98 User- What is the best beginner OD program to start with?

from WinCustomize Forums
Unfortunately, I still use Windows 98 and would like to use OD to the best of my abilities...limited, as they may be. My system keeps crashing after installing the OD cd, so I have put a minimum of the programs on it. What components do I NEED, at the minimum, to run it successfully? What components should I avoid? (Like PocketBlinds, CursorXP-which I don't need/can't use.) I'm having a hard time staying alive with all the crashes...there must be something that I'm using that doesn't work under 98, but I'm having a hard time finding just what it is. I've read a lot of the installation instructions...is it me or are they hard to locate? All I want to know is what is Windows 98 compatible and what is not. I have enough hard drive capacity and memory...If I could find Windows XP at a reasonable price, I'd get it...for Pete's sake-the only reason that I HAVE a computer is that I won it on a game site a few years ago. (Okay...it's a Dell WebPC. No snickering!) I DO have the fastest digital cable internet service that is available, so I'm not totally hopeless....or am I? Thanks to anyone who has any suggestions.
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Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Above anything else? I'd say Windowblinds. Windowblinds to me, at least, is -the- OD component. After that, I would probably say IconPackager - most of the people who put out icon packages either put out non-WinXP versions, or make sure they work with pre-XP versions of Windows.

Outside of those - it really depends on what you're wanting to try to achieve, probably!


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Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks. Right now, all I want to do is play with things to get used to using them. I was downloading some themes using WinStyles because it does all the work for me! The themes don't usually look like what is advertised because anything that is for XP isn't applied to my system...or maybe it is getting applied somehow and causing my problems...I'm not sure. Do you recommend uninstalling everything and using just WindowBlinds & IconPackager? Maybe if I did that I would understand what is going wrong in WinStyles with some of the themes. More or less, all I am interested in doing (for THIS week anyway) is just enjoying other users themes!
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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, personally I have a tendency to download everything that comes across my component manager - even if I'm not planning on using it.

Why? Erm, I really don't have a clue - I just do. ^_^ It shouldn't hurt anything keeping the other stuff installed - but it never hurts to get a 'fresh start'. I know I've been planning on doing that myself - but that's because I want to clean stuff up!

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Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If you haven't already, you can improve your W98 PC's performance and mimize resource (esp. memory) use by reducing the number of unnecessary programs that run on startup. That's #1 if you haven't already done that.

You can install OD components but you can choose which ones to run. So I don't see why you'd need to uninstall any, just don't run them. On W98 (on my older PC's) I routinely use WindowBlinds and WebBlinds without problems. And those two programs make a real big difference to me on W98. I only occasionally muck about with the others, with varying results. (Not the programs' fault, just older hardware and the limitations of 98.) I haven't tried IconPackager so can't say but it would probably make a nice addition also.

Depending upon your PC specs, you may want to look into upgrading to W2K since it's more stable and uses resources better. Its hardware requirements are much less than XP's. But if you're a gamer then I'd suspect W98 is better suited for that purpose.