Hi alecks,
They're all the same, they just change the name every few years to keep the
sales volume up.
Ok, seriously now, the differences between the versions are considerable.
Win98 and WinME are based on the 9x kernel, while Win2000 and WinXP are
based on the NT kernel. There is a lot of history there, but suffice it to
say that the 9x kernel is no longer being used, and WinXP is a blending of
sorts using the NT kernel but including multimedia functionality previously
found only in the 9x side. The feature set found in each iteration has
changed to match consumer demands and changes in the available hardware.
This could go on for several pages and still only scratch the surface of the
changes.
How you remove/disable the old spyware application depends on the product -
have you tried uninstalling it yet? Generally you do not have to remove one
to install and use a secondary one (I commonly install and use two or more
on a system).
--
Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
Windows help -
www.rickrogers.org