Windows 98

Internet Explorer is only as intrusive as you want it to be. People with leased lines and time on their hands may happily find a diversion in (or at least some useful purpose for) Active Desktop, wonder at the continuously updating Active Channels and discover the wonders of Push technology. Others may find it a complete waste of time and a terrible resource hog. While it isn't always the case, in our experience the simple act of right-clicking on the desktop and switching on 'View as Web page' can result in an immediate, unfortunate and very noticeable slowdown.

In line with the Web-centred ways of Windows 98, the on-line help has been transformed into an HTML extravaganza. The content doesn't appear to have changed much and it's unlikely to surprise anyone. It closely resembles the usual mix of stating the obvious and bizarre mystification that many will associate with Microsoft help files.

Although members of the US Department of Justice might disagree, Windows 98 isn't particularly hostile to other Web browsers. We've happily run Netscape's Communicator and Navigator without anything nasty occurring. If you're one of the unlucky few who has encountered problems with IE 4 and Active Desktop under Windows 95, you'll be glad to hear that we've experienced far fewer hangs and crashes using them with Windows 98. The stability still isn't perfect and the new integrated OS couldn't really be described as crashproof, even if it's a distinct improvement. However, on systems where the Windows 95/IE 4 combination seemed to be the kiss of death after only a few days' use, Windows 98 is still running strong.

Since browsing the Web is now an integral part of Windows 98, it's only to be expected that you can also use it to create your own Web content. To this end, Microsoft has included FrontPage Express, as it did with the original release of IE 4 late last year. Express is essentially a cut-down version of FrontPage 98 (reviewed issue 38, p208), Microsoft's flagship wysiwyg Web site authoring package. The inclusion of a Personal Home Page gets first-time users on the right track straight away. The package also has comprehensive support for most Web page basics like bulleted lists, tables, fonts and forms, along with support for more advanced features such as Java applets, JavaScript, and ActiveX controls which should be enough for the slightly more ambitious.

While Express is an adequate wysiwyg editor for simple pages, it doesn't have any of the site style templates, the same range of standard site templates or, most importantly, any of the rather good site management tools that come with the full FrontPage 98 package. So, if your ambition is to create a site consisting of more than three or four pages, you'll have to invest in the full monty.

FrontPage Express, Personal WebServer and the associated Web Publishing Wizard certainly won't do any harm to the cause of Windows 98 in its core audience - the small office and home users. This group now has a simple set of tools for communication and publishing on the Web and small intranets. For high-end business users, these packages are practically irrelevant: they're too low-volume and too limited in their functionality for professional applications and aren't the sort of thing that any sensible IT manager would allow on the Desktops of users on the corporate network. They provide too much temptation for time wasting, not to mention a potential security risk.

As with the standalone release of IE 4, Outlook Express is included as the email client. While it's not that different to Outlook 98 in terms of look and feel, you can forget about the advanced PIM contact and time-management features. What it does provide is a powerful email and newsgroup editor, complete with support for HTML in email, stationery templates, digital signing and encryption, an address book and spelling checker, the ability to cope with MIME and UUENCODE attachments and support for SMTP, POP3, IMAP4 and LDAP. Of course, if you're already running Outlook 97, or if you upgraded to Outlook 98 within the free period before July, you might be annoyed to discover that Outlook Express installs by default during the upgrade process, whether or not you have either of its more powerful siblings installed already.