I'm running Win 98 first edition, using IE 5.5 with SP1 installed on a PII box with 20 gig hard drive and two 128 Meg SIMMs. Both service packs for Office 97 are installed. I don't want to install the latest "application" IE 6.0 because when I "upgraded" to 5.5, it broke the functionality of some VB programs that I wrote years ago. They used to be able to run and access automatically some Access databases that I created; now, they keep throwing up these stupid ass message boxes that want me to select my DSN, ask for the password, etc. All the sort of crap I didn't used to have to put up with, but now I forced to.
I had more than enough trouble when I installed Office 97 years ago, but didn't let it install PowerPoint (since I never use it). Naturally, six months later a buddy sends vacation photos in a PowerPoint presentation, so I un-install Office, then re-install it with PowerPoint. Several hours later, it finally goes in successfully, but I've had problems with Office files ever since. This occurred long before I added the second 128 Meg SIMM. Still doesn't rule out that either SIMM has gone flaky though.
If it weren't such a pain in the ass, I'd just get a new hard drive and start over.