Q As a long time subscriber I hope that you can find the time to answer my questions. Is it possible to use the full version of Windows 98 to upgrade a Windows 95 system?

A The answer to your first question is yes. There are two versions of Windows 98 available through retail channels ù full and upgrade ù and both are virtually identical. The main difference is that the upgrade version requires proof that you have either Windows 95 or Windows 3.x on floppies, CD or your hard disk. The installer will look for a previous version of Windows on your computer, and if it doesnÆt find one, will ask to look at a CD or a set of floppies. Both the full and upgrade versions of Windows 98 can install over a previous version of Windows, and both can install Windows 98 on a newly formatted hard disk. You can also use either edition to do a clean install. The upgrade version will allow you to do a clean install if you have either Windows 95 or Windows 3.x.

The short answer to your second question is no. You canÆt uninstall Internet Explorer 4 from Windows 98 because it is the shell for Windows 98, and has in effect become the new Windows Explorer. Even if you managed to extract IE 4 from Windows 98, your system and your settings for other programs would probably be pretty messed up.

However, you donÆt have to use IE 4 as your browser or your desktop if you donÆt want to. Netscape Navigator or any other browser will work with Windows 98, and you can disable the Active Desktop. To do this, right-click anywhere on the desktop, select Active Desktop, and uncheck the menu item called View As Web Page. Once youÆve crippled the Active Desktop, youÆll be left with a standard desktop that is very similar to the Windows 95 desktop without Internet Explorer 4 installed. Now that youÆve got the Windows 95 thing happening, you may as well customise Windows 98 so that your files and folders look the same as they did in Windows 95. Just open an Explorer window, click ViewûFolder Options, and select Classic Windows. While youÆre there, you can also turn off the web page folder view.