I was wondering if it is better to stick with Win98 on such an old system, or would Win XP run fine and not slow my system down. I read the minimum requirements from the microsoft website. But other places some different specs.

I've managed to get Win2000 to work on an old P166 with 80MB RAM. It worked but slowed down once I started opening applications. WinXP is more demananding that Win2000, maining needing more memory. It'll most likely work but you'll need to atleast upgrade the RAM to 256+ in order to make the most of it. Someone I know uses a laptop that only has 128MB RAM and it can barely runs without slowdown. Also, WinXP has a lot of graphical additions that may play hard on the CPU but I think you can disable them.

"I was wondering if it is better to stick with Win98 on such an old system" Yes, it would be better. Running with the minimums of anything will lead to future frustrations. Bryan

Well the main reason why I'm thinking on changing over to XP is because when I am on the net surfing pages, my IE or my computer locks up. I would have to say my computer because my computer clock time actually loses minutes. If I reboot the computer the clock is the right time again without myself having to change it. Wish I knew what the problem was...but if I don't use IE I have no problems.

If you want to use IE you probably need to do a disk cleanup, Upgrade to IE 6 or at least 5.5, and work on the settings in IE. By this I mean You might adjust the ammount of disk space to use for temp internet files, clear history, etc. Also for 98 get you a good antivirus like AVG free and keep it up to date, if your on broadband i'd strongly suggest a firewall like zone alarm or sygate, and plenty of spyware cleaners if you must use IE. Spybot Search & Destroy, Webroots spy sweeper, or AdAware SE are my favorite recommendations. I just use Firefox with Allow web sites to install software UNchecked. I only resort to IE when I absoultly need it for a page. Also if your on the internet alot you may run Defrag monthly as 98 is a little more sloppy with files then the new NT file system in 2k and xp. ASUS A7V8X Athlon XP 2700+ @ 2.17ghz 768MB DDR 2700 nVidia 128mb FX 5200 WD 80gb SE NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW

Its not surfing the Net that is the problem. Using the Internet is probably one of the most least demanding task you can use a computer for. It when you start opening application like spreadsheet and word processor that things start slowing down. Anything that needs memory and disk access. I have a laptop with 128 meg and 1Ghz CPU. It does take ages to boot thanks to Zone Alarm, AVG, Ad-watch and other bits and bobs, but once its booted, its fine as all I use it for is the Internet and a few lightweight applications. Stuart

Thanks Chad, good advice, but basically I have done all that, I have IE 6, AVG anti virus Free, Spybot S&D and also Spyware Blaster and defraged a week ago also have a firewall, 2 actually 1 software and 1 built in my router. I just don't understand why the computer locks only when IE6 is loaded and sufring. Never had that trouble with IE 5.5, but had to upgrade cause of some web sites.