallel, IDE/ATAPI and SCSI devices, including QIC-80, QIC-80 Wide, QIC-3010, QIC-3010 Wide, QIC-3020, QIC-3020 Wide, TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4, DAT (DDS1, 2, & 3), DC 6000, 8mm and DLT. In addition, the documentation specifies support for the following vendors: Conner, Exabyte, HP/Colorado, Iomega, Micro Solutions, Seagate, Tandberg, WangDAT and Wangtek.

- Accessibility in Win98 adds a wizard and some new features to aid in making computers usable by the physically challenged.

- Remote Access Server is now built into the operating system

- Task Scheduler is much like the System Agent that was part of the 95 plus pack, only with scheduling options that include system tools, internet components, and greater configurability.