Can Windows 98 machines still be active while still in 2017?

Windows 98 and its improved version of Windows 98 Second Edition that appeared in 1998 were counted as one of the masterpiece operating systems on Windows, at that time being evaluated such as excellent multimedia performance and high stability. Whether such Windows 98 can be used without problems even in 2017 when almost 20 years passed since birth, a movie that verified such a thing is released.

Can you use a windows 98 computer in 2017? - YouTube


This video is a YouTube channel that reviews old hardware and games "Oldtech 81Those published in. On this channel old game consoles such as SEGA Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment and reviews video using Windows 3.1 etc. are released.

Oldtech 81 - YouTube


The machine which was prepared this time is a model called "Armada e 500" of Compaq. The CPU is Pentium 3 and the clock frequency is 500 MHz. It is a model with 128 MB of RAM and 20 GB hard disk, it is a model manufactured in 2001.


Built-in 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and DVD drive on the front.


On the right side is an expansionPC CardIt has a slot and microphone input, a headphone output terminal, a built-in Ethernet terminal, a modem terminal, an infrared receiver, and a video output (composite output) terminal.


On the back side, layout of power supply terminal, USB terminal, serial port, VGA port, dedicated connector for docking station, printer port, PS / 2 terminal. I feel the era when gigantic terminals are lined up.


The built-in battery on the left side is square replaceable type. It is a model that was targeted for recall by igniting, but it has been checked that there is no problem.


To my surprise, due to the fact that HP that acquired Compaq provided the support page of Armada e 500 even as of February 2017, installation disks of various Windows and MS-DOS were able to be downloaded is.


Unfortunately, there was a problem with the LCD display on which it was installed, and it was said that the green line was coming out.


For that reason, we prepared an external liquid crystal display for verification.


Moreover, the hinge part is deteriorated, and it seems that it is in a state where it opens as "flats" when you tilt the panel to a certain extent.


A screen that launched OS. I feel nostalgic in the character part of the display with an aspect ratio of 4: 3 and the background not transparent.


I just opened the control panel. The screen theme of "classic style" now is also state of the art at that time.


The behavior of the machine seems to be crisp. Although it shows rarely it seems to be caught in the rendering of the window, it seems that it is largely keeping good condition.


Install the latest browser for verification. Nonetheless, Internet Explorer 6 was the one I could choose in this version.


In this verification, compatibility layer for operating Windows 2000 / XP applications on Windows 98 and Windows Millennium "KernelExIt is said that you have installed.

As I have installed KernelEx, Mozilla's mail software "ThunderbirdIt works without problems. It seems that it is working without trouble from e-mail creation to sending and receiving.


"Open office suite"OpenOfficeCan also work. The document creation software seems to be handling illustrations without problems.


There seems to be no problem in the operation of spreadsheet software. There seems to be no problem loading and saving of the file.


However, there seemed to be some problem in loading PDF, PDF viewer software "PDF-XChange ViewerWe are using the problem to avoid problems.



Of course, there is no problem playing music, the screen is now a nostalgic music playback software "Winamp". .


Multitasking that creates documents while listening to music also seems to have no problem.


For video playback, a modern player "VLC"Adopted. It is a player that supports various formats for free, and because it is light in operation, it can be used even on older machines.


HD quality seems to be severe with machine specs, but there is no problem with the playback of the movie itself. From now on it looks quite poor spec, but at that time everyone was using such a machine without problems.


However, it seems that there are not many problems with browsing the Internet. In Internet Explorer 6, there are many pages that can not be opened, so we need to find another new browser.


I chose there, Opera 11. Since the latest version as of the end of February 2017 is "Opera 43", I can see that it is a long ago version.


When opening the site with Internet Explorer 6, the right frame screen will be displayed in white ......


With Opera 11, the original display is done. Also, the table layout in the page is also closer to Opera 11's correct answer.


When opening Reddit, although it seems a little strange font, it seems that it is displayed with no problem.


The problem is when I opened a page on Facebook. The login screen is displayed, but ...


When I tried to open the main page, it was stuck in white. This is due to the memory loading capacity of 128 MB, and the situation that the modern Facebook page does not reach the memory amount at all at all. As a result, it seems that it was not a story of the fact that a large amount of swap occurred and the page was not displayed properly.


After all, I decided not to display Facebook.


It was impossible to open the Gmail page.


However, it seems that it could be viewed as a lightweight version of HTML only Gmail.


Although YouTube opens the page itself, it does not keep playing the video.


Therefore, I tried the "network stream" function that allows you to enter YouTube URL into VLC and play it ... ...


It can not be played back. Apparently it seems to be due to the compatibility of VLC and KernelEx.


Therefore, I finally downloaded a YouTube video and tried playing it.


Although there is a gray part as a method, it seems that it succeeded in the reproduction of the downloaded movie also in any case.


It seemed that playing the game at the time, of course, had no problem.


"Carmageddon" using 3D graphics and ... ...


You can also play the first "Grand · Theft Auto" of Nojima's dot picture · looking down screen.


Pioneer presence of FPS game "Duke · Newchem 3D" ... ...


You can play FPS masterpiece "Quake" as well.


It seems that you can play car action game "Destruction / Derby" while wearing a gang.


As a result of the verification, the answer is "YES!" To the question "Will Windows 98 work as a main PC even in 2017?" It seems indispensable to install KernelEx and find the best software as much as possible, but it is said that if you play simple browsing, sending and receiving mail, playing music, and even games that are not the latest version It seems that you have reached the conclusion. However, since official support has been completed long ago, since security vulnerability is high, it is said to be a so-called "full of holes"Use it without connecting to the Internet - It is recommended not to exchange data with USB memory etc.Be careful with that point.