Why not dual boot Windows 98 Second Edition with Windows 2000 that would allow you to use one to recover the other if it crashes and it allows real mode DOS
Windows Millennium Edition isn't as bad as some say it is, it just isn't as good as it should have been. It was the latest home OS for just a few months, not enough time to work out the bugs. I am posting with Windows 2000 and I have used every Microsoft OS since Windows 3.0.

Edit: Oops, I hit quote