It's tempting to load up on things and i used to, but on the rare occasions i install 98se now (i havent install 95 or me for years) i make do with as little as possible

Plain 98 is fast to startup and generally responsive even on modest hardware, so install only what you need for the purpose you have i mind:

Drivers for hardware (sort of obvious..), you don't need to go with the very latest. I like nusb too.

I usually will install an archiver that handles zip, rar and others, a virtual cd is good, choose 'light' software

Beyond that - nothing much. If you play games needing a later directx install it of course

7zip, a couple basic browsers, usually Netscape 3 and RetroZilla, and MS Office 97 or 2000, are about it for me in terms of essentials.

Taskbar Shuffle 2.5 and XMplay are few things I cannot live without.

Norton Commander-like file managers, for both Win32 and DOS modes - usually old enough version of FAR + Volkov Commander.

Transparent42, to get rid of the solid background color shining through the text elements on your desktop. 😀

This utility will turn your Windows 95 or NT desktop icon text backgrounds transparent; allowing your wallpaper to show through. […]
Show full quote

This utility will turn your Windows 95 or NT desktop icon text
backgrounds transparent; allowing your wallpaper to show through.
Starting with version 4, you can also change the icon text color! It's
completely free, with no splash, and is only 19k. It can optionally
stay in memory to automatically fix the transparency if your desktop
gets changed or reset.

Well...I like AppPlus, as it's like a task bar on steroids. I also like Notepad alternatives. I find themes fun, too. 😀 I had AppZip on an old Win98SE tower that had a small usable hard drive. That's a utility that can keep an application compressed and decompress as needed. It didn't work, so I used 7Zip and batch files to do the job. I think that's better. 😀 If you have enough memory, I'd recommend using a RAM drive. At the cost of some memory, it can increase system speed by storing often-needed files in RAM. I believe one was called RDSK98V5. If you are using DOS mode often, you can find some more efficient driver replacements at https://dosprograms.info.tt/indexall.htm#utils, and QEMM can significantly increase DOS RAM at the cost of compatibility.

Assuming that you'll be adventurous enough to connect it to the Internet: PuTTY and FileZilla. You'll have to track down the last versions of those utilities that still work on Windows 9x, but those should still be out there.

Like gerry I also believe less is best.
Listed below is the final supported version

Archive Program, you don't need multiple, Personally I use WinRAR 3.47

Deamon Tools 3.47, This will also need Windows Installer 2.0 below, or is included with Office Install
https://archive.org/details/instmsi

Direct X, Final versions listed below but typically your better of just using whatever your latest game requires.
Win95 8.0a
Win98 9.0c 22 Jul 2004
Win98 SE 9.0c 08 Dec 2006
WinME 9.0c 27 Oct 2008

The rest is optional that I sometimes install more for nostalgic reasons

Adobe Reader
Win95 5.05
Win98 5.05
Win98 SE 6.06
WinME 6.06

Internet Explorer
Win95 5.5 SP2
Win98 6.0 SP1
Win98 SE 6.0 SP1
WinME 6.0 SP1

Office
Win95 2000
Win98 2002
Win98 SE 2002
WinME 2002

Windows Media Player
Win95 7.1
Win98 7.1
Win98 SE 9
WinME 9

Norton Utilities
Win95 2001 v5
Win98 2005
Win98 SE 2005
WinME 2005

Oh and Winamp 2.95 of course!

I've sworn I've seen this thread before....

Essential Windows 98SE software and tweaks?
What 9x Software is Essential
Must have software for DOS and Windows

Hi, the usual utilities and programs, I guess.
IrfanView or XNView, Real Player, QuickTime, WinAmp, Clone CD, Nero, Xing MPEG Player, Power DVD

Corel Draw, MS Works, MS Office, Power Point, Photoshop or Photoshop LE or SE, Paintshop Pro, Windows Plus Pack, Adobe Acrobat, Afterdark screensaver

Netscape Navigator, Communicator or Composer, some HTML editors such as Claris Home Page (included with ClarisWorks 5) or DreamWeaver.

"VR" programs such as 3D Movie Maker. Flight Simulator 95, Need for Speed 2 SE etc.

Raytracing and CAD.. POV-Ray, AutoCAD R14 (Win 9x, NT), Bryce 3D, RenderMan, Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya, LightWave 3D..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ray_tracing_software

Edit: That being said, there was much much more software.
In 1994-1996, Virtual Reality and Cyberspace stuff was in fashion, for example.
Lots of obscure software for Windows and System 7.

Edit: Common software on the Windows desktop was AOL, WinCIM/CompuServe, MSN, Napster, ICQ, AIM, NetMeeting, etc.

Edit: Also MS Encarta, Grolier Encyclopedia etc.
Speech Recoginition software, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, IBM VoiceType etc.

Edit: Experimental software, such as..
Creatures!
Fin Fin on Teo the Magic Planet
Dogz
Tamagotchi CD-ROM
Sheep.exe (desktop friend, like Neko)
The Chronicles of Jaruu Tenk

Edit: Desktop theming/skinning software, such as Windowblinds etc.
Custom Theming for Windows 98

There surely are some more classics, but they might be from Windows 3.1x era.
Such as Graphics Workshop for Windows (GWS), Ulead iPhoto, Kodak Photo CD Access Software etc.
Or productivity software such as CA DbFast, FoxPro, Visual FoxPro, Borland Pascal 7 etc. Watcom compiler bundle etc.

Daemon Tools and Winrar are must haves for me.

^The company of WinRAR now sells merchandising, because almost no one ever payed for WinRAR.. 😉

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/with-great-s … g-a-winrar-bag/

For a retro build, definitely grab 7zip for archiving (great choice!), and Daemon Tools is solid for mounting virtual drives. If you're looking for floppy disk management, try WinImage or something like Virtual Floppy Drive. For media players, Winamp is classic, but I’d also recommend VLC for compatibility across old and modern formats. Don’t forget about things like older versions of DirectX or system utilities like CCleaner to keep things running smoothly.

Enis wrote on 2025-05-02, 19:04:

For a retro build, definitely grab 7zip for archiving (great choice!), and Daemon Tools is solid for mounting virtual drives. If you're looking for floppy disk management, try WinImage or something like Virtual Floppy Drive. For media players, Winamp is classic, but I’d also recommend VLC for compatibility across old and modern formats. Don’t forget about things like older versions of DirectX or system utilities like CCleaner to keep things running smoothly.

https://www.os2museum.com/wp/the-ihc-damage/

I typically install 7-Zip 9.20, DirectX 7.0, ModPlug Tracker, Q256015 (which fixes the C:\con\con bug) and RetroZilla. Windows 98 installations also get MPlayer.

How about Virtual PC 4? I think there was an Windows 9x version of it. Or was it the OS/2 version? 😕