With the year 2000 just around the corner, high technology seems to be the buzz. If you are wanting to become more proficient at using a computer, or simply are worried that your grand kids know more about the Internet than you do then read on.

With Windows 98 looming on the horizon this summer the real question is to upgrade or not. The answer to this question is an outstanding YES. I have been using it for almost a year now and could not imagine ever going back to Windows 95. The PC operating system Windows 98 brings a degree of refinement to that has not existed before. Major performance increases, stability, and some new features makes this the most robust Windows OS yet. If you are still running Windows 3.1, you have probably found many 32 bit applications like Page Maker etc that will not run on the old 16 Bit OS. Windows 98 is Microsoft's last version of this style of consumer OS. We are all being groomed to the eventuality of running Windows NT.

One major improvement is enhanced stability. For all of us who ran into problems when upgrading from DOS or Win 3.1 will be very happy. Microsoft has listened, and made major enhancements here to ensure that you don't go running for the Maalox. The chances that you will have to re-boot (Hit The Power Switch) due to an unknown system hang have also been reduced dramatically. This improvement comes from many parts of the OS that have been refined. Supports the latest devices and peripherals with over 1,200 new drivers including modems, printers, monitors and video adapters.

Improved and extend video drivers with added speed enhancements is one main new feature that helps here. Video support has been extended to allow multiple video cards and monitors to be installed at the same time. With this you can use the additional monitors to expand your desktop area and even move programs from one monitor to another. This is a great use for that old 14 VGA screen in the closet. Also the display speed has been improved with new Direct X level 5 video drivers.

But what you see is not all you get. Hard drive performance and tools have also been improved. As with the 5 versions of Windows 95 that were released, these areas were improved on a logical basis. All of these enhancements with a few extra tweaks makes the I/O (Input/Output) of your hard drive work faster and hold more information. Speed is improved with the latest in the 32 Bit FAT system. Fat is the File Allocation Table that controls the layout of your information stored on your hard drive. Most people still use the original 16 Bit layout that can be accessed by DOS or Windows.

The Win 98 32 Bit allocation system not only operates dramatically faster but opens your storage capability to drivers bigger that 2 Gig in size. A Gig is a 1000 million bytes of information that in laymen terms means many copies of the Bible if stored in a text format. This space enhancements are also improved by new disk compression techniques that can turn a 500 Meg drive into 1.5 gig drive.

The Internet is now a fully integrated part of Windows 98. With the Department of Justice lawsuit over, Microsoft is moving ahead full speed.

You now get the Internet Explorer for web page browsing and Outlook Express as a EMAIL and News group viewer with the OS. Of course, all you Netscape fans can still install your Navigator and use it instead. Simply click on the browser of your choice. The Internet Explorer now supports a new feature call channel. These are like an advanced version of favorites. Channels deliver content from your favorite Web sites directly to your computer. You can read the information offline to improve connect times for downloading files and gaining access to busy Web servers. You can receive Web content directly to your desktop from Direct Broadcast Satellite like Direct TV/PC or from the Vertical Blanking Interval of our local television stations when they get on line.

Now if you don't want to wait until this summer for the release of Microsoft's latest OS Windows 98 then don't worry. For the small amount of money, $29.95, you can get a preview copy of Windows 98 Beta 3 on CD-ROM. Simply point your browser to following address

www.microsoft.com/windows98/

and fill out the questionnaire. Don't forget to have your credit card ready. If you have heard all those horror stories about credit cards on the Internet don't worry here. The Microsoft site is a very secure site.

All of this is great advances in technology. The are about 3,000 new product enhancements in Windows 98 bringing something for everyone. But what if you have a hard time deciding on TV or your computer. Well don't fear because now you can watch movies in a window from your TV station, DSS dish, or even the ultra high resolution DVD compact disks. This feature is a glimmer of the merging of the TV and computer into the next generation of home entertainment.

Next time I will talk about how to improve you Internet access speed by up to 400 percent without breaking the bank and how to prepare for the year 2000 if you have an older computer.

Rich Comeau is an electronics scientist and owner of Digital Labs of Cape Girardeau. E-mail him at digital@ldd.net