It’s high season for “gifting.” This time of year, there’s a holiday for everyone, no matter what your taste, or “persuasion.” And what a coincidence – they all require the presentation of expensive “presents” to loved ones. Or so the retailers would have you think! Personally, I prefer to give “the gift of love,” when called upon to step up to the plate. At least I did, until I told my wife that once on our anniversary. Let’s just say she taught me a “life lesson” I’ll never forget! So, it was off to the store to buy a bauble for my queen. And what store do you think a guy who coined a name like Newzgeek would go to? No, not the newsstand (that would have been my second choice, though). Clearly, I went shopping at the computer store. Where I saw the latest and greatest in informational delivery technology. The computers, the operating systems, the software, each with its glossy poster, gaudy display, and get-me-now packaging, were all tempting, I’ll give them that. But do I really need all that new stuff? A new duo-core PC with the latest and hottest Intel chip (not the Celeron kind, either)? Vista? Leopard? Ubuntu, for ford’s sake? What am I doing here when I have a perfectly good Windows 98 equipped Pentium III at home? I’m sure it’s a question you’ve asked yourself, as well. Do the gewgaws and the gadgets really add anything? Is it necessary to spend thousands in order to do the same word processing, Web surfing, and e-mailing that you’re already doing? Will the new system help you do these things “better?” Or will it just make the lives of the corporate executives that sell these things “better?” If you are one of the many still working with Windows 98, maybe you should check out http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html before spending thousands to “upgrade.” That’s where you;ll find a free download of the author’s unofficial Windows 98SE Service Pack. Windows aficionados know that Microsoft never released a single roll-up of all the system updates that were ever published for the no-longer supported Windows 98. Users had to download security and hardware compatibility piecemeal, and almost all the systems out there are missing one or another components of the various updates, compromising your ability to compute as effectively as you can using Win98. But with the Win98 Service Pack, you get over 120 fixes, distributed by Microsoft and others that solve a plethora of problems and complaints Win98 users have had over the years. Who knows? The service pack may solve all your problems, thus obviating the need to upgrade (read install/uninstall instructions before using). And if it doesn’t you’re invited to your local computer shop to join in the joy of “gifting,” getting a gewgaw-laden top of the line machine. Either way, it’ll be a true “gift of love.”