Get The Most Out of Win98

Don't mean to nag, but back up your data before you upgrade to Windows 98. At the very least, copy irreplaceable personal files to floppies or a Zip 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 200 to 250MB of it) occupies your hard disk, consider giving it a little extra room by converting to the new FAT32 file system. In case you haven't heard, FAT32 supports a smaller cluster size than the older FAT16 system, resulting in less wasted disk space.
You can gain on a 1GB drive 226MB after converting!

You've run the FAT32 utility (see previous tip) and you're ready to convert your hard drive to FAT32. No sweat. 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're upgrading from Windows 3.1 to Windows 98, be aware that everything in your old StartUp group will automatically end up in Windows 98's Startup folder. Since some of these Win 3.1 programs might not work with Windows 98, you should remove all of them before upgrading to the new operating system.

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 dialog box, deselect the start-up items you don't expect you'll need. From then on, Windows will load faster. And because this utility disables start-up items, rather than deleting them, you can always reenable 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 dialog 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 dialog 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 then click OK. Like Maintenance Wizard, this utility lets you reenable items you only occasionally need.

Windows 98 is packed with visual effects. Right-click a desktop icon, for instance, 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 ahing 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 then click OK.

Windows 98's Active Desktop lets you to 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 the digital anvils 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 Internet Explorer Channel Bar), and click OK. You can turn these items back on later if you wish.

To turn off the entire 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 always 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 optimizes 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. 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 dialog 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 off, too. That's because Windows 98's Power Management features are hard at work. But if the settings don't match your work style (for example, if you frequently have lengthy chats with coworkers), 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 of 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 then click OK. From that point on, whenever you want to change your power scheme, simply click the little plug icon on the taskbar.

Is your wrist sore from constant double-clicking? With 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 act 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 Win 98 functions like launching Internet Explorer or Outlook Express with a single click. These icons are part of Win 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 of 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 customizing them. You can create a single-click shortcut to almost anything 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 dialog 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, and 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, period. Fortunately, Windows 98's Start menu is better: To add an item to its top level, simply drag it onto the Start button from 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 Win 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 lists of programs and folders across the screen, Win 98's Start menu displays a single-column list that scrolls--rather slowly--when the mouse pointer hovers over the on-screen arrows. To zip instantly to the top or bottom of the list, hold the Ctrl key and click 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 opening 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 maximizes the amount of info 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 like My Computer. To put Windows Explorer or a folder in full-screen mode, hold the Ctrl key and click the Maximize icon (located in the upper-right corner). Minimizing a full-screen window onto the taskbar works as usual, but to go back to a standard maximized or floating view of the window, right-click the window's taskbar icon and select Restore.

Right out of the box, Windows 98 is a far more customizable operating system than Windows 95. 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 Win 98 CD-ROM. When you get there, right-click tweakui.inf, 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. If you're already using the Windows 95 version of Tweak UI, you'll want to upgrade--Microsoft doesn't recommend using the older version with Win 98, and the new edition has lots more features.

It's big and ugly, it's Windows 98's Channel Bar, which provides access to Active Channels (autoupdating, Web-based news and entertainment services). But don't worry; even if you're an Active Channels fan, you can permanently shut off the Channel Bar without losing anything important. Just click the X (the Close icon) in the upper-right corner and tell Windows 98 not to open it again. First, however, drag the symbols for any channels that you regularly use off of the bar and onto the Windows desktop; 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 in order to get buttons that let you browse and view channels. Or you can simply click on the Channels icon in Internet Explorer 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 gray 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 gray frame appears; then click on the triangle in the frame's upper-left corner and choose Properties.

If the shortcuts on your desktop interfere with your view of Active Desktop 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, Internet Explorer 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 then select "Only tell me when this page is updated.") Then, 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 Internet Explorer 4.0's address window, you'll find Links--a 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 in order to scroll through them.

You don't have to be paranoid to appreciate Internet Explorer'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 like Amazon.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 Internet Explorer 4.0 PowerToys, a cool collection of browser add-ons that's free to down-load from Microsoft's Web site at www.microsoft.com/ie/ie40/powertoys. Once you've installed it, 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.

Type Find and one or more keywords into IE 4.0's Address bar, and it'll search for those keywords using a customized version of Yahoo. Sounds handy, but what if you're an Excite enthusiast or a HotBot habitué? Quick Search, another add-on in IE PowerToys, lets you use the major search engine of your choice from the Address bar. After downloading and installing PowerToys, click the Quick Search.exe button in IE's Links bar. You'll get instructions for using any search engine from the Address bar.

With any e-mail package, the task of making sure your Address Book contains up-to-date information on all your correspondents is tedious at best. Fortunately, though, 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 then 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 you use e-mail all day but your spelling is shaky, tell Outlook Express to perform a spell check automatically each time 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 analyze and solve problems. Select Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information. Next, select Tools, Dr. Watson, and a Dr. Watson 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 driv-ers, and other add-ons are current. This online extension of Win 98 uses your Web connection to check your current installation and identify any missing (and installed) updates. Keep in mind that Windows Update can take awhile. 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 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.

A big complaint about the Windows 95 start-up disk was that if you used it to boot your system, you couldn't access the CD-ROM drive unless you had installed real-mode CD-ROM drivers. But Win 98's start-up disk includes generic drivers that allow you to access most CD-ROM drives.

If you skipped creating a start-up disk when you installed Windows 98, you should make one now. Open the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, select the Startup Disk tab, and click Create Disk.

You don't have to be a graphic artist or financial analyst to be intrigued by Windows 98's ability to extend the desktop across multiple monitors. Just keeping your e-mail program up on one display while you toil away in a word processor on another is awfully handy. But the new technology isn't without its gotchas.

You can add a second display by installing an additional graphics card in your PC, but both cards must use graphics chips that support multiple-monitor display. (Many common chips don't.) For a list of compatible chips, launch Windows 98 Help and read the troubleshooting section under Multiple Display Support. Or consider buying a card designed specifically for dual-monitor display, such as the Duet from Appian Graphics.

If both of your graphics cards support multiple display, setup is relatively easy. Install the second card in your PC and attach a monitor. When you turn the PC on, Windows should notice the new card and steer you through installing the driver. Once that's done, open the Display applet in Control Panel and click the Settings tab. Choose the new monitor-and-adapter combo in the Display drop-down list, and then select "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor."

Some applications act strangely if you drag them onto a second monitor. Most notably, they may display some dialog boxes on the first monitor--a nonfatal quirk, but confusing nonetheless.

If you want to watch midmorning reruns of Bewitched at work, don't bother with Windows 98's television features; go buy a $50 black-and-white TV instead. Still, some of the new TV tools for the PC offer pretty interesting options, such as the ability to download stock-ticker information that's embedded in broadcast signals. If you're considering investing in a TV tuner card, keep the following points in mind.

Many office buildings get terrible TV reception. (Even with an antenna, PC World, Boston office receives exactly one station's signal clearly--a shopping channel.) Don't set your heart on watching the tube on your work computer until you've witnessed what kind of reception an ordinary TV gets in your building (unless, of course, your office has cable).

Many TV tuner cards that work fine with Windows 95 won't work with Windows 98's TV features, which require Windows Driver Model drivers. The Win 98 CD-ROM includes such drivers for only two cards: ATI's All-in-Wonder and All-in-Wonder Pro. Before buying any other card, verify that a WDM driver is available.

The TV features aren't part of the default Windows 98 installation. To add them, put the Win 98 CD-ROM in the drive, open the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel, and click the Windows Setup tab. Select "WebTV for Windows" and click OK to install both it and WaveTop (the data broadcasting feature). WaveTop will appear in the Program, Accessories folder, while WebTV will show up in Program, Accessories, Entertainment.

Especially when it comes to Windows. Though Windows 98 fills many of its predecessor's gaps, it misses a few--and in some cases opens new cracks. Here are our picks for the Top Windows 98 blemishes and what you can do to vanquish them.

WAFER-THIN SECURITY. Win 98 carries on Win 95's tradition of lax security. Even your 5-year-old can (and probably does) bypass Windows 98's guard puppy by simply hitting Esc at the log-on screen. Anyone with access to your PC can read and delete files, send e-mail as you, and commit other barbaric acts.

Well, not really--we've adjusted to it. But unlike Windows 3.1's File Manager, Windows 98's Explorer interface doesn't let you copy or move files using a classic side-by-side view of subdirectories. You can employ a third-party file manager, or you can learn to do things Explorer's way. To drag a file from one directory to another, first open the source directory in Explorer's right pane. Next, without selecting another directory, expand the directory tree in the left pane so that the target directory is visible; then drag the file or folder from the right pane into the folder in the left pane. If you really must see both the source and target directories in their full glory before copying, open a second Explorer window.

For years, Windows has let you share your hard disk, printer, and CD-ROM drive with your coworkers on the network. So why not your modem? If you know Shemp two cubicles over is out for the day, why not use his phone line to search the Web, keeping yours free for incoming calls? Though Windows lets you share the fax portion of your modem, you'll need a third-party product like Artisoft's I-Share 3.0 or ModemShare 32 to permit others to share your data connection.

Q: Can I really run Windows 98 on a 66-MHz PC with 16MB of RAM, like Microsoft says?

A: If you're a glutton for punishment. We've found that low-end systems perform about as glacially with Windows 98 as with Windows 95. If you value your sanity, don't take on Win 98 unless you have at least a midlevel Pentium system (say, 120 MHz) with 32MB of RAM.

Q: Will my peripherals still work with Windows 98?

A: Probably. The new OS is compatible with old drivers and automatically upgrades many drivers with the most recent versions. But in some instances you may need an updated driver for full compatibility. For example, users of Wacom graphics tablets may need to install a patch from the company's Web site to enable pressure sensitivity.

Q: How about my software?

A: The good news is that the vast majority of Windows 95 applications are fully compatible with Windows 98. The bad news is that some aren't, including older Windows 95 utilities that don't support the FAT32 file system. If you're just now leaving Windows 3.1 behind, massive upgrading may be in order: Most of your utilities will not work at all, and other applications won't provide Windows 95/98 benefits such as support for long file names.

Q: I'm a diehard Netscape Navigator user from way back. Since Internet Explorer 4.0 is built into Windows 98, am I out of luck, or can I still use Navigator effectively?

A: Everyone from Bill Gates to Janet Reno thinks that the integration between Internet Explorer and Windows is a big deal, but guess what? Navigator blends seamlessly into new Windows 98 desktop features such as the Address toolbar. The one major instance where the OS insists on turning to IE 4.0 is when you type a URL into Windows Explorer.

Q: I've tried Windows 98's Web-style interface and browser-desktop integration, and they don't do it for me. Can they be disabled?

A: You can't decline to add IE 4.0 when you upgrade, and it can't be uninstalled. But you can disable IE 4.0 and Active Desktop using the Tweak UI utility from the Windows 98 CD-ROM. This will also help rev up your PC.

Q: What's this I hear about Windows 98 being a dead-end operating system?

A: Nudging us toward Windows NT is part of Microsoft's master plan: The company says Win 98 is the last major upgrade to the OS. The next big Windows upgrade will be NT 5.0, due in early 1999.

Q: In that case, will I be sorry that I upgraded to Windows 98 if I decide to move to NT 5.0 when that operating system becomes available?

A: You might be sorry you shelled out a wad of cash for two upgrades within a relatively short time span, but Microsoft claims that the upgrade from either Windows 95 or Windows 98 to NT 5.0 will be smoother than upgrading from Windows 95 to NT 4.0 (which, strictly speaking, you aren't allowed to do--you have to install NT 4.0 in a separate directory and reinstall all your applications).

You can't use the majority of Windows 3.x utilities in Windows 95, nor most Windows 95 utilities in NT. But generally speaking, Win 95 utilities such as Norton Utilities, Nuts & Bolts, and First Aid will work in Win 98, usually with only a few minor problems.

Unlike applications, utilities work close to the bone, slipping in between the operating system and the hardware. When a new operating system alters the way it handles files or drivers--for instance, when Windows 95 added long file names--utility programs become obsolete.

If you're using a Win 95 utility that's more than a year old, you should be concerned about Win 98's optional FAT32 file system. Any program that addresses the drive directly, such as a virus scanner or defragmenter, will simply fail to work if it doesn't understand the new file system. But computer vendors have been shipping new PCs with FAT32 since early 1997, and every major utility now supports it. If any of the utilities you're using are becoming long in the tooth, you'll have to decide whether to eschew FAT32 or upgrade the utilities.

Aside from FAT32, Windows 98 doesn't change things all that much. Most Windows 95 utilities that have been upgraded within the past year or so will work without risk of data-threatening disasters, and the small incompatibilities that do exist at the moment will probably be fixable via free downloadable updates by the time you read this. Users who are making the move to Windows 98 all the way from Windows 3.x, however, may have to replace all their utilities.

Often a majority of the "work" we do on our computer involves smaller, less complicated files. When it comes time to have some fun, however, we want plenty of storage for our space hungry games and lavish entertainment packages. Whether you're a power-user who needs a 10,000 rpm SCSI drive or a dabbler who wants reliability and performance but can't shell out the big bucks for the top of the line, it isn't difficult to find the right configuration. Consider each of the main drive specifications listed below, and match them to your needs.

Capacity

Capacity, or disk size, represents the amount of data (usually given in gigabytes - GB) that the drive will hold. Current hard disk drive capacities start at around 1GB and stretch all the way up to 23GB. Drive manufacturers constantly push the limits of disk capacity, so the maximum continues to climb even as you read this. The determining factor with regard to capacity is simply how much data do you intend to store. The size of current software applications agrues for buying more than you think you need. Windows 98, for example, takes up more than 150MB of space and some new games weigh in at even more! Also, since you can never predict with absolute certainty how much storage you'll need, it's best to aim high. With that in mind, the following table should give you the best combination of value and room to grow. Like buying bulk food at the grocery store, however, compare the dollar per unit ratio on the drives you are looking at. For instance, if you look at 4 GB drive for $200, that's $50/gigabyte. If the same model drive with an 8 GB capacity costs $260, then you're only paying about $33/gigabyte. The extra $60 doubles your capacity and delivers a much better value.

CAPACITY BENEFITS

This bracket is for the lightest of users who only intend to store 1.0 GB or basic text or small Less spreadsheet files,and who don't plan to load up on games or downloaded files from the internet. Drives in this range will give you a little more breathing room. You've got space for storing a few hundred-plus megabyte applications, 2.1 to 4.0 and you can be a GB little reckless with your storage space. But be warned, at the low end of this range you'll be surprised at how quick that hard drive fills up. Now these are some pretty roomy drives by any stretch of the imagination. If, however, you plan to 4.1 to 6.0 store lots of full- GB color, high resolution images and the applications that handle them, even a 6 GB drive can start to seem crowded. Businesses that need to keep large databases, graphic artists who handle 6.0 to 9.1 megabyte-gobbling media GB files, and home users who must have evey new software package on the market should look to this range. This is the realm of the truly storage hungry. In many ways it's the same people who need 6 to 9 GB drives, but just 9.1 GB and need more room. The Beyond average home user currently doesn't need anything this large, but as we all know data expands to fill the space provided.

The BIOS, OS, and Capacity

Some older PCs may have trouble recognizing large hard drives and, depending on the BIOS, could limit a hard drives capacity to as little as 504MB no matter how large the disk actually is. Also, older versions of Windows use a File Allocation Table (FAT) that doesn't support drive partitions larger than 2GB. While you can get around this by dividing a drive up into multiple 2GB partitions, it may cause an inefficient use of disk space that causes you to loose a few megabytes here and there. The good news, however, is that both of these problems have solutions.

If the problem is your BIOS, you can solve it in a number of ways. You could update your BIOS version, get an enhanced BIOS add-in card, upgrade your motherboard, or use a dynamic drive overlay program. The last option is by far the cheapest and easiest, but also the least fool-proof. Easy availablity, however, makes this option very attractive to most users. New drives generally come with a dynamic drive utility such as Ontrack's Disk Manager and users should be able to overcome most BIOS problems with it.

If Windows is your problem, you can get around it by upgradeing to Windows 95 OSR2, and formatting your disk for FAT32. FAT32, which uses a different file allocation system, handles drive partitions well beyond 2GB. This will allow you to squeeze every last MB out of your new hard disk drive.

Rotation Rate

A higher rotation rate means that the drive's read head can retrieve data from the disc faster and thus increases overall data throughput. Examples of when this would be useful are recording video and audio, or on a server where the disk may get multiple requests for data at once.

Hard disk drives are comprised of one or more platters upon which data is stored. These platters spin, much like a record or CD, and Rotation rate specifies the speed at which they spin. As a basic guideline, disk drives with a rotation rate of 5400 rpm or higher will work fine for most home uses, while 7200 rpm drives would work well for light multimedia authoring or a small office server. Drives with higher rotation rates exist (up to 10,000 rpm) but these are generally SCSI drives designed with high-end servers in mind. Also, as you increase speed you also increase heat and noise. This can lead to minor annoyance or, in the worst case, a decreased lifetime for the drive.

Interface

Interface refers to the manner in which the disk drive connects to and communicates with the computer. The first decision you'll need to make regarding the drive interface is between EIDE/ATA and SCSI. Though, we present a brief discussion of how to make this decision, the installation section of this How-To deals only with installing an EIDE drive. Look for a more detailed discussion of SCSI in future WebShopper How-Tos.

As a general rule of thumb, SCSI is the choice for high performance applications, workstations, and servers while EIDE/ATA tends to deliver better value for standard desktop PCs. SCSI offers greater expandability while EIDE/ATA brings much greater simplicity and lower costs. Also, if you are adding a second hard disk to your system, it is far easier to add a drive that uses the same interface as the drive you currently have. When trying to wade through the megabytes of information on the subject of interface, it's often easy to get bogged down in lengthy discussions of minute technical variations between not only SCSI and IDE/ATA, but even among the various flavors of each of these interfaces. To combat this we've aggregated all the variations into the simple recommendations you see below. If you would like to read a more in-depth study of drive interfaces and their relation ship to one another check here.

INTERFACE TYPE BENEFITS/EXPLANATIONS

Though IDE can be a catchall term for all drives based on the IDE/ATA standard,when given as the drives interface type it represents the oldest IDE version of that standard. It's much slower than today's EIDE drives, but newer drives will work with this controller. You performance, however, will only be as good as your controller Faster version of IDE. Most common on PCs built in the last 2 or 3 years. Transfer rates range from 11.1 to 16.6 EIDE MB/sec.Though UltraATA offers higher burst rates, the sustained transfer rate of an EIDE drives with PIO mode 4 will be about the same as an UltraATA drive. Becoming the standard for new desktop computers. Allowing faster burst transfer rates than EIDE, this new standard is backwards compatible with Ultra ATA older versions of the IDE interface. This is the most common controller found on new drives, and generally offers an excellent performance to cost ratio. SCSI comes in many varieties, costs more than IDE/ATA, and generally is best suited to high performance environments where multitasking, SCSI expandability and performance take precedence over price. Also, SCSI allows you to connect more peripherals via one interface (up to 15, compared with IDE's 2).

Form Factor

Form factor is just a fancy way of denoting the drive's size. Desktop and tower computers generally have two sizes of drive bay: 3.5 inch (this is generally where a 3.5 inch floppy drive will be) and 5.25 inch (where the CD ROM or 5.25 inch floppy drive is). Before you buy, check to see what size bay you have available. If you only have 5.25 inch bays open, and you want a 3.5 inch drive, you'll need to buy a mounting kit to make the smaller drive fit in the larger space. Obviously, you can't put a larger drive in a small bay.

Ranish Partition Manager

http://www.intercom.com/~ranish/
DOWNLOAD
part.zip
cvt16-32.zip [ utility, which converts FAT-16 to FAT-32]
Partition Manager

Save and restore MBR
Create and delete partitions
View hard disks' IDE information
Format and resize FAT-16 and FAT-32
Support for the Extended DOS partition
Comes with Compact or Advanced Boot Managers

Advanced Boot Manager

Boot menu with password protection
Automatic partition hide and unhide
Boot any OS from the second hard drive
Create up to 31 primary partitions on a single hard drive
Detect presence of the boot viruses in memory

FAT-16 boot sector code replacement

Boot MS-DOS from partitions above 2G
Dual boot MS-DOS and Windows 95 OSR2
Once installed, it can be used with any boot manager