Editing Windows 98 (section)

===Networking enhancements===
{{Main article|Winsock}}
Windows 98 networking enhancements to [[TCP/IP]] include built-in support for [[Winsock|Winsock 2]], [[Server Message Block|SMB]] signing,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887429|title=Overview of Server Message Block signing|publisher=Microsoft|work=microsoft.com|access-date=June 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120173639/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887429|archive-date=November 20, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> a new IP Helper API, [[Automatic Private IP Addressing]] (also known as link-local addressing), [[IP multicast]]ing, and performance enhancements for high-speed high bandwidth networks. [[Multihoming]] support with TCP/IP is improved and includes [[Routing Information Protocol|RIP]] listener support.

The [[DHCP]] client has been enhanced to include address assignment conflict detection and longer timeout intervals. [[NetBIOS over TCP/IP|NetBT]] configuration in the [[Windows Internet Naming Service|WINS]] client has been improved to continue persistently querying multiple WINS servers if it failed to establish the initial session until all of the WINS servers specified have been queried or a connection is established.

[[Network Driver Interface Specification]] 4 support means Windows 98 can support a wide range of network media, including [[Ethernet]], [[Fiber Distributed Data Interface]] (FDDI), [[Token Ring]], [[Asynchronous Transfer Mode]] (ATM), [[ISDN]], [[wide area network]]s, [[X.25]], and [[Frame Relay]]. Additional features include NDIS power management, support for [[quality of service]], [[Windows Management Instrumentation]] (WMI) and support for a single [[INF file]] format across all Windows versions.<ref name=RK572>{{harvnb|Resource Kit|1998|p=572}}</ref>

Windows 98 Dial-Up Networking supports [[Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol|PPTP]] tunneling,<ref name=PCMAGp135>{{harvnb|PC Magazine, August|1998|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4c8Qbd14llIC&pg=PA135 135]}}</ref> support for ISDN adapters, multilink support, and connection-time scripting to automate non-standard login connections. Multilink channel aggregation enables users to combine all available dial-up lines to achieve higher transfer speeds. [[Point-to-Point Protocol|PPP]] connection logs can show actual packets being passed and Windows 98 allows PPP logging per connection. The Dial-Up Networking improvements are also available in Windows 95 OSR2 and are downloadable for earlier Windows 95 releases.

For networked computers that have user profiles enabled, Windows 98 introduces Microsoft Family Logon which lists all users that have been configured for that computer, enabling users to simply select their names from a list rather than having to type them in.<ref name=RK798>{{harvnb|Resource Kit|1998|p=798}}</ref>

Windows 98 supports [[IrDA]] 3.0 which specifies both Serial Infrared Devices and Fast Infrared devices, which are capable of sending and receiving data at 4&nbsp;Mbit/s. Infrared Recipient, a new application for transferring files through an infrared connection is included. The IrDA stack in Windows 98 supports networking profiles over the IrCOMM kernel-mode driver. Windows 98 also has built-in support for browsing [[Distributed File System (Microsoft)|Distributed File System]] trees on [[Server Message Block]] shares such as Windows NT servers.<ref name=RK688>{{harvnb|Resource Kit|1998|p=688}}</ref><ref name=RK690>{{harvnb|Resource Kit|1998|p=690}}</ref>

UPnP and NAT traversal APIs can be installed on Windows 98 by installing the [[Windows XP]] Network Setup Wizard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa939488(WinEmbedded.5).aspx|title=Network Setup Wizard Down Level Setup|date=April 14, 2010|work=[[Microsoft Developer Network]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|access-date=April 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022192342/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa939488(WinEmbedded.5).aspx|archive-date=October 22, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> An [[Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol#L2TP/IPsec|L2TP/IPsec]] [[Virtual private network|VPN]] client can also be downloaded. By installing Active Directory Client Extensions, Windows 98 can take advantage of several Windows 2000 [[Active Directory]] features.