Microsoft · 9x · classic settings

Windows 98 Control Panel: eleven applets in a folder of icons

Windows 95 and 98 had no categories. Control Panel was a folder of icons, and each icon opened a tabbed dialog with OK, Cancel and Apply at the bottom. This page walks the eleven applets the simulator carries as they stood in Windows 98 Second Edition, explains what each dialog held, and links every one to a window you can open. It is the oldest Windows in the simulator.

Newest release here
Windows 98 98 SE
Versions you can open
2
Top-level sections
11
Rows in the tree
69
Windows 98 98 SE home screen in the simulator
Open Windows 98 98 SE in the simulator →

How Windows 98 organises its Settings

Display is the applet everyone opened: Background with wallpaper and pattern, Screen Saver, Appearance with the colour schemes, Effects and Settings for the screen area and colours. Network lists the installed components, Client for Microsoft Networks, the Dial-Up Adapter and TCP/IP, with Add and Properties and the File and Print Sharing button. System has General, with the edition and registered owner, Device Manager, Hardware Profiles and Performance.

Add/Remove Programs has Install/Uninstall, Windows Setup for the optional components and the Startup Disk tab that made an emergency floppy. Sounds assigns sounds to events, Mouse sets the buttons and pointers, and Regional Settings the country, number, currency, time and date formats. Date/Time sets the clock and time zone with the daylight-saving switch. Passwords, an applet later Windows dropped, changes the Windows password and enables user profiles. Multimedia covers audio, video, MIDI and CD music, and Modems lists the installed modem with its dialing properties.

What changes between versions

Two releases are here, Windows 95 from 1995 and Windows 98 Second Edition from 1999. 98 added Internet Explorer, USB support and the Windows Update site; Second Edition improved USB, added Internet Connection Sharing and shipped Internet Explorer 5. The simulator authors the tree at 98 SE and shows the same eleven applets for the 95 rung, with the System dialog reporting the edition you chose.

Three settings worth knowing the path to

  1. Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Startup Disk

    Made the boot floppy that rescued a Windows 98 PC that would not start. The tab is the last of three on the applet and it has no equivalent today.

  2. Control Panel > System > Device Manager

    The tree of hardware with yellow exclamation marks for anything missing a driver. It has survived every Windows since, almost unchanged.

  3. Control Panel > Passwords > Enable user profiles

    Turned on separate desktops per user on a machine that had no real accounts. It is the ancestor of User Accounts and it lived in an applet named Passwords.

Questions people ask about Windows 98 settings

Where were settings in Windows 95 and 98?

In Control Panel, opened from Start > Settings, as a folder of icons. There were no categories; each icon opened a tabbed dialog like the eleven shown here.

What did Windows 98 Second Edition change?

Better USB support, Internet Connection Sharing and Internet Explorer 5, plus many fixes. Control Panel kept the same applets, so the simulator shows one layout for 95 and 98 SE.

Is this the real Windows 98?

It is a simulation of Control Panel with the applets, tabs and wording of Windows 98 SE. The registered owner, programs and modem shown are sample values and nothing runs.