that the upgrade is permissible by inserting the original installation CD from
the older version of Windows when asked to do so. The installation CD notes
the previous version and then returns to upgrading.Once the new operating system is installed, visit the Microsoft Update web
page to obtain all of the available system updates and device drivers. It may
require several visits and machine restarts before all of the requisite pieces
are in place.Finally, install a capable antivirus program such as Norton Antivirus or simi-
lar products from manufacturers including McAfee. Be sure to scan your
drive for any existing problems, and connect to the home pages of the
antivirus makers for daily updates.Preparing for a fresh install...............................................................
As with other operating systems, before you install Windows 98 on an empty
hard drive, the drive has to be partitioned and formatted. As I’ve explored,
many hard drive manufacturers provide an automated utility to take away
some of the pain. Windows 98 supports the FAT16 and the more advanced
FAT32 file systems; it does not support NTFS, which was introduced with
Windows NT and Windows XT. You’ve no reason to choose FAT16 unless you
need to maintain compatibility with older hardware.As a reminder, FAT16 can deal with no more than 2GB for each allocated space
or drive letter. As an example, a 10GB hard drive could be set up with 5 drive
letters (usually beginning with C and running through G), each with 2GB of
allocated space. Or, you could make each of the virtual drives a different size,
as long as none of them exceed 2GB.Chapter 17: Installing a New Operating System or Migrating Upwards 271
The Windows 98 CD trap
How can you load the operating system from a
CD when the drivers for the CD are part of the
operating system? That’s the confusing double
bind that many Windows 98 users face. The solu-
tion is mostly solved through the availability of
a set of generic CD-ROM drivers that work with
most CD-ROM drives. These drivers should
allow a laptop’s BIOS to bring to life most ATAPI
and less-common SCSI drives and permit the
Windows 98 Startup disk to go to work. If the
supplied drivers do not work with your CD-ROM
drive, contact the maker of your computer or CD
drive for assistance. You can find several ver-
sions of all-purpose CD drivers by doing an
Internet search for “generic CD driver.”