Analada

This actually sounds a lot like IE4 for Windows 95. I call FUD. Firefox -- aka Firefox 3 -- is what we should be worrying about not that piece of sw. As was said, you can easily spoof winXP IE6 if need be. (Use PrefBar with firefox.)

Yes that appears to be the site. He (Australian guy IIRC) did lite for win98Se then moved on to XP later. I've been using the 98 Lite on my win98SE pcs for years. I've tried with/without Lite and always found them more stable after Lite was installed. Opinions may vary of course, but IMO doing a C:\ partition backup (to be on safe side) and installing Lite is worthwhile.

Could it be possible that it's back in DOS? This is roughly the same behaviour as you could get on an pre APM or ACPI machine running W95, without logos.sys. No, it doesn't fall back to DOS. I have working APM as I said sometimes it shutdown OK (I mean full shutdown of ATX PSU). If it hangs and I have to do reset, then I got scandisk on next start so it signalize that shutdown was not completly done. I tried various patches, I use unofficial SP but nothing helps. So I want to do my way. BTW I found that win.com is called at last of shutdown process, it also contain code for APM shutdown. But when it hangs it's BEFORE win.com executed so it doesn't shutdown. I also cannot reboot to dos from windows. When I use restart instead then win.com is never called. Probably windows doesn't try to switch back to realmode and just do reset. I need to find where's the reset sequence to insert some code before. Using Nvidia 3 chipset, FoxComm mobo, Athlon sempron: fairly new PC which I built last year: I solved the shutdown problem by installing freeware win98Lite (also solved defrag restarting) and by using "Restart in MS-Dos Mode" -which SHUTS down the PC (!). Very very occasionally I find that I need a clean reboot before shutting down. Maybe one day in a hundred and usually when the PC has been on all day and lots of programs have been run. HTH

I don't know where you get that date from. Firefox 3 will be released by the end of this year or beginning of 2008. Mozilla supports the previous version for six months only. Just had an official reply on the FF support newsgroup; looks like official support will end "sometime" in 2008 :-(

My thoughts exactly What gains will we get from Firefox 3 that makes us really want it? There's a whole bunch of stuff scattered around on that topic. Here's one reasonably comprehensive link: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/3.0a3/releasenotes/ My thoughts are (roughly) as follows: 1. Firefox 2 does everything one could wish for (at present). 2. Assuming official support for it drops in 2009 (?) there's still at least nearly two years of using it left. 3. Need to keep an eye on any emerging "must have" feature being brought into Firefox 3 and see if FF2 can be adapted to support it -- much like the approach to win98SE in this forum. 4. Security updates...what happens when official support ends? 5. Conclusion: If (3) and (4) can be dealt with/resolved adequately, there's no reason I can see why FF2 might not be used for a number of years yet. 6. FF3 for win98/win98Se/ME is a great idea. But has anyone looked into the feasibility? Who would be responsible for security aspects?

As it is probable that developing Firefox 3 for win98SE is going to be more difficult than originally envisaged, would it not be an idea to look into extending Firefox 2 as a parallel activity?

Well Analada glancing at your driver version 81.98 reminded me why I never used that driver version in the first place since it gives me protection errors on shutdown - so I never left it installed and stayed with v77.72, but for the 'heck of it' I installed 81.98 again this morning... and I almost fell out of my chair to see that Google Earth works fine everytime online or offline now... (protection error on shutdown is still there but I will deal with that issue later, maybe even try msfn's v82.69 driver) I guess before for me it was the GE program hanging up with my system rather than what it was doing as shown in my beginning screenshots showing it hanging on server login, and so naturally I stayed with that theory since that's what it showed - and because of that who would of thought it was anything else.. ..I'm glad on a whim I checked it out nevertheless. Thanks Analada for your reply.. Anyway, since I already had all my GE v4.0.2746 files in place on W98SE so I just transferred my 250MB of saved GE tours data file (dbCache.dat) and also the saved places (Myplaces.kml) files from my W2K install and so my GE on 9x is all up to date with my touring cache and ready to go. (I still don't think the new GE 4.1 series will work on 9x though) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now dtamonis explain again what your system setup is, and what your GE is doing, and exactly what any errors are. Hey, glad it worked out for you About your shut down problem. I found that it was to do with the Nvidia stuff, specifically Nvidia control panel and Nvidia nvsvc.exe. Both disabled using msconfig. I also found that "Restart in MS DOS Mode" gave a very good clean shutdown. (Strange but true).

Had very bad experience with this. Installed: Explor98.exe and rebooted. Then installed Kb838751.exe and rebooted. Got msvcrt.dll (IIRC) not found and windows needs reinstalling. Tried to boot into Safe Mode and got similar message. Ended up restoring from Ghost 2003 a July 4th backup. (Lost all config changes done since then.)

I always use google earth online. Have a GeForce 6200 (512MB). Works pretty consistently. Here's some data. Maybe it'll help... server: kh.google.com Google Earth 4.0.2742 Renderer OpenGL Video Driver: NVIDIA Corporation (00004.00014.00010.08198)

Has been updated June 12, 2007. SEE: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Yes, you can use different shells in win98Lite. I don't use that feature though. I'd really recommend trying this program out. The freeware version (trial version which after a while does not give you some of the advanced features) is excellent IMHO. I used sometimes to have problems with defrag, hated the active desktop feature of win98SE, and wanted permanently to get rid of Outlook Express and other M$ stuff. All these issues were resolved and/or enabled by using 98Lite. No need to reinstall win98SE if it's already installed. Just run 98Lite afterwards. Try it out from here: http://www.litepc.com/download.html

Works fine here. Thanks. (98SE2ME, win98 Lite)

Extract a cab file from your windows 98 CD in no time flat, simply by typing "cabx <filename>.<extension>". The full method is here: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc1/v6/vic6.htm If you don't want to read all the blurb. Copy and paste the following. Substitute your own cd/dvd drive letter and save as cabx.bat: @echo off REM *****MAKE SURE WIN98CD CD IS IN DRIVE G***** if "%1"=="" goto error CLS for %%i in (G:\Win98\*.CAB) do extract %%i %1 ECHO. IF EXIST %1 ECHO %1 successfully extracted. IF NOT EXIST %1 ECHO %1 not found goto end :error echo. echo Syntax: CabX file-to-extract echo Example: CabX Control.exe echo. :end This will also work for win95 or win ME. Just change win98 above into what is appropriate.

Thanks. I installed it by booting to DOS. Only thing is I cannot regsvr32 it. Get "Dllregister server entry point was not found" error message. Have you any idea what that means? TIA/

I'm talking of relative 'unsafes'. Compared to 98SE XP is relatively unsafe®. Hey, there's so many link to this aren't there? Just do a search. Here's one from the respected Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/19/in...d_in20_minutes/ Yes, and before you say that's out of date, google on "is XP susceptible to viruses". And did you listen to Steve Gibson's programs on this topic? Why would he say such a thing and not be sued if it were untrue?

Taking your points one at a time: <The Norton Ghost is not free, you know.> Agreed. Remember, though I'm not talking about the latest version but about Ghost 2003. Buy second-hand on ebay, or do a search. <Not every computer does have a DVD-RW device> How many don't? Back uo to a spare hard disk or even back up to flash memory stick. <The backup of the whole partition can take more than just one DVD> I'm talking about C:\ drive. Typically under 2GB for a win98SE installation plus some program files. If the user is putting all his data on to it as well as the OS, then that's bad practice. Use at least three partitions, with one for windows. My 1.8 GB C:\ partition backs up in under 9 minutes on to a slow DVD-RW. And -- Ghost 2003 spans multiple DVDs with ease. Or, as i said before, use a hard disk. <Restoration of the whole partition erases user data> Eh? Even if you just had a large C:\ partition with everything on it you wouldn't lose any data. I put all my data on E:\ partition. Never lost any data yet. It's a good idea to have data on a separate partition. Then when you buy a new PC you can simply move it across. <But can NG do it in automatic mode?> Not so far as I know. Placing a floppy (or bootable CD) in place every couple of weeks is no sweat (for me at least). THE main point about Ghost 2003 is that it is incredibly reliable. And Easy to Use. Here's a link for those who are interested in finding out more: just scan down to Ghost 2003: http://ghost.radified.com/

All you need is a floppy disk with Ghost 2003 executable on it. Back up your partition(s) up to a DVD, a separate hard disk, a USB memory stick or whatever. Then restore when needed. Flawless every time. (If you don't have a floppy drive put it on a bootable CD.)

While there's every reason to suppose that this is a correct observation on your part, let's focus in also on what "galahs" found. Contrast the situation with XP. No matter *how* careful you are with XP, without a firewall you will be infected within a couple of minutes. Think about this a bit further. Steve Gibson runs a highly respected security chat show (downloadable mp3) every week or so. Over the past two years there have been a number of XP security 'scares'. Ah, well, all to do with errors of course. These things, ... well ... they are just accidents right? As one famous remark has it, "You might say that. I couldn't possibly comment." But for those who are interested, here is the link and a quote from one of these shows: http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#99 "The Windows MetaFile Backdoor? "Leo and I carefully examine the operation of the recently patched Windows MetaFile vulnerability. I describe exactly how it works in an effort to explain why it doesn't have the feeling of another Microsoft "coding error". It has the feeling of something that Microsoft deliberately designed into Windows. Given the nature of what it is, this would make it a remote code execution "backdoor". We will likely never know if this was the case, but the forensic evidence appears to be quite compelling."

Great to hear ... but it does sound a bit like you have 'installed' Auto-Patcher but have you actually run the program? Sorry, i don't mean to offend by asking such an obvious question but there has been confusion in the past where some people thought that 'installing' AP meant that all the updates were performed as well. The other clue you gave me was the "Very slick and professional" quote --- i've heard lots of different comments about the fact the program is written in DOS and uses batch files but certainly not that! But thanks for the kind words anyhoo. Yes, installed AND run

Just installed it on a 98SE2ME/Win98Lite system. Install went really well. Very slick and professional. Great job! Thanks a lot!

Any process running in the background that writes to the hard drive can cause defrag to restart. You might like to try this (from MS Knowledge base): Clean Boot the Computer A "clean" boot is a method of reducing problems that may occur because of your computer's environment. Many problems that may occur when you run Windows or other programs can occur because there are conflicting drivers, terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs), or other settings that load when you start your computer. Windows Millennium Edition (Me) and Windows 98 include a System Configuration Utility tool (Msconfig.exe) to make performing a clean boot easier. To clean boot your computer: 1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Information. 2. On the Tools menu, click System Configuration Utility. 3. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then click to clear the following check boxes: • Process Config.sys File (if available) • Process Autoexec.bat File (if available) • Process Winstart.bat File (if available) • Process System.ini File • Process Win.ini File • Load Startup Group Items 4. Click OK, and then restart your computer when you are prompted. After your computer starts, run the Disk Defragmenter tool. After Disk Defragmenter finishes, start the System Configuration Utility tool again by repeating the above steps. In step 3, click Normal Startup on the General tab, and then click OK. Restart your computer when you are prompted to do so. Other things to try: 1. Apply one recommendation at a time and then try Defrag again to see if it helped. 2. Disable the screensaver, anti virus program and the DSL/Cable modem if any. 3. Delete the files in the Recycle Bin, the browser cache (Temporary Internet Files folder if using MSIE) and the Temp, History and Recent folders. Corrupt files can cause Defrag problems. 4. You may receive a notice indicating the drive was written to and caused Defrag to restart. This means some process is causing hard drive activity which interferes with Defrag. Reboot to safe mode and run Defrag from there or use EndItAll2, a free program which shuts down nearly all running programs except Explorer and Systray. (Google for it.) 5. It's possible corrupt files in the Cookies and Applog folders will cause Defrag problems. Since those files contain useful information, you can either move them to a partition other than the one being Defragged or to floppy disks. Once Defrag is complete, you can replace the files. If it appears either folder contains corrupt files, you will either have to try to determine which files are corrupt, delete all the files and let them rebuild as part of your normal operations or move the folders during the next Defrag session. If you run into problems deleting a file because it is corrupt, try deleting it from a DOS prompt. 6. There are plenty of MS Knowledge Base articles on Defrag features and problems: [NOTE some of these links may no longer work] W95/98 Error Message: DEFRAG0026 Make Sure Disk Is Formatted http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q155/4/04.asp W95/98 Error Message: DEFRAG005 (or DEFRAG006) Error Defragmenting Drive http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q160/0/43.asp W98 Determining the Programs Disk Defragmenter Optimizes http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q186/0/20.asp W98 Description of the Disk Defragmenter Tool http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q186/1/71.asp W98 Third-Party Tool Reports Fragmentation After Running Defrag.exe http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q186/8/84.asp W95/98 Drive's Contents Have Changed: Restarting http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q186/9/78.asp W98 Disk Defragmenter Hangs http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q218/1/60.asp W98 Correct Steps for Disabling Screen Saver During Defrag.exe http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q229/0/57.asp W95/98 Error Message: DEFRAG009 Computer Does Not Have Enough Free Memory http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q229/1/54.asp W98 Error Message: DEFRAG00205 Error Defragmenting Drive C http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q238/1/65.asp W95/98 Defragmenting the Windows Paging (Swap) File http://support.microsoft.com/suppor..s/q240/7/55.asp Personally I use win98lite (freeware). Never have any defrag problems since using it.

I had problems with Sun Java Environment 5 update 12. Caused a crash visiting a trusted site; Firefox 2.0.0.4 on win98SE (with 98SE2ME and many of the updates). Sun Java Environment 5 update 11 works fine though. Might be worth trying to verify if update 11 might not be preferable to include in your update pack.

The last working version for Win9X is Kerio Personal Firewall 4.1.3 2.1.5 gets thumbs up from me. Just make sure you configure it well. Poorly configured it will give a false sense of security. Well configured it's excellent. Some of the rule lists floating about aren't really that great. Suggest following (in this order): 1. First do *all* the blocks (block unwanted ports, Netbios, port 445, unwanted protocols, etc) 2. Port 53 remote. Allow *only* your ISP's DNS: Block all others 3. Allow only applications you want to access the internet (I permanently block Internet Explorer BTW) but only on ports they need 4. Finally (last rule) block all incoming stuff (all addresses, all ports). Make sure you do a good virus check before going online and before installing kerio.

I don't understand it either ;-) But it exists as a fact. Maybe it's graphics card (manufacture) related. This card is XFX6200.