Windows 98 improved stability over Windows 95 and introduced the first fully supported USB stack. Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) added better driver support, improved USB compatibility, and enhanced system performance.
Archive Utilities (Windows 98)
7-Zip (Windows 98) — ver. 3.20, ver. 3.22, ver. 3.23, ver. 3.24
Notes: Early GUI versions work well. Requires updated system files on original Windows 98; SE handles them better.
WinRAR (Windows 98) — ver. 2.50, ver. 2.60, ver. 2.71, ver. 2.80
Notes: Stable RAR/ZIP support. No AES encryption. Works on both Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE.
PKZIP (Windows 98) — ver. 2.60, ver. 2.70
Notes: GUI version recommended. Long filename support fully functional under Windows 98.
Info-ZIP (Windows 98) — UnZip ver. 5.40, Zip ver. 2.3, WiZ ver. 4.1
Notes: Open-source ZIP tools. Works well on SE with improved system stability.
ARJ (Windows 98) — ver. 2.62, ver. 2.70
Notes: DOS-based but fully compatible with Windows 98’s DOS subsystem.
LHA / LHArc (Windows 98) — ver. 2.76, ver. 2.78
Notes: Required for many Japanese PC titles. Works best on SE.
Graphics & Multimedia (Windows 98)
IrfanView (Windows 98) — ver. 3.36, ver. 3.75
Notes: Lightweight viewer. More plugins supported compared to Windows 95.
QuickTime (Windows 98) — ver. 3.0, ver. 4.0, ver. 5.0
Notes: QuickTime 5 works on Windows 98 SE. QuickTime 6 requires Windows 2000/XP.
RealPlayer (Windows 98) — ver. 6.0, ver. 7.0, ver. 8.0
Notes: Early streaming formats. RealPlayer 9 requires Windows 98 SE or newer.
Windows Media Player (Windows 98) — ver. 6.4
Notes: Default media player. Supports basic AVI, WAV, and MPEG formats.
Internet & Networking (Windows 98)
Internet Explorer (Windows 98) — ver. 4.0, ver. 5.0, ver. 5.5
Notes: IE 5.5 SP2 is the last version for Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE.
Netscape Navigator (Windows 98) — ver. 4.7, ver. 4.8
Notes: Classic browser. Limited modern compatibility.
Opera (Windows 98) — ver. 6.0, ver. 7.0
Notes: Lightweight alternative. Opera 7 is the last version supporting Windows 98.