creation -- Windows 98.

Hamilton's Complete Office yesterday introduced the system designed to allow personal computers to work and play better.

The 17 Reid Street store is offering the product at a retail price of $135.

In a Press release yesterday, the store said a special promotion was in place while supplies lasted.

"There are several secretly marked packages. Purchase your copy of Windows 98 and have the The Complete Office sales person identify your box as a winner and you will receive your money back.

"Windows 98 improves performance, reliability, Internet access and ease of use, as well as unlocking an exciting range of PC hardware and entertainment capabilities.'' The Complete Office launched Windows 98 on the same day as North America.

If the US government gets its way in court, the upgrade to Microsoft's Windows sold just months from now will be significantly different from versions that went on sale yesterday.

As part of its landmark antitrust case against Microsoft, the Justice Department and 20 states want a judge to force the company to make important changes to the $89 software. A hearing is set for September 8 -- just over ten weeks after Windows 98 makes its retail debut. The government contends that Microsoft, among other things, illegally forces customers to use its own Internet browser because it's bundled within Windows. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates yesterday called Windows 98 "the driver for consumer PCs for at least the next three years.'' "For anybody who really uses their PCs, it's going to be really quite attractive,'' Gates said on CNN.

The government-approved version of Windows 98 would make it more difficult to use Microsoft's browser, or it would include a second browser from one of Microsoft's biggest rivals or even include a third competitor's browser.

But government lawyers, sensitive that they might have to ask Microsoft in September to make major changes after Windows 98 has already been shipped, have been vague in their court filings. So, it's unclear whether changes ordered by US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson would affect only copies of Windows 98 pre-installed on new computers or also the boxed versions that are now on sale in stores.

"It's very, very complicated -- very unclear,'' Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray said.

The Justice Department and states opted not to ask for changes before Windows 98 was shipped, amid a national campaign by Microsoft warning that delays would cripple the high-tech industry and hurt the economy. A court-ordered change to Windows 98 after its public release could be very significant because, in the worst case, programmes designed to work with one version of Windows 98 wouldn't necessarily work with the other. Microsoft has argued that its Internet browser is tightly integrated into Windows 98 and that removing it would cripple Windows.

At best, any changes the judge might require in an injunction would be mostly transparent to consumers, similar to the subtle refinements made to Windows over the lifetime of Windows 95.

"We don't know what actually the wording of the injunction might be, so it's not clear how it will be played out,'' said industry analyst Aaron Goldberg of Ziff Davis Market Intelligence. But he added: "It's a major pain in the rear for the customer. Anything that gets in the way of making computing easier, less problematic, is not a help.'' Lawyers for the Justice Department specifically want Microsoft to include the latest browser from rival Netscape Communications. Lawyers for the 20 states, sensitive to claims that Netscape might unfairly benefit under such a deal, also want Microsoft to include a browser from a third company.

Both federal and state lawyers want Microsoft to "untie'' its browser from Windows 98, although a federal appellate court ruled 2-1 earlier this week that Microsoft was allowed to bundle its browser with Windows. In this latest case, the Justice Department has suggested giving computer makers the choice of whether to delete the icon for Microsoft's browser from the Windows desktop, effectively hiding the browser from plain view and convenient use.

But neither the Justice Department nor states describe how such changes would be made to boxed versions of Windows 98 being sold in stores.

In the days and weeks beyond this week's release of Windows 98, retail sales of the programme at stores such as CompUSA, Best Buy or Circuit City are widely expected to eclipse sales through computer makers, such as Dell, Gateway or Compaq.

But within months, as retail sales begin tapering off, more people will buy Windows 98 pre-installed on new machines by computer makers. Eventually, analysts predict, as much as 90 percent of sales will be from computer companies -- and therefore subject to changes sought by the Justice Department.