First did you get the Win 98 Updates.. Microsoft no longer has them, but individuals have made Unofficial service Packs for Download.. here is the most current one I could find :
http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.htmlThis will get Win 98 updated.. Just make sure you are using Win 98 SE, not plain jane Win 98.
Update your device Drivers and also update your Direct X after the service pack is installed. Also you will probably need to get Internet Explorer 6.0 and also get IE 6.0 Sp 1 on your system for the OS to function properly.
Win 98 has memory leaks.. as such the system seems to slow down.. the first thing I would try is dumping out most of the start up programs to free up your ram.. Also Win 98 only recognizes 512 MB ram.. so if you have 1 gig on board, then half of your memory is useless.
There are 2 files in Win 98 Startup that you need to keep.. but I don't recall them, you may want to google or go to Shadow Vipers web site for setup parameters.
To enter your Win 98 startup you can go into RUN and type msconfig then click OK and go to the Startup tab.
You also need to go to Run and type in sysedit and click OK and it will load Win.ini, System.ini, Config.sys and Autoexec.bat .. A google search should show you how to set these files up.
Also Axel's AOL site has a lot of fixes for Win 98 to clear up several memory holes..
http://www.mdgx.com/ Click on Win 98 Tricks on left column.. or Direct page located here (no column)
http://www.mdgx.com/newtip98.htmHope this helps.
After using Axel's site, I was able to have Win 98 up for 5 months running a D2 server for EAW.. But it took a lot of looking and reg editing to get Win 98 stable enough to accomplish this.