First: It has been awhile since I ran 98 though I run 98SE as the Internet
machine.
A common problem associated with the old version was its memory usage.
Hence if you have to many programs running in the background, in the systray,
or elsewhere, you may have to little memory to run much.  Particularly as IE
loads many "hooks" which it loads for various potential sites it might visit.
Depending on what version of IE or other browser you use, of course.
Another problem which I had with 98 was my failure to keep the disk
defragged (DUH) which would fragment my files so much that errors constantly
popped up. Again largely due to the old kernel version and its failings.
You would get a better response from other users if you would descibe the
problem a little better.  LUCK to you