bill - 1:57 am on Jun 18, 2006 (gmt 0)

Microsoft has threatened to withdraw support from Windows 98 quite a few times. They've extended that support a few times as well. Given some of the earlier deadlines Windows 98 shouldn't be supported now. So when Microsoft issued their End of support for Windows 98 and Windows Me [microsoft.com] announcement you might not have taken much notice. However, this time they might be serious. ;)

The question is, "what are you going to do?" If you plan to run Windows 98, or Windows ME after the support cut-off date the you need to do a little preparation.

The first thing I would do if I planned to keep running this OS would be to take this opportunity to give myself a new clean install. (I'd back everything up before I did that though.) With a fresh install I would then download all of the service patches that are available today: [v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com...]

Get everything setup the way you want, run Chkdsk, defrag your drives, run a virus/malware scan, and then use a good imaging backup software like Ghost, Acronis or similar to make a clean snapshot of your soon-to-be-antique operating system. Then if you ever have a problem in the future you can always restore a pristine copy of the OS with all the patches in place.

You can't count on Microsoft to keep these patches on-line after the cutoff date. Do yourself a favor and be prepared.