My desktop has windows 98 how can I update it

[coachsundby1]

My desktop has windows 98. I need a newer version. what should i do?

 

[daship]

Buy a new computer. Theres no way you could run Vista or Windows 7 on that machine. And 98 hasn't been supported, and neither will XP in a couple of months, this means you will be wide open to Virus threats.

I have a really nice new PC with windows 7, for sale for $250, PM me if interested.

 

[cadder]

das raises a good point- your hardware is probably not sufficient for newer versions of the OS. I have upgraded Win98 machines to WinXP, and added some ram to get them to work properly. IIRC you could run Win98 with as little as 128mb or 256mb of ram, but WinXP required a minimum of 512mb. Depending on what you want to do with the machine you might need more memory than that, and of course your cpu might be pretty slow too. You might be able to hunt around and find an XP upgrade disk. I'm not certain what the minimums are for Win7, probably 1GB of ram at the bare minimum. At this stage I wouldn't try to upgrade to Vista, just go straight to Win7. But then if you are doing that you probably should just start over with a new PC.

Now if you find out that your machine has enough ram to run a newer version of the OS, if you buy a WinXP upgrade disk then you can either upgrade your machine or you can do a clean install. If you do an upgrade then you get to keep your installed apps. I'm pretty sure if you tried to upgrade to Vista you would need to do a clean install and definitely if you upgrade to Win7 you will need a clean install, so be sure your data is backed up first and then you get to reinstall all of your programs.

 

[saaiello]

Windows xp sp1 or 2 will run with as little as a Pentium II 400 mhz with 64MB of RAM that is min it will run alot better with more RAM but it will still be very slow. Ideal for bare minimum is a Pentium III 700mhz or faster and at least 512MB of RAM this will be a little better but still slow also dont expect to be able to use stuff like Java and Flash it simply just will not run. Now for at least a halfway functional machine you will need at least a Pentium 4 with 1GB of RAM.

Windows 7 and Vista will run like crap with anything less then 2 GB of RAM it will work with 1 but it is really really slow. I was recently playing with an old RIG my neighbor was throwing out for the fun of it it was a Pentium III 1000mhz with 384MB of RAM and it orig had windows 98 on it I put XP on it and it ran OK bur still crappy. You should really try an old version of Linux that would be your best bet.

 

[seth89]

if you have the cash go to bestbuy and pick up HP laptop for like 400 bucks.
and if you want to go crazy for 600 bucks you can get a thin asus with BluRay and a 8hr batt life.

and when you go to best buy dont let them sell you anti anything or geek stuff. its all trash.



or for a upgrade buy some more memory and windows XP

 

[FALC0N]

Buy a new computer. Theres no way you could run Vista or Windows 7 on that machine. And 98 hasn't been supported, and neither will XP in a couple of months, this means you will be wide open to Virus threats.

XP receives extended support till mid 2014

 

[FALC0N]

why do you wish to upgrade your OS and tell us about your current setup.

 

[outlw6669]

My desktop has windows 98. I need a newer version. what should i do?

Buy/Build a new computer.
If this is not an option, look into Linux.