Windows 98 launched 25 June 1998: the good, the bad and the ugly

Windows 98 launched on 25 June 1998, arriving at a moment when the personal computer was changing from a useful household machine into a gateway to the online world.  This was the Windows that turned the late-1990s PC into something more recognisably modern. It was made for dial-up internet, CD-ROM encyclopaedias, early USB gadgets, family printers, 3D games, digital cameras and the growing sense that a computer was no longer just a machine for work. It was becoming the centre of the spare room, the student desk, the home office and, occasionally, the source of a very long Saturday afternoon spent looking for a missing driver. Windows 98 was not perfect. In fact, anyone who used it seriously will probably remember at least one blue screen, one frozen installation, or one printer that behaved like it had joined a trade union. But it was important. It arrived at the moment when the PC industry was moving from the offline age to the connected age, and it helped millions of people make that jump.

Who made Windows 98?

Windows 98 was made by Microsoft, the company that already dominated the personal computer world by the late 1990s. It was the direct successor to Windows 95 and part of the Windows 9x family, which means it still had one foot in the old MS-DOS world while presenting users with a familiar graphical Windows desktop.

That detail matters. Windows 98 was not a totally new operating system built from scratch. It was more like a major renovation of a very busy house. Microsoft kept the basic structure of Windows 95, then added new rooms, replaced some wiring, improved the plumbing and hoped nobody looked too closely in the basement.

The project was developed under the codename Memphis. It was designed for ordinary consumer PCs, not just corporate machines. Microsoft knew that people were buying computers for the home in huge numbers. Families wanted to browse the web, children wanted games, students wanted word processing, and everyone wanted their printer to work without needing a degree in electrical engineering.

How Windows 98 was made

Windows 98 was built as an upgrade, not a revolution. Microsoft knew that compatibility was everything. A new operating system could not simply abandon older software, DOS games, Windows 95 programs, sound cards, modems and printers. In the 1990s, people had shelves full of software boxes and driver discs. If Windows 98 could not run them, users would not call it progress. They would call it a problem.

So Microsoft kept the familiar Windows 95 interface. The Start menu remained. The taskbar remained. The desktop still looked like a desktop. But underneath, Windows 98 added better hardware detection, stronger support for newer devices, improved power management, better networking tools, support for larger hard drives through FAT32 and a more internet-focused experience.

One of the big ideas was that Windows should feel connected. Internet Explorer was built deeply into the system, and Windows Explorer began to borrow ideas from the web browser. Folders could look more like web pages. The desktop could show web content through Active Desktop. In theory, this was futuristic. In practice, it was sometimes like inviting the internet into your living room before anyone had agreed where it should sit.

Windows 98 also introduced Windows Update for home users. Today, updates are just part of life. Sometimes they arrive politely. Sometimes they appear when you are trying to shut down a laptop and catch a train. But in 1998, the idea that ordinary users could download operating system fixes from Microsoft was a serious step forward. It helped make the PC less dependent on magazine cover discs, manufacturer support pages and that one friend who “knew computers”.

A PC built for the internet age

The most important thing about Windows 98 was timing. It arrived just as the internet was becoming mainstream. Dial-up modems were everywhere, making that famous electronic screech that sounded like two robots arguing in a tunnel. Getting online still felt slightly magical. It also felt slightly expensive if someone picked up the phone downstairs.

Windows 98 made that world easier to enter. It included better dial-up networking, stronger browser integration and tools that helped people connect their PCs to the wider world. It was not the first Windows for the internet, but it was the one that made the internet feel like a normal part of the home computer.

It also arrived during a hardware boom. PCs were getting faster. Hard drives were getting larger. CD-ROM drives were common. Graphics cards were becoming more exciting. Sound cards mattered. USB was starting to promise a future where plugging in a device did not involve serial ports, parallel ports or crawling behind a desk with a torch and a mild sense of defeat.

Windows 98 did not make all of that painless, but it helped the industry move in the right direction.

The impact on the computer industry

Windows 98 strengthened Microsoft’s grip on the consumer PC market. For hardware makers, software developers and retailers, Windows was the platform that mattered. If a printer, scanner, joystick, modem or game worked well with Windows 98, it had a much better chance of selling.

This gave the PC industry a shared target. Manufacturers could build for Windows 98, advertise Windows 98 compatibility and reassure buyers that their new gadget would probably work with the family computer. Probably was doing some heavy lifting in the late 1990s, but still, the direction was clear.

Windows 98 also helped speed up the shift towards USB devices. Early USB was not always as smooth as the marketing promised, but the idea was powerful. Plug something in, let Windows detect it, install the driver and start using it. Compared with the older world of jumpers, IRQ conflicts and mystery ports, USB felt like civilisation had arrived wearing a slightly unstable hat.

For games, Windows 98 became a favourite. It sat in a sweet spot between old and new. It could still run plenty of older DOS and Windows games, while also supporting newer DirectX titles and 3D graphics hardware. For many retro gaming fans, Windows 98 Second Edition remains one of the best operating systems for a late-1990s gaming PC.

The browser problem

Not all of Windows 98’s impact was comfortable. Microsoft’s decision to tie Internet Explorer closely to Windows became one of the most controversial parts of the operating system’s story. On one side, Microsoft could argue that web browsing was becoming a natural part of the operating system. On the other, rivals argued that Microsoft was using Windows dominance to push its own browser and weaken competition.

This was not just a technical argument. It became a major industry and legal battle. Windows 98 sat right in the middle of a bigger question that still feels familiar today: when does helpful integration become unfair control?

That question did not disappear with the 1990s. It lives on in app stores, search engines, mobile platforms and cloud services. Windows 98 was one of the early examples of how powerful a platform owner could become when it controlled the place where users started their digital lives.

Special versions and expansions

The most important later version was Windows 98 Second Edition, usually called Windows 98 SE. Released in 1999, it became the version many people remember most fondly. It improved stability, added Internet Explorer 5, improved USB support, included better networking tools and introduced Internet Connection Sharing, which allowed multiple computers to share one internet connection.

That last feature was genuinely useful in homes and small offices. One dial-up or broadband connection could be shared across more than one machine. It sounds basic now, but at the time it felt like a neat trick. Also, it gave families a new reason to argue about who was using all the bandwidth, a fine tradition that continues proudly today.

There was also Microsoft Plus! 98, a paid add-on pack that brought themes, screensavers, utilities and extra features. It was not essential, but it was very much of its time. People liked customising their desktops. A different wallpaper, a new sound scheme and a themed screensaver could make a PC feel personal. It was the late-1990s version of decorating your digital bedroom.

Over time, Windows 98 also developed an unofficial afterlife. Enthusiasts created patches, driver collections and community fixes to keep it useful for retro hardware and classic games. Long after Microsoft moved on, hobbyists kept Windows 98 alive because it still did certain things very well.

The good

The good side of Windows 98 was simple: it made the home PC more useful. It gave users a familiar interface, better hardware support, larger hard drive support, improved networking and easier access to the internet. It helped normal people do more with a computer without feeling that they had to understand everything happening underneath.

It was also a strong system for gaming. With DirectX support, wide hardware compatibility and good performance on period-correct machines, Windows 98 became a favourite for late-1990s PC games. For anyone who grew up with titles on shiny CD-ROMs, chunky manuals and installation screens full of progress bars, Windows 98 was part of the atmosphere.

It also deserves credit for being practical. Windows Update, improved Plug and Play, better USB support and stronger device compatibility all pointed towards the modern PC experience. Windows 98 did not complete that journey, but it helped move the industry there.

The bad

The bad side was stability. Windows 98 could crash. Sometimes it crashed because of bad drivers. Sometimes it crashed because of software conflicts. Sometimes it appeared to crash because the room temperature changed and the computer felt dramatic.

This was still a consumer operating system built on the Windows 9x line, and that meant it carried baggage. A misbehaving program could cause serious trouble. A poor driver could bring down the whole system. The Registry could become messy. Reinstalling Windows was not unusual. Many users learned the hard way that “just one more tweak” was often the sentence spoken moments before disaster.

Internet integration was also a mixed blessing. Some users liked the web-style interface. Others found it unnecessary and heavy. On slower PCs, certain features could make the system feel sluggish. Active Desktop in particular was clever in concept, but not always loved in daily use.

Security was another weakness, especially by modern standards. Windows 98 was not designed for today’s always-online world. It came from a time before home broadband, Wi-Fi everywhere and constant automated attacks. Running it online now would be charming in the same way as driving a vintage car without seatbelts on a motorway.

The ugly

The ugly part of Windows 98 was the mess behind the magic. The late-1990s PC was exciting, but it could also be exhausting. Installing hardware often meant dealing with driver CDs, reboot loops, resource conflicts and manuals written as if translated by a sleepy fax machine.

There was also the bigger industry issue. Microsoft’s control over the PC desktop was enormous. Windows 98 made life easier for millions of users, but it also showed how much power Microsoft had over what people saw, installed and used. The browser controversy was not a side story. It was a warning sign about platform dominance.

And then there was the everyday ugliness: blue screens, frozen shutdowns, broken drivers, mysterious error messages and the occasional need to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete like you were trying to summon help from another dimension.

Why Windows 98 still matters

Windows 98 matters because it caught the PC at a turning point. It was not just an operating system. It was the bridge between the old personal computer and the connected home machine. Before it, many PCs still felt like isolated boxes. After it, the internet, USB devices, digital media and home networking felt like normal parts of computer life.

It was not Microsoft’s most elegant Windows. It was not the most stable. It was not the cleanest piece of engineering. But it was useful, familiar and perfectly timed. It helped millions of people get online, play games, connect devices, share files, explore software and become more comfortable with computers.

Windows 98 was messy because the PC world was messy. It was ambitious because the industry was ambitious. It was flawed because Microsoft was trying to drag an older architecture into a faster, more connected future. That did not always go smoothly, but it did move things forward.

Today, Windows 98 is remembered with a mixture of affection and relief. Affection because it powered a generation of home computers, games and first internet experiences. Relief because nobody really misses driver conflicts, random crashes or the feeling of waiting for a reboot while wondering whether the machine would come back alive.

In the end, Windows 98 was not the future itself. It was the noisy, practical, sometimes stubborn bridge to the future. And for a few important years, almost everyone in the PC world had to cross it.