One thing with the 98 update disk is it does not give you full 98...... I found this as at the time my PC had 95 on it and it did not support the USB ports.....
I purchased the 98 update disk to support my USB ports so I could connect a webcam, unfortunately it was only after talking to MicroDross that they told me the update disk would not support them either.... so I was refunded my money. but it was a painless install
With Vista coming out in the next couple of months you could hang on and get XP cheap, but that would involve a reformat etc........ what I did when i updated mine was to put in a second hard drive, installed XP on that as the primary drive and it still allowed me to access anything off my other disk...
at least with 95 etc most of the virus writers of the world have migrated onwards and upwards so you wont be bothered by them
