Reinstall Windows 98, advice needed

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Stegozor - 20 Jul 2006 18:44 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'll have to reinstall completely Windows 98SE on this PC (see below for
details). I'm thinking about formatting and partitioning the 20 Gb hard
drive using FreeFDISK from the Boot diskette, and I'd like to hear about
you advices (how much place for each partition, where to install Windows
and applications and so on - I don't need to keep the current data on
the hard disk, I already have a backup of important information).

The computer is behaving strangely from time to time, so my goal is to
save the user's configuration as much as possible if (or rather when :)
I have to reinstall Windows again. Advices and summaries about how you
proceeded in a similar case would more than welcome.

TIA.

PS: The Computer: (Asus A7V333 main board, AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running
at 1,2 Gzh (voluntary bios setting to prevent overheating), 384 Mb of
RAM, 20 Gb HD, ATI Radeon 9200 video card, SoftV92 Speakerphone Modem
with SoftSP (brand Origo 2000, Conexant chipset, for occasional dial-up
data transfer),a 3Com Ethernet card with a cable connection.

Applications that will be installed just after Windows: Firefox, Firefox
Preloader, Thunderbird, OpenOffice 2, 7Zip, Boinc, Nettime, ClamWin,
VLC, SeaMonkey, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Quicktime Player, ScanDefrag and
of course all Windows Updates.

Reply to this Message

Noel Paton - 20 Jul 2006 19:30 GMT

Got the order for the installs totally wrong there!!
I'm not too sure about the advisability of using ClamWin as AV either -
there are MUCH better free AV's out there.
Adobe Acrobat exists no more in Reader form - the latest available Win9x
Adobe reader is so bloated that I wouldn't give it houseroom....use Foxit
Reader (free) instead!
QT player?? - another bloatware product.... there are alternatives
available!
A PC has overheat problems, and you want to put a BOINC project on it?? -
that's rather like putting methanol in your radiator!
No firewall?? - I hope the PC is behind a router??

Order of install for your rebuilt PC (assuming you have no choice for the
application!)
1) Motherboard drivers
2) Windows Updates
3) Video drivers (they may need .NET installed - check first!)
4) AV
5) Firewall (if required)
6) other drivers
7) FireFox (it needs a preloader? -has it got that bloated already?)
8) Thunderbird
9) and the rest in pretty much any order

As to partition sizes, my suggestion would be to split the disk in two - one
for the OS and applications, and one for data - the ratio depending on the
amount of data envisaged.

Signature

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

> Hi everyone,
>
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> SeaMonkey, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Quicktime Player, ScanDefrag and of
> course all Windows Updates.

Reply to this Message

Stegozor - 21 Jul 2006 11:56 GMT

> Got the order for the installs totally wrong there!!

I wasn't thinking to the order of the installs, but probably I should.
Thanks for the precision.

> I'm not too sure about the advisability of using ClamWin as AV either -
> there are MUCH better free AV's out there.

I know. Maybe I live in Wonderland, but I never had problems so far.
Clamwin will be there to check some suspect files from time to time
using the contextual menu, and a scheduled scan wouldn't be bad either.
I'll have a look at Avast, seems that it's free and has a real time engine.

> Adobe Acrobat exists no more in Reader form - the latest available Win9x
> Adobe reader is so bloated that I wouldn't give it houseroom....use
> Foxit Reader (free) instead!

I was looking for an alternative, Acrobat starts really too slowly.
Thanks for the clue!

> QT player?? - another bloatware product.... there are alternatives
> available!

Er, which ones? VLC videolan? When you want to watch the trailer of
Terminator 3 on Apple's website, do you really have the choice?

> A PC has overheat problems, and you want to put a BOINC project on it??
> - that's rather like putting methanol in your radiator!

Because I was too lazy to buy a new fan, I lowered the frequency in
order to avoid overheating problems, and it worked so far. Okay, Boinc
will wait a little bit.

> No firewall?? - I hope the PC is behind a router??

Nah. Still wonderland. :) I don't like the idea of having several
resident programs that will eat up resources, but I think I should pick
up a firewall as I won't be the main user of the machine. Which one,
preferably free, would you use?

> Order of install for your rebuilt PC (assuming you have no choice for
> the application!)

In fact, I can change the listing depending on your advices. That's why
I'm on this newsgroup, in fact ;)

> 1) Motherboard drivers
> 2) Windows Updates
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> 6) other drivers
> 7) FireFox (it needs a preloader? -has it got that bloated already?)

It doesn't need one, but if you're tired of waiting approximatively 5
seconds each time you launch it, you'll want the preloader. IE is
preloaded by Windows, but naturally Firefox isn't, that's probably the
difference.

> 8) Thunderbird
> 9) and the rest in pretty much any order

Again, thanks for the information.

> As to partition sizes, my suggestion would be to split the disk in two -
> one for the OS and applications, and one for data - the ratio depending
> on the amount of data envisaged.

Well, I already did it, but I guess I'll have to do it again as the
computer's behaving as it was under the effect of some drug (really). No
viruses according to ClamWin, and anyway I formatted the hard disk and
that didn't fix anything. I'll have to check the new RAM with memtest...
As for the use of the computer, I can say that it will be used
essentially for browsing the web, reading and sending e-mails, basic
Office applications (OOo) and small games from Yahoo and MSN. A few
gigabytes would be enough for the user data, anyway with 20 Gb I don't
think I'll lack disk space. My problem is to have a stable
configuration, and if necessary to update or reinstall Windows easily
without erasing user date. So, how should I manage the partitioning?

Reply to this Message

Noel Paton - 21 Jul 2006 19:32 GMT

OK - personal preferences....

AV - AVG from www.free.grisoft.com (it's free, active, and pretty good - not
the best, but what do you expect for free? Even the paid-for version is
reasonably-priced {full disclosure - I'm a reseller for Grisoft in the UK})

Firewall - for Win 9x you'll have to go a long way to beat the old Kerio
v2.1.5 - free download from a link buried on this Blog page
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/kerio-product-acquisition-completed.html I
suggest that you read the blog, as it's quite informative!

Simple answer to your Firefox problem - put a shortcut to it in the Startup
folder (rather than using the Pre-loader),. It'll load FF on boot, and
you'll never notice the difference, except that you'll have to
close/minimise FF first thing :)

QT alternatives -
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm

Laziness, I can't help with! - I have the same problem:)

If you want to do it right, what I'd suggest WRT partitioning is to dedicate
some of the HD to an image of the stable install that you'll eventually get

So - that means two partitions, and some 'free space' for the image
How about 8GB for Windows and applications, and 8GB for data? You should be
able to survive easily with that sort of mix, unless you're going to start
downloading media files.
Hopefully if you get the right backup/imaging program, it'll be able to
compress the image to fit into the other 4GB. without any problem, and you
can re-image at will whenever you install a new application (after ensuring
that your system is still table, of course!)
Ideally, you should make each partition marginally smaller than 8GB - this
then takes full advantage of the better sector sizes of small partitions.

HTH

Signature

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

>> Got the order for the installs totally wrong there!!
>
[quoted text clipped - 75 lines]
> necessary to update or reinstall Windows easily without erasing user date.
> So, how should I manage the partitioning?

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