Adding a always on internet connection can lengthen the boot time. 2 minutes is not unheard of in such machines.
Can you share what's in your startup lists?
Use your choice of tools such as:
MSCONFIG
STARTER - Noted at http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6132-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=1313&start=0
Another time-extending item is the usual addition of firewalls and the hard disks not being in DMA mode. The firewall for Windows 98 is highly debateable and if you loaded something buggy like Norton Internet products, then their bugs can catch people offguard.
Bob
It seems that ever since I installed SBC Yahoo DSL I've been having start up and shut down problems. Now the problem is that when I start the computer the Microsoft Windows 98 splash screen with the flag and sky background stays on for 2 minutes while the activity light is going all the time. Have done virus scans and online trojan scans. I have very few programs loading at startup. Compaq 7360, 98SE 184MB RAM.

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