“I’ll upgrade to Windows 95 when they get the bugs worked out of it,” say die-hard Windows 3.1 users.
Guess what: The bugs have been gone for some time.
Microsoft has a slew of fixes and patches to Windows 95 on its Web site at www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/updates.htm. If you’ve never installed the Windows 95 Service Release 1–a major batch of bug fixes and driver updates–then it should be the first thing you grab. There are other updates as well, including an improved dial-up networking component; a new TCP/IP stack that prevents some crashes when connected to the Internet; and a new and more stable kernel, the heart of the operating system.
How can you tell if the service release is installed on your system? Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties. If your Windows 95 version number says 4.00.095, you have not installed it. If it says 4.00.095a, the fix is there. If it says 4.00.095b or c, you have the very latest versions of Windows 95, and don’t need the service release or many of the other patches found at the site.
In anticipation of the release of Mac OS 8.1, Casady & Greene has already released a new version of Conflict Catcher, which identifies problems with Mac OS extensions.
A free updater to take version 4.0 up to 4.1 is available at the Casady & Greene Web site at www.casadyg.-com/C&G/updaters.html. This update is required to make Conflict Catcher work with Mac OS 8.1.
An update for Quarterdeck’s CleanSweep Deluxe for Windows 95 from version 3.07 to 3.08 is now available at support.qdeck.com/, or by clicking on the Update-It icon in the CleanSweep program group. Revision 12 of the Soundblaster 16/AWE32/AWE64 drivers is available at Creative Labs’ Web site at www.creaf.com/wwwnew/tech/ftp-/ftp-sb16awe.html.
Owners of WinFax Pro 8.0 from Symantec can now update their programs to version 8.03. Use either the LiveUpdate feature built into the program, or at the WinFax Web site at www.syman-tec.com/winfax/. Qualcomm has posted an updater to take the Now Utilities 6.7 for the Macintosh up to 6.7.1 at www.eudora.com/now-utilities. Be aware this version is not Mac OS 8 compatible.
