If I download Windows 98, will I screw up my computer?

I have an old videogame I've played for 12 years that won't run on the newer Windows.

Can I dl 98 without destroying the Windows I have?

run it from a different Drive letter (or even a separate hard drive).
Be very, very careful where you get the Window 98 from. Don't just dowwload from some random site, or worse, bittorrent.
It could be loaded with viruses and malware.
A CD from Microsoft would be best.

I may be able to scrounge up an old disc.

When you say partition the hard drive, do you mean something like E: ?

http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/8-windows-959898seme/

If you are still grieving Microsoft's abandonment of you and willing to install some dodgy patches to bring your Windows 98 machine into the modern world of gigabyte usb flash drives and such, try here:

http://www.mdgx.com

WARNING:
By replacing Microsoft files you may VOID the EULA, warranty and/or support (if any).
You do all this at your OWN risk!
ALWAYS BACKUP FIRST!

(Can be used in virtual machines too...)

Who can resist?

First, I trust the term "download" is misused here- do you mean "install"?

Second, you cannot downgrade one version of windoze to an earlier version- i.e. XP to 98. To put both on your computer at once you MUST install the earlier version first, THEN install the later version. They can reside on the same hard drive, but they must be on separate partitions (unless you plan to install XP (or whatever system you have) using fat32. This is known as a "Dual Boot".

Before you begin ANY operation such as this, I have three words for you:

1. Backup.
2. BACKUP.
3. BACKUP.

:hi:

If I was doing the partitioning thing, for which there is always the possibility of mucking up badly, I'd install Ubuntu in the partition and try to run the game with Wine. Ubuntu will do this partitioning for you when you install it.

http://www.ubuntu.com
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine

There are lots of things that can hang or go wrong when you install Windows 98 on a newer machine. There's too much hardware it won't recognize.

Another option, if it is basically a dos game, is dosbox.

http://www.dosbox.com

Quite a few older games were simply dos games dressed up in windows.

The game is the first CD version of Axis&Allies.

Still a good game.

is that easy usually.

True.

Another option, especially on a fast modern computer, would be to install Windows 98 on a virtual machine.

hope it works - does for me when i play Doom II :)

I mean, duh???

I'm okay on hardware because I've got a few P-90 through P-266 machines. I scavenge on trash morning for machines set out for the trash to keep a fresh supply of CD-ROM drives and power supplies. You can get a working machine on eBay for a reasonable price. There haven't been any new Win98 drivers in a long time so contemporary hardware probably won't be supported and you'll pull your hair out looking for a way to make it work.

As for the OS, again look to eBay. Make sure you get a Win 98 SE CD with the original certificate that has the key code. That should run any game written for 95/98 and probably most of the DOS-based games from that period and earlier.

The first thing you've got to do after you install 98SE from CD is to download and install the last Microsoft Windows 98 updates and a modern browser from a trusted source. Then you must kill the installed 98SE Internet Explorer using 98lite! or a similar tool so you don't become an easy target for viruses. If you don't strip out the old IE then at least set the IE security options as high as they'll go. Don't let this older version of IE do anything and don't use it.

Last I looked Opera was still installable on Win 98SE systems, and it will even tell you which Windows ME files you'll need to transplant to enable transparency effects. It will work without those files, it just won't do transparency.

I've got one Windows 98SE machine running in my mad scientist lair and it's still pretty nimble, especially with 128 megabytes RAM and a few transplanted usb and ME system files. It does everything but read very large NTFS formatted external usb hard drives. It reads and writes 80 gigabyte usb drives without problems.

The OP did state that it was intended for playing games, but either way your advice should be taken seriously.