cure

Perhaps this is in your list but not explicitly - where would you put a trip to WindowsUpdate.com on your list? I believe, based upon my reading of the boards, that it is necessary at best and damaging at worst, as unofficial updates may not be recognised and may, consequently, get stamped out of existence (so far as you system goes).

I am trying to establish for myself, and perhaps others, what is the proper order for applying this and other fine work from the board to a fresh installation of 98SE. A search of the board yields contradictory and, often, out of date answers. And although I think that a comprehensive answer to this question deserves ultimately to be made into a sticky, a new thread may fail to attract the attention of those familiar with the Autopatcher which is probably the most essential element of such an installation. My best take on the matter would be this: 0. 98SE CD 1. 98lite chubby for 98Se installation - optional 2. Autopatcher Dec2007Full + Dec2008 update a. TweakUI for autologin b. directx 9c c. dcom d. IE 6 - optional e. Jet - opitonal (include for security updates) f. critical updates, etc. g. other stuff to taste - java and other third-party stuff perhaps best installed manually if the destination it be a driver other than C: 4. Hardware drivers 5. WordPerfect - optional (see 9. below) 6. 98SE2ME - optional but highly recommended -2nd install option again recommended -3rd install option not recommended for reasons of speed and compatibility 7. 98MP10 - optional (for those installing Media Player via Autopatcher?) 8. Kernel Update Project - optional but highly recommended 9. Revolution Pack 9 - optional but recommended - clear type is beautiful but messes cosmetically with Grammatik in WordPerfect - possibly prevents WordPerfect from installing correctly, and in particular the spell checker from functioning, if installed before WordPerfect 10. Software generally (Word, Open Office, etc.) Please offer corrections, suggestions, alternatives. In particular, are there still packages that should be applied before autopatcher (SESp2.1a en,WUPG98en, etc.)? The goal is make such fine work as accessible as possible. So thank you for contributing. [3. was edited out of existence based upon soporific's response below.]

The Grammatik error appears with the activation of Clear Type and goes away with the Disactivation of Clear Type. As it is mostly cosemetic and can be worked around with a few key clicks, that is not to bad. WP 13 installed immediately after the Autopatcher and prior to the Revolution Pack 9 (the kernel, etc.) works perfectly except the cosmetic error just discussed.

Clear Type option badly messes up the spacing in the last two lines of WordPerfect's Grammatik writing tool in versions X3, 12 and 10 and probably others too. I also suspect, but cannot prove it yet, that if Word Perfect is installed after RP9 then its spell checker will be irresoluably screwed up, again in the above versions and proably others. Installing WordPerfect first seems to avoid this trouble.

I am having trouble with WordPerfect on my newly patched 98SE install. I have the 98SE-ME file replacement, the Kernel Project, and Revolution 9 installed and I have the whole thing updated with the Autopatcher. Now Wordperfect X3 (13) and Wordperfect 12 both install but have a curious and frustrating set of problems connected to their writing tools. Grammatik has a small bug. The spacing is wrong in the last two lines, where a new sentence is proposed and where the problem with the existing sentence is described: a large space is left in the middle of the line with any text not fitting to the left of it being pushed to the extreme right and sometime out of the visible viewing area. Far worse, upon initiating the spell checker I get the following response: "There is an error in the Speller Checker's Window Registry information". If one keeps tappping OK one can begin to spellcheck. Much better is to switch to Grammatik, which works perfectly, or, better still, switch back from it to Spell Checker that then works correctly, or at least until one makes an edit in the document and one must hit Resume, requiring one to repeat the switch into and out of Grammatik to again regain proper functionality. Spell-as-you-go and Grammar-as-you-go both fail to start, reporting: "Unable to initialise. Make sure user word list is available." Perhaps in a related vane, the program systematically erases the following registry key which is present on another 98SE system that is also patched but not with all the latest stuff and whereupon WordPerfect works perfectly: "[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Corel\WritingTools\13\User Word Lists\UK\Word List 0] "Enabled"=hex:01,00,00,00 "Name"="C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Corel\\Shared\\Writing Tools\\WT13UK.uwl" Perhaps related, perhaps not, the backspace key sometimes fails in Word Perfect when playing around with the spell checker and Reveal Codes don't always work via key strokes, although they always work via the menu. I also sometimes receive invalid page faults when exiting in WT13LI.DLL and WPWIN13.DLL caused by WPWIN13 and similarly in the Wordperfect 12 equivalents. I have tried reinstalling, doing a repair install, deleting the registry keys responsible for writing tools, and the main Corel registry keys, before doing the reinstall. I have largely compared the registry settings for WordPerfect from the other machine. I have tried copying over the files from the other machine. All to little effect. BUT, I suspect that the new install is perhaps being recognised by the software as being a more recent OS than 98SE and in consequence a different and ultimately incompatible set of files are being installed. How might this be verified and addressed? Other software, including Outlook XP, has installed and functions without a problem however. I have tried various kernel settings including uninstalling it, but to no avail. Can anyone suggest a lead?

My inability to find freeware that works on 98SE (using the updated kernal) that can enable graphical pdf cropping (as opposed to offscreen cropping where one guess the number of inches one wants hacked off a page in each direction) led me to try install my copy of Acrobat Professional 7. It had to be ORCAed to get it to install, at three points as I recall. And it complained while installing that printing facilities were missing, as Windows printer architecture changed subsequent to 98SE/ME. Once it was installed, it failed to complete loading, complaining that : "Acrobat fail to load it's CoreDLL." Stripping out the plugins didn't help, nor did a Google search. There is also a known problem with Explorer locking up when tapping on a PDF file, solvable by deleteing four registry keys as there is again an architecture change between 98SE and subsequent Windows. What is different with Professional 7 as opposed to Reader 7, is that the problem is perhaps recurrent, although still fixable by running a small registry merge on each occassion. The matter with respect to Reader 7 is treated below: So, anyone else attempted to get Acrobat Professional working? Any suggestions about "CoreDll"?Equally, as to alternatives, what I can see are Acrobat Professional 5, which works well, and Expert PDF 6, which throws up a fair number of error messages but survives them to work well. The first may be expensive and difficult to find. The second can be had with a free upgrade from Expert PDF 4 Professional that was made available for free as part of an offer (Google it as the trail is not dead).

Version 3.1.1 - FREE - OpenOffice.org Portable (nothing needs to be set in the kernel for it too work (I seem to recall that the correct settting for it were built in) Verison 1 - Free - Sun PDF Import Extension for OpenOffice.org

OK, found: http://web.archive.org/web/20061025112524/...ader708Lite.exe

i2pdf version 1.020, which is freeware for changing pictures into a pdf, works in XP compatible mode.

Perhaps of use: "Also Adobe Reader 7.0.9. How to install: Download: http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/read...dr709_en_US.exe - Set AdbeRdr709_en_US.exe Compatibility mode to Windows 2000 - Execute AdbeRdr709_en_US.exe - Installer unpacks files and then fails. - Browse to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\RdrBig709\ENU - Using Orca, make the following changes to Adobe Reader 7.0.9.msi: - Drop row UnSupportedOS (Version9x) from both InstallExecuteSequence and InstallUISequence - Execute setup.exe - Remove Adobe Reader Speed Launch from the Startup menu to prevent problems. - If Acrobat Reader 6 or Acrobat 6 is installed, then run an install repair. This is to repair the Adobe Shell Extensions. The reason for this is that pdfshell.dll from 7.x is not compatible with Windows 9x and causes long hangs in Windows Explorer anytime there are PDF files in the current folder and you click on them... - Then repair each Acrobat Reader 6/Acrobat 6 update in order (assuming all updates are installed): -- Adobe Acrobat - Reader 6.0.2 Update -- Adobe Interactive Forms Update SP1 -- Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.3 Update -- Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.4 Update -- Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.5 Update -- Adobe Acrobat and Reader 6.0.6 Update If you don't have a copy of Acrobat Reader or Acrobat already installed, then you will have to manually remove the following registry keys: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{F9DB5320-233E-11D1-9F84-707F02C10627} HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Acrobat.AcroAXDoc.1 HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document.7 HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ColumnHandlers\{F9DB5320-233E-11D1-9F84-707F02C10627} If Adobe Reader 7.0 is not default, the use right-click Open With and select Adobe Reader 7.0 or make it the default. This post has been edited by RetroOS: Mar 25 2009, 04:57 AM"

Interesting project. I have dictionary and therausus (and if one wanted the hyphoning) working. However, Word 97 doesn't recognise newer versions of these. Further it creates registry keys for the dictionary and needs them for the therausus, which may be a problem if you want Outlook Expres or some other problem making use of newer files. Renaming the files doesn't solve the problem. So a truly portable version aka portableapps.com would be a nice way to go. All the registry calls would be captured and be made virtually by the launcher. Sadly building a portable app seem to be less simple than I had hoped. More brutually one could merge reg files in an out to achieve the same effect.

Leaving aside .Net Frame 2 for a moment, is .Net Frame 1 in any sense necessary? What of consequence requires it?

Nitro Professional 6 version 2.1.1005.0 (and presumably the entire 6 line) doesn't work as it uses the Windows 3.1 installer (thanx for telling us Nitro guys, not!). Also dig around the related PrimoPDF forum and it seems that the sister product in version 2 fries system files on a 98se system (nice!). Version 1 might play nice but doesn't do it simply. Again see the forum. Sadly, the NitroPDF forum seems to have been deep sixed by the company. Nothing like burying knowledge.

In the attempt to retain some pdf editting ability - cropping, apending pages, deleting pages - without adding the ponderous Acrobat 5 to my system, I decided to give Nitro Professional 6 a try. The problem is that it requires .Net Framework v2. That adds not only 100 meg of files but a ton of registry addresses. Given that I am doing a rebuild currently and want to keep my newly reinstalled OS as snappy as possible, is the additon of .Net Framework counter productive in the extreme to such a point that going with Acrobat 5 would be less evil?

Could someone please point me to 7.08.exe English version? Of failing that an other of the lite 7.xx versions? Thanx.

I have TightVNC version 1.3.9 working very well on several Win98SE boxes. The latest is 1.3.10, but I haven't yet got round to installing it. There is nothing on the web site to indicate there might be a problem. Jeff I can confrim TightVNC 1.3.10 works very well on my 98SE. And if a XP computer is being connected to, I would recommend the DFMirage mirror display driver for it as that works seamlessly too. Great freeware.

UltraVNC 1.0.2 is supposedly the latest 98SE compatible version. 1.0.6.5 can be installed via the kernel project but dependency problems prevent the server from functioning. Is there any alternative remote software?

OK, assuming that one has a previous install of Windows with RP 6 lying about, perhaps backed up via backup9x.bat, then one grabs the command.com and io.sys files from it, putting both in c:\ and also the former in c:\windows\, and one grabs logo.sys, wll.com and scandisk.alt files, putting them in c:\windows\. Then it works a treat.

First, fabulous work. Thank you very much. Second, Version 9.10 (and perhaps prior ones) does not play nice with K-Meleon 1.5.3 (and perhaps prior ones). K-meleon will function fine until one tries to exploit its tab function, i.e., go from single page browsing to tabbed browsing, whereupon K-Meleon crashes. Uninstalling RP fixes the problem. Installing RP in a minimal configuration, neither icons & nor themes, choosing transparent icon labels, smooth edges, and ClearType under Effects, and leaving none of the Misc options checked causes no trouble for K-Meleon. Third, is it possible to use the awesome logo.sys from RP 6 without using RP 6? Just sticking it in C:\ has not worked. Thanx again.

Spooler was never installed and the rest of printer support likewise. That said, I managed to get the spooler service back, but without the rest of the printer support, thereby only allowing me to install Acrobat, and not actually print anything, even a pdf. The PEBart people have actually reverse engineered this problem and have a plugin, but for me to make their solution applicable to my problem would be far more work than a nlite rebuild and a reinstall. But before that I will try a repair install. If anyone can clarify what an repair install will do to my nilted XP install I would really appreciate it. How is it to fix my printer support without 'fixing' everything else that nlited deleted? Thanx.

"try just inserting the CD and when it Auto Starts, select Install optional Windows components." OK, I tried that. The underlying missing print spooler (and other stuff too perhaps) were not installed and the install indeed failed presumably because of their absence. I am not sure whether the drivers will fix it or not. What I am trying to do is install Acrobat and it chokes on the absence of a Print Spooler service, which I have thus far found no way of installing short of a 'repair install' which I fear will undo all the other good work of nlite.

Same question. And I presume that a 'repair install' using an original XP disk would 'fix' everything that nlite removed, correct?

OpenXMLViewer.exe used from the command line complains: "A required .DLL file, MSVCR90.DLL, was not found." The file is included in the package in the subdirectories, so I tried moving it and related files into the main directory, but to no avail. Suggestions? Thanx.

Foxix Reader 2.0 used to be my default reader. Then I upgrade to 3.0 and it began to crash the OS. It is no longer my default reader. I am, however, experimenting with running it under the updated kernel. Not sure if it should or will make any difference.

Thanx for the upgrade! Still, could you or someone else explain a little further? For example, is this a signifacnt improvement on the "Smooth edges of screen fonts" option from Effects within Display Properties? Equally, does this work only with truetype/TTF fonts or equally with bitmap/raster/FON fonts? In terms of resources, I understand that using bitmap fonts, MS San Seria for example, throughout Appearance in Display Properties improves performance. Is this correct? Does apply "Smooth edges of screen fonts" impact resources use and does it work for both TTF and FON fonts? Just trying to understand my options slower and faster PCs. Thanx.