>
> o       I have heard of the horror stories of how buggy Win98 is.
>
>                 Are the horror stories still true?
>
>                 Is Win98 still hopelessly buggy?
Win98 is actually less buggy than Win95.  Most horror stories are
related to "uprgrading" from Win95.  Some have upgraded without a
problem, but many have had to perform a clean install, (reformat,
install Win98, reinstall S/W.)
>
> o       If I get Win98, I'd get them from the computer stores like
>         CompUSA or ComputerCity, and there _is_ a possibility that what
>         I'd get is CD-ROMs filled with the buggy version of Win98.
>         So, here're the questions about getting bug-fixes ---
As far as I'm aware, you'll get the same version, regardless of where
you purchase.  I don't thing Microsoft has a released a 2nd version yet.
>
>                 Where can I get the "bugfixes" for the Win98?
>
>                 Are they available from online sources,
>                 such as microsoft.com?
>
>                 If the bugfixes are available, are they FREE?
>
>                 Or do I have to pay for the "priviledge"?
Win98 includes a Windows Update feature, if you have web access, you
simply click on this icon, and Win98 will take you to the Microsoft Web
Site, verifies you s/w and recommends updates and "fixes".  It's quite
simple and yes it is free.
>
> o       There is a Plus! package with the Win98, and (I heard) it
>         does have       a Cmpagent.exe compression agent in it.
>
>                 Will the Win98 Cmpagent.exe works with FAT32?
No.  It's normally not necessary.  Compression Agents typically take all
of your files and tell the o/s that they are just one big file, which
eliminates the problem of "wasted" clusters.  With FAT32, the clusters
are just 4k to start with, so you have fewer wasted clusters, giving you
more space without the need to compress your files.
>
>                 How reliable is the Win98 Cmpagent.exe,
>                 compare with its Win95 cousin?
>
>                 Is the compression ratio of Win98's Cmpagent.exe as
>                 good as (or better than) it's Win95 cousin?
I haven't used Win98 Cmpagent, so can't help with this.
>
> o       Currently I have 2 4GB IDE HD, and I am thinking of
>         upgrading my machine with 2 more 8GB EIDE HD.
>         While I know FAT32 will break the 2GB partition limit,
>         I do not know if Win98's Drvspace and/or Cmpagent.exe
>         support > 2GB partition or not.
>
>                 Has anybody here successfully set up Win98, and run
>                 Drvspace _with_ Cmpagent.exe on their machine?
>
>                 Can Win98 Cmpagent.exe runs on a drivesize
>                 larger than 2GB?
>

Again, can't help here.  I think FAT32 will probably reduce the need to
compress your files.  However, if after upgrading you find you have lost
space, you could consider a 3rd party "zip" program to compress forlders
or files that take up a lot of space.  One program "Zip Magic" allows
the user to zip the files once, but continue to use them as if they
weren't zipped.  It runs in the backround and automatically unzips the
files when they are opened.  Hope this helps.

Dan Shaughnessy

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