johnyept wrote on 2021-11-04, 23:17:

So, can we agree that this topic is not about how the files/programs mentioned in the 1st post impact the performance of the games or Windows itself, but simply how to make life easier when installing a game OR a program? I know that games are the main reason most of us build our retro machines, but for me the programs are also part of the nostalgia, even if I don't use most of them. Y2K and EURO patches are not needed (that I know of) by any game/program, but they just add to the experience. If I just wanted to quench my thirst for retro games, DOSBOX and GOG on Windows 10 would more than suffice.

Here is a list of the stuff I commonly Install on 98se. It's all either related to playing the games, getting the games on the system, getting the games to run.

98 Lite Professional Chubby Install Makes Games run faster.
No Service Packs Good it makes games run slower.
Drivers Needed to play games
Installer 2.0 Needed to install games and Daemon tools
Directx 7 self explanitory game related
TCP 1.4 + Microsoft Windows 9x Vtcp.386 Update (236926usa8.exe) + TCP Optimizer Speeds up transfering games over the LAN.
Daemon tools, Virtual CloneDrive, Alcohol 120% Mount ISOs of games.
7zip Extract games
Winimage Extract Game Images from Floppys or make boot disks
Letter Assigner v1.2.0 (Allows you to reassign drive letters in (9X) Useful for making your CD or Virtual CD Drive letter D:
PDF Reader Read Manual or whatever for the game (I use a special version of Sumatra that runs on 9x without kernel EX
Irfanview Becasue paint cant read Jpegs and I might need to view some game ART.
Metapad Read Game notes becasue Notepad.exe has a character limit
CCleaner old version Makes it easy to delete the trash left over from installing my games.
Process Explorer Task kill games that crashed
Autoruns Removes junk from auto starting when windows runs so games run faster.
Total Commander Professional A norton Commander clone for windows that makes managing my game files easyer.
Volkov Commander + CP437+ DOSLFN Becasue It makes managing my games files in DOS so much easyer.
ISO Buster Extract Game ISO and CDs
ClonnyXXL Detects types of copy protection on games
Uniextract Extracts installshield files from games
HXD Hex Editor to crack games
Nero 5.5 Enterprise burn ISOs if virtual CDs dont work for games
Windows ME versions of Defrag and scandisk if Im using tradition HDD becasue they are so much faster. Makes my games start and run smoother.
Dos Version of Ghost.EXE to make backup of Install. So my I dont need to reinstall.

This Basically does it. A lot of the stuff like intel indeo video and stuff like that usually comes with games.

Only Caveat to this list is if I am usining a laptop or I want to use Wireless Lan, then I install IE5.5sp2 becasue I install Odyssey Client Manager 4.52 Full version as its the only universal application that supports WPA2 Encryption for various PCMCIA wireless cards that have drivers from 9x that supports WPA2

2nd Caveat If there is no way for me to use network to transfer files I install old version of NUSB 2.0E becasue it doesn't have any hacky files in it that break things.... and sneakernet with USB sticks but I basically never do this as its inferior and slow.