Such as? 
Posted on 05/31/2004 12:33:41 PM PDT by Long Cut
Here's the issue...I have an old computer (A Gateway Select 700-MhZ) with Windows 98 on it that I want to give to my father. He's NEVER used a computer before but now that he's retired and my Mom's gone, he's gotten bored and wants to check out this "Internet" he's heard so much about.
My question is, how do I "clean" the computer out? I've already backed up and moved off of it everything I wanted to save, so now I want to "wipe it" clean of anything personal, and basically return it to "pristine". I'm already planning on reloading Windows onto it for him, but should I do something else besides? I admit that I don't know how to "format" the thing...it came with Windows already on it.
Any advice out there?
I hope the beer comes after the rebuild. Otherwise I could see some really unfortunate accidents happening.
They've decided to extend it for a couple more years.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[LN];LifeAn1
Updated Clarification on the Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Support Extended Announcement
Microsoft is pleased to announce a clarification in our extended security update support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium (Me) Editions forcritical security issues. As part of this extended support, Microsoft will provide information about whether critical issues affect these operating systems. Microsoft will provide security updates on the operating systems that are affected and the severity rating is critical.
Key Dates:
* Paid incident support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) is available through June 30, 2006.
* Critical security updates will be provided on the Windows Update site through June 30, 2006.
* Customers may request non-critical security fixes for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, and the most current version of their components until June 30, 2006 through typical assisted-support channels.
* Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me downloads for existing security issues will continue to be available through regular assisted-support channels at no charge until June 30, 2006.
* No-charge incident support and extended hotfix support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition ended on June 30, 2003.
* No-charge incident support and extended hotfix support for Windows Me ended on December 31, 2003.
* Online self-help support will be available until at least June 30, 2007.
Details:
Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition support was scheduled to end on January 16, 2004. The continual evaluation of the Support Lifecycle policy revealed, however, that customers in the smaller and the emerging markets needed additional time to upgrade their product. Therefore, Microsoft will continue to support Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me through June 30, 2006.
Critical security updates will be provided on the Windows Update site through June 30, 2006.
Microsoft will not publicly release non-critical security hotfixes for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition. However, customers may request a non-critical security hotfix through On-Demand Security Hotfix support, which is offered for these products through June 30, 2006. When a request is received, Microsoft will investigate the issue and try to provide an appropriate response to the customer.
Internet Explorer support on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me
Microsoft will provide the following level of support for Internet Explorer 6 (including the currently supported SP version) from Jan 17, 2004 through June 30, 2006:
* Paid incident support will be available through June 30, 2006.
* Critical security updates will be provided on the Windows Update site through June 30, 2006.
* Customers may request non-critical security fixes for Internet Explorer 6 (including the currently supported SP) on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me, until June 30, 2006 through typical assisted-support channels.
* Extended hotfix support for Internet Explorer 6 (including the currently supported SP) on Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition ended June 30, 2003.
* Extended hotfix support for Internet Explorer 6 (including the currently supported SP) on Windows Me ended December 31, 2003.
Windows Media Player and other Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me Components
Microsoft will provide the following level of support on the most current versions of components for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me (such as Windows Media Player 9) from January 17, 2004 through June 30, 2006:
* Paid incident support through June 30, 2006.
* Critical security updates will be provided on the Windows Update site through June 30, 2006.
* Customers may request non-critical security fixes for Windows Media Player on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, until June 30, 2006 through typical assisted-support channels.
* Extended hotfix support for components of Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition ended June 30, 2003.
* Extended hotfix support for components of Windows Me ended December 31, 2003.
For specific support dates on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and other components, visit the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Web site.
Last reviewed: Monday, April 12, 2004
I bought my now 82 year old father his first computer for his 79th birthday. Overall, it's gone well, though I still get about a dozen phone calls a week from him asking how to do this or that :-) If you can possibly afford it, I'd recommend getting him an up-to-date computer, or at least upgrading to a newer version of Windows. Older computers and/or operating systems are increasingly unable to deal with contemporary Internet-based things, and old geezers just starting out in the computer world are not well-equipped to work around these issues.
First and foremost, make you get your dad set up with a subscription to a top notch virus scanning system that does its updates and scans automatically, and make sure the compuer and operating system are equilled to take advantage of this function. Trust me, it will be a LONG time before your dad figures how to deal with a pop-up that says "An update for McAfee is available; do you want to install now?"
As for getting your dad started, pick something he is especially interested in -- stock-watching, religion, conspiracy theories, whatever -- and then set up a few related sites on his "Favorites" list, and show him how to access them that way. If he's like my dad, his interest in the subject (in my dad's case, stocks and bonds) will push him to try clicking around the sites even though he doesn't really know how it all works, and gradually he'll get the hang of thing. After a couple of years of checking stock prices online, my dad bumped into ads telling him how cheaply he could make trades online, even using the same broker he uses now. Being a Great Depression-survivor who's never fully recovered, that convinced dad that he simply MUST learn how to make trades online. He still isn't there, but he keeps working on it -- calling up the broker, and me, asking "I'm on the screen that says ____, what do I do next?"
Such as?
Certain types of "scripts", "applets", etc. I traded in my old computer a while back, so I don't remember exactly. I'm no computer expert, but I know that I had trouble with a lot of things that popped up on websites when I had an older computer, and the geeks at my ISP's help desk attributed the problems to the old computer and/or its old operating system. In addition, many older computers lack sufficient speed and/or memory to cope with the heavy graphics that are commonplace on websites now, and some sites are set up so you can't navigate them at all with the graphics turned off.
It's not hard to upgrade a browser to accomodate scripts. And paying a little for more ram is a helluva lot better than selling your soul to Big Brother XP so a former fry cook can authorize you using what you bought and paid for. (Just wait 'til Longhorn comes. There's rumors you'll have to have yesterday's fry cook authorize you playing a .wav file. That's "progress"??)
And as far as graphics.... are you referring to that (typically) garbage called Flash? That's not the fault of the OS either.
Some of the problems you attribute to older OS's, I say is because basic common sense is increasingly vanishing, and site building morons are breeding like flies, (and I'm not the only one who feels this way):
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
I don't disagree with your assessment of many of these site builders, but my point here is that for an extremely inexperienced computer user, such as my and Long Cuts elderly fathers, all these little complications become serious obstacles to Internet use, when the user has no idea how to work around them. I know how to turn off graphics, but it will be a LONG time (like never) before my father learns how to do things like that. Nor does he have the knowledge base to determine when he's doing something wrong vs. when a particular site just plain won't function without the graphics on.
Addenda:
One other reason for "script" troubles isn't the fault of the OS or browser or the computer, but simply because there are morons who build sites that don't take into account the intelligent souls who run firewalls!
That won't be a problem for the elderly dads -- they will never have a clue how to handle a firewall, so the wise offspring won't give them a computer that has one installed and running.
But a newer OS/computer won't make any difference in that regard. What sites render with XP but not '98? Does XP have a prominent graphics switch? XP comes with IE6, which you can load on '98, and I'm using it on ME.
Which brings up this - supposedly IE6 is the last MS browser. So is something else newer really any better in the long run?
I am convinced most problems are with the site/builder, not the OS or computer. Windows 9x has a long life yet.
Now, (as concerning older machines), if you're a gamer, that's a whole 'nother thing (DirectX, video cards, etc).
Holy Mother of God!
I don't run one either, and have never had any computer security trouble of any kind. I'm sure I could figure out how to work one if I had a reason to. Dad, on the other hand, would be baffled. I'd get a phone call every single time the darned thing tried to tell him something.
I think it would work all right - I was running XP on a 500 MHz P3 machine before the power supply blew up and took the machine with it. It was definitely kind of sluggish, but not to the point where it was unuseable. Just make sure you have a decent amount of RAM - I would recommend a minimum of 128 Mb, and more would be better.
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