The installation process has been made as simple as possible with little or no intervention from the user. Once the system has checked that you are eligible for an upgrade and asked for the CD key, it proceeds to copy files and get you set up for the new operating system.
I was pleased to see that my old windows system could be saved (at around 50 MB of disk space) so that if I wanted to de-install Windows 98, the process wouldn't be irreversible.
A chuckle escaped my lips as I was told to "Sit back and relax" whilst Windows 98 is being installed. (I thought it a bit mean that it didn't pour me a drink whilst I relaxed - perhaps THAT feature will be in the next release!)
Once the copying began a counter displayed how long Windows would take - anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes. The usual installation messages about how wonderful life, PC the Universe will be once you are up and running is freely displayed.
Then came the moment of truth. Windows 98 will now install new hardware drivers. In previous versions this could cause all kinds of problems which can take days to sort out. I held my breath.
Hardware
Several (inevitable) reboots later and the hardware drivers were installed. Nothing had appeared to have gone wrong (but then I do have a new PC).
An interesting point here to think about if you are considering upgrading is that I found on my four-month old machine Windows 98 DID make improvements to my hardware drivers.
My soundcard now featured a synthesiser sound bank (and my sound card is none too brilliant only managing FM midi emulation under its own steam). This means I now have "proper" instruments playing rather than the "electronic" sounding noises synonymous with these types of sound cards.
My scanner was recognised as were my USB ports which were not evident under Windows 98. New PC owners really should go for the upgrade if your PC has these new features. My CD-ROM doubles as a DVD drive as well and Windows 98 had no problems picking that up too.
So far so good. Now Windows 98 was "Preparing to run for the first time."
Up and Running
At first I thought I was going to lose all my "tailoring" (cursors, sounds, desktop etc), but Windows 98 faithfully kept my sounds and settings. A whole plethora of new icons appeared on my desktop which I had previously removed with various utility programs.
