End of support for Windows 98 and Windows Me

richardj · Post by **richardj** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:34 am

End of support for Windows 98 and Windows Me
Published: January 6, 2006 | Updated: January 18, 2006

June 30, 2006 will bring a close to Extended Support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me as part of the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy. Microsoft will retire public and technical support, including security updates, by this date.

Existing support documents and content, however, will continue to be available through the Microsoft Support Product Solution Center Web site. This Web site will continue to host a wealth of previous How-to, Troubleshooting, and Configuration content for anyone who may need self-service.

Microsoft is retiring support for these products because they are outdated and can expose customers to security risks. We recommend that customers who are still running Windows 98 or Windows Me upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP, as soon as possible.

Customers who upgrade to Windows XP report improved security, richer functionality, and increased productivity.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:11 pm

"Microsoft is retiring support for these products because they are outdated and can expose customers to security risks."

What about security through obscurity?

I haven't heard of any recent holes that were exclusive to windows 98/ME

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richardj · Post by **richardj** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:46 pm

Yeah------

Plus there is an unauthorized Sevice pack 2 that is available for Win98.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:03 pm

Actually it's probably VERY hard to hack into win98 compared to xp/2k, since win98 does not have as much networking related services running, such as RPC. A default win98 install is probably rather secure compared to a default winxp install, which will get broken into within the first 10 minutes its online, if not behind a router. (not sure how long win98 takes though)

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jryan · Post by **jryan** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:12 pm

See, XP and 2000 (Properly configured) ensure better security for your data. Although rudamentary in principle, NTFS and NTFS Permissions are undoubtably better than Windows 98. Fact is, if you're using Windows 2000 or XP, you're probably doing so because it either shipped with your PC, it's more compatible than your other OS or you NEED the networking functionality it offers.

And as for the XP machine getting hacked within 10 mins if it's not behind a router, that depends on what SP level you're at with your machine. Although I'm not a fan of Windows Firewall, at least's it's there and turned on by default in SP2.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:13 pm

Yeah local security is definately better, at least xp/2k don't let you hit cancel if you don't know the login credentials .

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 10:29 am

I was kinda joking when I said Security through Obscurity, it's pretty well accepted that it's never a good thing when you are depending on that

Windows 98 still has plenty of ways to steal local user information, and if any more bugs like the WMF come out, there won't be any official patches for the 9x crew

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:39 pm

Though people using win98 should REALLY consider upgrading though.

Sadly, I think the percentage of 98 users is still higher then win2k/xp combined.

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