It may look like Windows 95, but Windows 98 is its own operating system, with many of the benefits hidden below the surface. Check out our essential tips and tricks to make your Windows 98 upgrade as painless as possible.

Operating system up-grades are never easy, even when the new OS differs little from its predecessor. Sure, we've been telling you that Windows 98 isn't a revolutionary advance over Windows 95, but anytime you change your PC's underlying software, issues surface. You're upgrading your software, and maybe even your hardware.

You're also upgrading the way you work and Windows 98 offers plenty of opportunities to overhaul your work style. But many of its benefits are hidden, buried deep in the Stan menu or tucked away in obscure dialogue boxes. If you don't know where to look, you might miss them. In this article, we help you make the most of the new OS (and avoid some of its pitfalls).

We don't mean to lag but back up your data before you upgrade to Windows 98. At the very least, copy irreplaceable personal files to floppies or a removable disk. And when you're ready to install Windows 98, have a blank floppy handy the setup program will ask you for one to create the emergency, start-up disk. Make sure you have plenty of free hard disk space, too - at least 150MB if you're upgrading to the new OS from Windows 95 and 170MB if you're making the leap from Windows 3.1.

If you have extra room or an empty partition, consider copying the Windows 98 installation disk to your hard drive. You'll need almost 120MB of free space (and that's before you actually install the OS), but at least you'll always have the source files on a high-speed device if you ever need to change your setup.

Once Windows 98 (all 200MB to 250MB of it) occupies your hard disk, consider giving it a little extra room by converting to the new FAt.32 file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes than the older FATI 6 system, resulting in less wasted disk space.

To decide whether it's worth your while to convert to 1AT32, use the FAT32 utility to calculate exactly how much hard disk space you'd regain by converting. Point your Web browser to http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsS8/Basics/Features/faster/default.asp, click on FAT32 and follow the links to download the FAT32 utility. Once it's downloaded, double-click the FAT32.EXE file to extract its contents, then double-click FAT32WIN.EXE. Select a drive, click Scan and check out the facts. It really can help you recover disk space: we ran the utility on a l GB drive and learned that we'd regain a whopping 226MB after converting!

You've run the FAT32 utility (see previous tips) and you're ready to convert your hard drive to FAT32 No problem). Select Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools: Drive Converter (FAT32) and click Details to read the no turning back" warnings. Then follow along as the Drive Converter wizard walks you through the conversion.

If you send faxes from your PC, you should know that Windows 95's Microsoft fax add-on isn't a part of Windows 98's setup. That's not a problem if you already have the Windows 95 fax program installed - it will still work.

But if you're upgrading from Windows 3.1, installing the OS on a blank hard drive or buying a new computer, you'll have to hunt for the fax software on the Windows 98 CD-ROM and install it separately. Look in the Tools/ OldWin95/Fax folder and run setup.exe. Your computer needs to be running Exchange, Windows Messaging or Outlook (but not Outlook Express) for Microsoft Fax to function. If all this sounds confusing, you're probably better off investing in Symantec's friendlier; more powerful WinFax Pro.

Windows 98 does a good job of accelerating start-up, but you can speed it up even more. Use the new Maintenance Wizard to turn off all programs in your StartUp group that don't have to run continuously.

Select Start/Programs/Accessories/ System tools/Maintenance Wizard. Choose the Custom option and, in the Start Windows More Quickly dialogue box, deselect the start-up items you don't expect you'll need. From then on, Windows will load faster. Because this utility disables start-up items, rather than deleting them, you can always re-enable an item (also using the Maintenance Wizard).

Certain programs that start when Windows 98 starts don't appear in the Maintenance Wizard's Start Windows More Quickly dialogue box. But you can still turn them off to accelerate your start-up. Select Start/ Programs/Accessories/System Tools! System Information. Within the Microsoft System Information dialogue box, pull down the Tools menu and select System Configuration utility. Click the Startup tab, disable the speed thieves by unchecking their boxes (if you're not absolutely sure what something is, don't touch it) and click OK. Like Maintenance Wizard, this utility lets you re-enable items you only occasionally need.

Windows 98 is packed with visual effects. Right-click a desktop icon, for example, and the resulting menu doesn't just pop out, it grows out of the icon. But every time your system does something fancy like this, its overall performance declines (by exactly how much depends on your hardware). So when you're done oohing and aahing over these new features and you're ready to get down to business, turn them off. Right-click the desktop, select Properties and click the Effects tab. Deselect the options under visual effects you can live without and click OK.

Windows 98's Active Desktop lets you add Web content (such as a weather map) to your desktop. But this luxury can drain your system's resources. If you experience performance problems, remove these items from your desktop or turn the Active Desktop off altogether.

To disable individual Active Desktop items, right-click the desktop and select Properties. Click the Web tab and deselect any or all items in the white box (including the Internet Explorer Channel Bar) and click OK. You can turn these items back on later if you wish.

To completely turn off Active Desktop, right-click the desktop, select Active Desktop and deselect View As Web Page (or select Start/Settings/Active Desktop and deselect View As Web Page). Again, you can turn it back on later.

One good way to make your applications run faster is to defragment your hard drive so files stay together. Windows 98's defrag utility includes an option that further optimises application loading.

You can run the Disk Defragmenter manually by selecting Start/ Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter. But if you tend to forget about defragmenting, you're the perfect candidate for using the automatic Maintenance Wizard (see Maintain Windows 98 while you sleep).

Either way, click the Settings button and select Rearrange program files so my files start faster. Windows 98 also lets you defragment multiple hard drives with a single command. Choose All Hard Drives at the bottom of the Select Drive dialogue box's drop-down list.

Every time you step away from Windows 98 for more than 15 minutes, you'll return to find a blank screen on your PC. After 30 minutes, your hard drive powers of too. That's because Windows 98's Power Management features are hard at work. But if the settings don't match your work style, they can be a hindrance, because waking up your hardware takes time.

To remedy the problem, increase the time these power-saving features wait before kicking in or shut them off completely. Open the Control Panel and select Power Management. On the Power Schemes tab, change the Turn off monitor and Turn off hard disk settings to larger numbers. Then select Save As and name your power scheme something like My Settings. To turn off Power Management altogether, select Always On from among the Power schemes and change both the Turn off settings to Never.

If you want to use Windows 98's Power Management settings only some of the time, it's not necessary to open the Power Management utility each time your needs change you can easily switch from one power scheme to another from your taskbar. Just open the Power Management tool as described in the previous tip and click the Advanced tab. Select Show power meter on taskbar and click OR. From that point on, whenever you want to change your power scheme, simply click the little plug icon on the taskbar.

Fed up with constant double-clicking? In Windows 98, you can make this traditional mode of opening files and folders a thing of the past. You can set up all your desktop folders and shortcuts to art like Web links click them once and they launch. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer and, from the View menu, select Folder Options. Choose Web style to enable single-clicking.

To the right of Windows 98's Start button, you'll find icons for performing functions such as launching Internet Explorer and Outlook Express with a single click. These icons are part of Windows 98's nifty new Toolbars feature. You also get three other convenient toolbars: Links (which duplicates IE 4.0's Links bar), Desktop (which shows all your desktop icons) and Address (which lets you type in a URL that will load in your default Web browser, or the name of a drive or folder that will load in a folder window).

To place any of these toolbars on your taskbar, right-click an unoccupied area of the taskbar, choose Toolbars and select the desired toolbar.

You can move a toolbar off the taskbar and onto your desktop by clicking the handle to its left and dragging it to the desired location. Move it to the far left, right or top of the screen, and it will "dock" there.

Once you've played with Windows 98's ready-made toolbars, try customising them. You can create a single-click shortcut to almost any-thing by dragging and dropping it onto a toolbar (but not the Address toolbar). Delete an unwanted toolbar icon by right-clicking it and choosing Delete from the pop-up menu. You can also create a new toolbar that includes all the items in a folder or even an entire drive: right-click an unoccupied section of the taskbar and choose Toolbars/New Toolbar. This will get you a dialogue box that lets you select any folder or drive.

If you like to fiddle with a folder's look and feel, you'll love Windows 98's View menu options (be sure to check out both View/Folder Options and View/Customize this Folder). The settings are "sticky" - meaning that they stay active until you change them again -but they affect only the current folder. Here's how to apply a uniform look to all your folders once you've tailored one folder to your liking: from the View menu, first select Folder Options and click on the View tab; then click Like Current folder in the Folder views section; finally, click Yes when prompted. Once you've done this, all your folders will default to the current one's settings.

"Drag and drop" has been a Windows mantra for years, but Windows 95’s Start Menu was just a drag. Fortunately, Windows 98’s Start menu is better: to add an item to its top level simply drag it onto the Start button from the Windows Explorer, My computer, the desktop or even your Web browser.

Once it’s there, you can drag and drop it to any level of the Start menu. And on Windows 98’s Start menu, you can use the right mouse button: right click an item to get a pop up menu that will let you delete it, create a desktop shortcut or perform other useful actions.

Is your program list stuffed to the gills? You may have noticed that instead of unfurling lengthy list of programs and folders across the screen, Windows 98’s Start menu displays a single-column list that scrolls - rather slowly - when the mouse pointer hovers over the onscreen arrows. To move instantly to the top or bottom of the list, hold the Ctrl key and dick the appropriate arrow. This tip also works in Internet Explorer 4.0's Favorites menu.

One of the best reasons to try Windows Explorer's new Web View option is its built-in thumbnail image viewer for graphics files. First, enable Web View by selecting View/as Web

Page in Windows Explorer or a folder window such as My Computer. Then select an image file on your hard drive. (If you’ve enabled Windows 98’s single – clicking feature, you can select a file by hovering the mouse over it; if not, click the image file.)

If the file uses one of the many formats this feature understands, you'll see a small thumbnail version of the image. It's a quick way to browse through picture files without actually having to open them.

Sometimes dragging and dropping isn’t the quickest way to accomplish a task. For example, dragging a shortcut onto the Windows desktop can be tricky if the desktop is cluttered with windows. Try this quick alternative: right-click the desired item in Windows Explorer, a folder window or even Internet Explorer 4.0's Favorites menu, and select Send To/Desktop as Shortcut in the pop-up menu. Windows 98 will then place a shortcut to the item on the desktop.

Internet Explorer 4.0 introduces a full-screen view that maximises the amount of information you can see at once. What's less obvious (because there's no menu item or toolbar icon for it) is that you can do the same thing with Windows Explorer and with folder windows such as My Computer.

To put Windows Explorer or a folder in full-screen mode, hold the Ctrl key and click the maximise icon (in the upper-right corner). Minimising a full-screen window onto the taskbar works as usual, but to go back to a standard maximised or floating view of the window, right-click the window's taskbar icon and select Re-store.

Right out of the box, Windows 98 is a far more customisable OS than Windows 95. But if you're still not satisfied, try Tweak UI, a utility that provides many additional ways to tinker with Windows 98.

To install it, use Windows Explorer to go to the tools\reskit\powertoy folder on the Windows 98 CD-ROM. When you get there, right-click TWEAKUI.INI and choose Install. Once it's installed, Tweak UI appears as an applet in the Windows 98 Control Panel.

Among its dozens of tricks, it lets you turn off the Windows 98 splash screen (the one that reminds you which OS you're using during start-up), automatically flush IE's cache and precisely adjust your mouse's sensitivity.

Note that if you're already using the Windows 95 version of Tweak HI, you'll want to upgrade Microsoft doesn't recommend using the older version with Windows 98 and the new edition has lots more features.

It’s big, it’s ugly and it’s festooned with corporate logos – it’s Windows 98’s Channel Bar, which provides access to Active Channels (auto-updating, Web-based news and entertainment services). But even if you are an Active Channels fan, you can permanently shut off the Channel Bar without losing anything important.

Click the X (the Close icon) in the upper-right corner of the bar and then tell Windows 98 not to open it again. But first, drag the symbols for any channels that you regularly use off the bar and onto the Windows desktop, where they'll turn into smaller, less obtrusive icons that are just as convenient. Alternatively, select View/Explorer Bar/Channels in Windows Explorer or a folder window to get buttons that let you browse and view channels. Or you can simply click on the Channels icon in IE 4.0.

At best, Windows 98's Active Desktop is an acquired taste. But if you decide to give it a try, keep these tips in mind:

- Windows plops the items you add to the Active Desktop down anywhere, sometimes on top of other items. To move one to a better spot, hover the pointer near its top border until a grey frame appears, then click on the top border and drag.

- Oddly, right-clicking on an Active Desktop item and choosing Properties doesn't let you change its properties. Instead, hover the mouse pointer near the item's top border until a grey frame appears; then click on the triangle in the frame's upper-left corner and choose Properties.

If the shortcuts on your desktop inteffere with your view of Active Desk-top items, you can hide them. Right-click the desktop, choose Properties and click Effects. Select Hide icons when the desktop is viewed as a Web page and click OK.

Here's a handy way to get a quick update on Web pages that have added new material since you last visited them. Whenever you add a new page to your list of Favorites, IE will ask whether you want to subscribe to the page make sure you pick Yes, but only tell me when this page is updated. (To select this option for an existing Favorite, right-click the site in the Favorites menu, choose Subscribe and select Only tell me when this page is updated.)

Whenever you want to check for updates, select Favorites/Update All Subscriptions. Then take another look at the Favorites menu - the icon of any page that has changed will sport a red asterisk.

Immediately below IE 4.0's address window, you'll find Links - 3 strip of buttons that provide single-click access to Microsoft's Web site, an ad for HotMail and a few other spots. Obviously, such prime real estate would be better occupied by links to the handful of sites that you consider the most vital.

To add sites to the Links bar, simply drag them off the Favorites menu and drop them between existing buttons; you can also drag any link from the current page. To delete an unwanted item from links, right-click it and select Delete from the pop-up menu. You can add as many items as you want to links, but if they won't all fit on your screen at the same time, you'll have to click on arrows to scroll through them (one trick is to edit their names to fit more links on).

You don't have to be paranoid to appreciate I E's warnings when a Web site tries something that could present a security threat. But you may be comfortable visiting some sites - major shopping sites such as Aniazon.com, for example - without receiving security warnings. To give them the go-ahead, start by selecting View/Internet Options, then choose Trusted Sites zone in the Zone drop-down menu. Next, click Add Sites..., deselect Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone, and enter the URLs of the sites, including the http:// prefix.

All Internet users know that the Web can be mind-numbingly slow, especially when you visit a site with fancy graphics and moving pictures. To pick up the pace, you can run Internet Explorer 4.0 in text-only mode - but only if you install IE 4.0 PowerToys, a cool collection of browser add-ons that's free for download from Microsoft's Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie4O/powertoys/.

Once you've installed Powertoys, IE 4.0's Links bar will include a button marked Toggle images.exe. Click this button and IE will greatly accelerate your browsing by displaying only text, ignoring all images. If you want to return to text-and-graphics mode, simply click the button again.

With any e-mail package, making sure your Address Book contains unto-date information on all your correspondents is tedious. Fortunately, Internet Explorer 4.0's Outlook Express e-mail program can do part of the job for you. Choose Tools/Options make sure the General tab is selected and select Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book. Subsequently, whenever you reply to a message, Outlook Express will create an Address Book entry that contains the original sender's name and e-mail address.

If your spelling is shaky when writing e-mail, Outlook Express can automatically perform a spell check when you click the Send button. Select Tools/Options, click the Spelling tab and choose Always check spelling before sending.

Tired of cleaning out unnecessary files scanning your hard disks for errors and defragmenting your hard drive? Use the Maintenance Wizard to schedule and initiate these tasks for you. Select Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Maintenance Wizard and follow along as the wizard walks you through scheduling the Disk Defragmenter, ScanDisk and Disk Cleanup. Select Express for one-click scheduling or choose Custom... for maximum control over these routines.

System faults can translate into serious downtime. But before you call a Windows 98 support technician, call Dr Watson, Windows 98's troubleshooting utility. It takes "snapshots" of your system setup to help analyse and solve problems.

Select Start/Programs/Accessories/ System Tools/System Information. Next, selectTools/DrWatson and a DrWatson icon will appear in the taskbar tray. Double-click this icon to generate a system snapshot that includes (hopefully) a diagnosis of the problem you're experiencing. Choose Save As to preserve a copy of your log file and you'll have a reference resource for that support technician you're about to dial up.

How can you ensure that Dr Watson will be on the case next time you experience a system fault? Elementary: keep it running all the time. That way, it will automatically create a system snapshot whenever a fault occurs. To have Dr Watson load on start-up, place a shortcut to Windows\Drwatson.exe in your StartUp folder.

Use the new Windows Update to check whether all your system files, device drivers and other add-ons are current. This online extension of

Win98 uses your Web connection to check your current installation and identify any missing (and installed) updates. Keep in mind that running Windows Update can take a while Select Start/ Windows Update and on the resulting Web page, select Product Updates. Click Yes to confirm that you want to install and run the Microsoft Windows 98 Update Wizard Directory Finder, then follow the instructions.

Impatient types may want to avoid Windows Update and download updates the old-fashioned way. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Windows98/default.asp, click the Downloads link and select an update to download. Keep a list of your updates and check back periodically.

Don't know if you have the latest driver for a particular device? Let the Update Device Driver Wizard do the research for you. Right-click My Computer and select Properties (or select Control Panel/System). Click the Device Manager tab and navigate your way to the device you suspect may need a new driver. Then select Properties/Drivers and click the Update Drivers button. Follow the wizard as it locates new drivers and offers to install them.