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How do I improve my Windows 98 SE? - SKYWARN Certified storm spotter My internet is slow and my computer keps freezing. I ran scan disk, defrag, and registry check but it still keeps freezing and the internet is slow. How do I fix this? I can't afford to upgrade to an XP. I can't watch videos either and when I get on youtube, it says Opera is doing an illegal operation and will be shut down. Why does this happen? Do I need to install something? I can only play my CD's but I can't play my DVD's.

Best Answer: In reverse order: Windows 98 does not support DVDs. They had not been invented when 98 was written. Windows 98 only plays CDs. Plus if your computer is that old, the drive in it probably is CD only also. Because Windows 98 is so old, you are probably running an older versions of Internet Explorer. That will slow the Internet, and cause errors with many of the newer streaming video pages. Recommend that you download the latest version of Firefox and try using it instead for browser. The program is smaller, uses less resources, faster, more secure, and the latest version works with older versions of Windows. Often "slowness" on the Internet is not the fault of your computer. Even an old computer with Win 98 normally runs hundreds of times faster than the Internet itself. Contact your ISP and have them check you line and modem. The problem may be on their end, not yours. Finally on the "freeze" issue. There are several possibilities. You said that you have done a scan disk, defrag and registry clean up. Those are the correct first steps. I am assuming that you have also run a virus and spyware scan. Next check to see how much free space on you have on the C: local hard drive. If the space drops below 10% of the drive (or 2 GB), then you will have freeze up issues. Windows needs that much space for its swap and system files. If it runs out of space, it will freeze the computer every time. Try freeing up more disk space. Depending on how old the hard drive of the computer is (they usually list about 3-5 years), you may be looking at the first signs of the drive going bad. You may want to be sure you have anything critical (like your music, pictures and documents) backup up to CD or another "off the hard drive" source. Finally, consider increasing the amount of RAM memory in your PC. It cost money, but for a computer from the Win 98 error, you are probably looking at PC100 memory which is extremely cheap. It is surprises what a difference an increase in RAM can make for a computer from the era. - dewcoons

Windows 98 is no longer officially supported by Microsoft. I advice you to change your operating system to a some light-weight version of Linux - Xubuntu Linux or Puppy Linux could be good candidates, maybe Damn Small Linux when you get the grip on either Xubuntu or Puppy first. I installed Xubuntu Linux on a 1999 desktop with 192 MB of RAM memory and a 6 Gb hard drive. I only had 2 GB of hard drive space to play with at the end, but excluding the hard drive space problem the system was stable, usable and reasonably responsive. I even got my year-old 3G/HDSPA USB broadband modem to work with the computer (I edited in my ISP details into a wvdial configuration file and plugged the modem into a USB port - but this was Xubuntu 8.04, I believe the new 9.04 version does all this automatically)! You should search the net for a "lightweight Linux distribution". I believe this is your best shot at upgrading your computer OS to modern standards. And you can do it for free, and perfectly legally as well! - Marko S

You can improve it by installing windows xp professional or home edition. - Mauloof Ahmed

Dude, that's 11 years old. If you can't afford new windows, try it with Linux (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, OpenSUSE...) - twoxscorpio

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