I recently pulled this PC out of the trash, it has whatever the original release of Windows 98 was installed on it, runs pretty well. Firefox 2 is no problem. The hard drive is full of all kinds of junk because it appears a teenage girl owned it, last time it was used regularly appears to be 2001. BIOS date is early '96. I plan on upgrading to either 98SE or "downgrading" to NT4.0 - anybody have any thoughts on pros and cons? I have NT4 installed on VirtualPC and it runs great, definitely wouldn't mind the improved stability over 9x...are there any significant applications I should know of that won't run on NT4? I know Firefox will work, Winamp will work, AIM will work...that's all I really use any of my PCs for haha. I also plan on upgrading the hardware eventually but it's gonna stay in it's current config for now. I always wanted a Pentium back when they came out and now I've finally gotten one....15 years late!

If I were you, first, I'd install the 98SE upgrade, then I'd install NT4. If you find a program that won't work with NT4 (mostly games?) then when the OS loader that installs with NT starts up, pick 98.

NT4 -------- Pros: -Will run faster with your system specs. -It's built on the Windows NT kernel, which is much more stable then the Windows 98 kernel. -Needs little hard drive space to install. Cons: -Has little, if not any USB support. If this machine has USB ports, they may be unusable. -Some of the features in NT4 are a little harder to figure out. -I don't think it has much support for ethernet and high-speed internet. 98SE -------- Pros: -Easier to use than NT4. -Has more USB support than NT4. Most MP3 players and digital cameras come with Windows 98SE drivers, and not NT4 drivers. -Has more hardware support than NT4. You will have more luck searching for 98SE drivers for this machine on the internet than searching for NT4 drivers. -Has better support for more ethernet cards, and supports high-speed internet just as good as XP or Vista. Cons: -Built on the Windows 98 kernel, not as stable as the NT kernel, but I don't think it should be a problem for you. -Requires a little more computing power than NT4. -Needs a little more hard drive space than NT4. Hope this helps make your decision. -Trent Compaq Presario 5365 AMD K6-2 450 Mhz 256 MB RAM Dual-booting Windows 98 SE and SimplyMepis 3.4 RedHat 9 worked fine without problems.

Trent, thanks a lot! I think the only concerns with ethernet and high speed connections may be finding a driver for the NIC. I'm somewhat confident I can find one since the hardware came out around the same time NT4 did...but if not, I guess it's 98SE! NT4 handles my 15/2 cable connection and high speed ethernet just as well as XP does under Virtual PC - don't see why it shouldn't with the real stuff. This computer was built before USB existed so no worries there....my biggest problem is finding a serial mouse for it! I can't find a store that sells one!

You're welcome!