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In the past I have had to use Win 98, for networking our Business computers, Because some of the systems we had , crashed when Win NT was installed on them, (old 486's and Pentiums) Now we have ugraded all for the computers to the latest Dells, They all came installed with WIN98SE.
Should I format and do a clean install of NT, or a dual OS, (I see no use for this), or will NT install ontop of 98SE, with out any problems.
WinNT won't install on top of 98...you'll have to either stick with 98 or do a clean install of all your workstations....somethings to bear in mind...do you need the security of the ntfs file system or is fat 16 or fat 32 sufficient? if you have large harddrives and go with NT you'll need to create a 2 gig fat partition then create a second partition and format it ntfs to be able to use the whole drive. the reason for the 2 gig fat 16 is 1.) NT doesn't recognize fat 32 2.) if for some reason it gets hosed you can format it and reinstall it without losing your data.
If security isn't an issue then win98 on fat 32 should be sufficient...it really depends on your workstation applications and networking setup...well, i kind of condensed things a bit, but i hope you get the general idea
Thanks Weasel, I think I do, Sounds like alot of extra work. The system does, run fine, useing 98se, I gues that I was under the impression that NT would speed things up on the network, we only have 3 computers on it, at this time, and only a few programs that are shared, through out the network. Quickbooks is the main one.
Well thanks for the input. I will keep it in mind, Next time the bossman suggest to install NT!
Just think about two things to help your decision:
1. How secure do I want it to be?
and
2. How easy should I make my job as administrator?
Over the last several months (as Admin at a Law Enforcement Organization), we have hired more 'computer savvy' people. They use Win98 at the house, and are comfortable with it. Many have asked for 98 to be put on their machines.
In a word, no.
If your network needs any security, NT is the way to go. If you want to dabble with Win2K, give NT a test drive first. I have absolutely no 98 machines on my network and love the security because of it. With NT, an ethernet connection, and WinVNC (free from http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/winvnc.html ), you can pretty much administer the whole thing from your desktop.
Security: Get one of the "Understanding WinNT" books from the bookstore and bone up on sharing. A key topic, and one that will save your butt someday.
Administration: From scripted logons to roaming profiles to mapped drives, administration of an NT workstation is incredibly powerful.
Sorry if this sounds like a salesman, but I'd rather have someone use NT and NOT have the problems I had when starting out.
Enjoy!
-WinKrushR
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"...and the only time we chill is when we kill each other. It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other."
- Tupac Amaru Shakur -
My recommendation:
For <25 users in your business, i'd say win98 (but again, WinNT 4.0 (or go win2000 if you can afford it)) because you can have it as a peer-to-peer network - hassle for admin tho.
But definitely for >25 users, NT4 or definitely 2000 because 2k is much more stable than NT4.
I don't really condone MS stuff, but that's what everyone uses out there so.... :
If your going peer to peer than no need to run NT or 2k, but if your running an application server or file server or have more than 10-20 users, go NT or Linux, the admin tools for NT are a nice, I don't have to get off my butt to do simple admin stuff and a copy of PC Anywhere on your workstations will make your life soooo easy. I guess i just agreed with everyone else eh?
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