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Step aside Windows 11, Windows 98 is back

Windows Update Restored gives support where Microsoft won't by providing updates to the operating systems you grew up with, including Windows 98, XP, and more.

An image of the Windows 98 logo on top of the Windows 11 'Bloom' wallpaper.
Rosalie Newcombe's Avatar

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Windows 11 

It’s only a matter of time before we all upgrade to Windows 11 to go hands-on with the latest features and to ensure our gaming PC is safe from security vulnerabilities. While official support for an OS-like Windows 98 has long since gone, Windows Update Restored hopes to give the support Microsoft won’t.

Back in 2011, Microsoft removed a lot of its Windows Update websites, meaning those looking for support for older operating systems were out of luck. However, the team over at Windows Update Restored aims to help those looking to run the Windows OS of times past.

“With this project, we can now update operating systems as old as Windows 95 all the way through Windows XP RTM like we used to back in the day,” the body states on the homepage of the Windows Update Restored website.

The recently launched website provides modern updates for older operating systems, like Windows 98 and Windows XP. The site is currently limited to using a Windows Update v3.1 webpage clone, which includes Windows 95, NT 4.0, and Windows 98 updates. Windows Update Restored is aiming to bring back every single version of the Windows Update website that used to exist before Microsoft removed most of them in 2011.

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As time goes on, more of us are feeling the push to upgrade to the latest Windows operating system, Windows 11. The final update for Windows 10 version 21H2 rolled out last month, and as of now, it will receive no further updates or security fixes. It is in the best interest of your PC to update, especially where cybersecurity is concerned. But while support for another Windows OS comes to an end, it’s fascinating to see communities, like the team behind the Windows Update Restore site, provide that missing support.

Even if you have no need to relive some nostalgia and see what Windows 98 is like to use today, Windows Update Restore is ensuring the preservation of some of the most important parts of PC history.

If you want to make that inevitable upgrade to Windows 11, ahead of the end of the official support for Windows 10 in 2025, it’s still free to Windows 10 users. You can still buy a key if you’re building a PC for the first time and want to make the most of the operating system’s latest features.

Rosalie is a hardware staff writer for PCGamesN, based in Scotland. After writing about the development of adaptive game audio at the end of their music degree, Rosalie was inspired to pursue a career in journalism. They took their love of video games, and the hardware they run on, to write for sites like TechRadar and GameByte, until landing a full time role with the team at PCGamesN. When not gazing upon their ever-growing anime figure, and physical game collection, you can find Rosalie writing about everything to do with Steam Deck, as well as catching up with the latest AMD and Nvidia news.