chromatic47

I use the classic installer because it doesn't clutter up up the registry after MSI runs (and installs itself first). If I ever have to use MSI to get a program on board, I roll back the registry afterward to a clean backup made just prior, and then remove all new MSI files and folders. Never have cared for stuff installing itself without my permission. B)

Just upgraded from Opera 9.27 to 10.01 and man, this version flies. Seems like they were getting slower and slower since 8.54, but finally ... some joy. This is on a 98 Lited Win98se, 2 gHz cpu and 1 gb RAM.

Yep the 60 second limitation is a barrier; it's only good for short clips. For longer basic recording I'd second the opinions here about Audacity, it's relatively simple to use. For the mic mixing you could always pick up a small submixer at e.g. Radio Shack; I have one and it does a fine job with voice recordings.

If I am picturing your setup correctly, it sounds like the native Win98 sound recorder would work fine for straightforward voice recording. You'd need two mic inputs on the sound card, or a mixer before the sound card to sum the two mics. The windows recorder is fairly simple; set up the windows mixer beforehand to get the correct levels, then when it's time to record, click a button and go.

I had exactly the same problem with Firefox 2, was getting the same error message. FF would still run, but with no access to secure sites. This was in Win98se with IE completely removed. I cured it by enabling MS Cryptography in Windows Setup (Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Windows Setup). This installed RSABASE.DLL in windows/system, and created the following reg key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Machine Settings] "CatRoot"="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM\\CatRoot\\" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults\Provider] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults\Provider\Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider v1.0] "Image Path"="rsabase.dll" "Type"=dword:00000001 "Signature"=hex: (a long string of hex data here) [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults\Provider Types] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults\Provider Types\Type 001] "Name"="Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider v1.0" No more complaints from FF, and now full functionality. Maybe this is related to your issue.

BogdanV, thanks, it's Win95a and pretty much just the essentials, with no traces of IE remaining except for fully updated library files, comctrl32.dll, etc. On your advice I disabled the unused ports in BIOS and that did free up a couple of IRQs for more toys. Also I removed the network drivers. After this I think the OS is about as lean as I can get it, but I'm still wondering about all those vxds I see loading in bootlog. Could be they are all necessary, but with Windows who knows. Probably not too much memory gain available there though. pointertovoid, a CF solution is an interesting idea and I will check that out. The paging file isn't really my concern as I have fast enough hard drives, and it rarely swaps out anyway. But I do want somewhere bigger, off-disk, to house the audio "temp" file, which CoolEdit plays from, and which is constantly accessed. A fast CF might be up to it. Thanks for the tip!

This is for a Win95 machine dedicated solely to audio and midi recording, running on a Socket 7 motherboard with P233mmx processor. The main reason I have not upgraded the motherboard is that it has 3 ISA slots, and ISA is required by an indispensable synth card (Roland RAP-10). I am aware that there are USB-to-ISA solutions, but might as well build a whole new dedicated machine if I go that route. Bottom line, no upgrades needed in near future. Win95 likes the chipset, it is rock solid stable and plenty fast enough for audio recording even at 96kHz 48 bit. Now to my question: This motherboard is effectively limited to 128 mb RAM. For my purposes I need to utilize every available byte for the audio temp file, which I keep in RAM. Windows presently boots with 111 mb free. VCACHE is fixed at 4 mb. I have done the usual things to maximize startup available memory -- minimal background apps, minimal fonts folder, no desktop wallpaper. But are there possible unneeded device drivers, dlls or other resource users loading that I can eliminate? How can I detect, how can I squash? Any advice on this much appreciated.

Thanks Dencorso. Lacking the patience for thorough testing I guess I'll just experiment with different chunksize on large files and see if there's any subjective difference. For now it looks like 512 is as good as any.

Any recommendations for a best-performing chunksize for a P4 2gHz machine with 512mb memory? Primary use of this system is for image editing, with files in the 5 to 10 mb range. Current chunksize is 512. And in general, is it logical to increase chunksize as average working file size increases? e.g. if I start editing 100mb files, is it advisable to go from 512 to say 2048.

Thanks for the tip. Now using Bon Echo 2.0.0.22pre with no problems. This version is noticeably faster than last official release.

Hopefully not a redundant suggestion -- is there anything in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices that might be responsible, if so maybe try disable it .. I would check.

Thanks Queue. Amazing that I searched google every which way I can think of, and come up with zilch, I mean zero, then ask in MSFN and voila! I'll report back when I fix this.

System: Win98se, nvidia v77.72 driver with dual monitors set up like so: [1] [2] Per Win98 default, the taskbar is on screen[1]. The problem is that the docked edge of the taskbar is always visible on screen[2] as a 1 pixel line. Example, when the taskbar is docked to the right side of screen[1], a pixel-wide slice of it also appears along the left side of screen[2]. Similarly if docked at the top or bottom, one end of the taskbar "bleeds" onto the secondary display at the adjoining edge, as a 1 pixel line the height of the taskbar. This also happens when the configuration is reversed: [2] [1] but in that case the left edge of the taskbar bleeds onto the right side of screen[2]. Anybody else have this? I'm wondering if Win98 has a slight one-pixel problem calculating screen positions, and/or if there is a way to fix the apparent offset.

I can vouch for nvidia GeForce FX 5200, an older AGP card circa 2003 which can still be bought new for cheap. They come in different versions. Mine is from EVGA, 128mb, has DVI, D-SUB and composite video outs and is passively cooled. Gaming performance aside (unneeded on this system), this card is working flawlessly for internet, Photoshop, etc. and for YouTube and other streaming video in full screen mode. It's feeding dual widescreen monitors at 1680x1050 without a problem. Might be worth looking at.

If this is happening only to/from one server I would suspect a bottleneck at the server end, assuming that no changes have been made to the system and that HTTP transfers remain normal (only FTP is affected).

Ah so. Thanks!

Possible especially if one of the cryptic names is 9 digits long.

I must have got lucky with the FX5200 then. Weird that later cards might not accept the INF mod. At any rate I am running dual widescreen monitors LG227wtg and NEC 20WMGX2, and the NEC is on DVI. No problems except Windows 98 stubborn insistence on rounding resolutions down to a multiple of 8 when using Dualview.

Since changing to widescreen resolution I have done various things to make the screen legible again -- switched to 120 dpi (large fonts), increased various UI element sizes -- and everything looks pretty good except for several programs such as Calculator, ScanDisk, WinIpConfig etc. which all still have 8 point MS Sans Serif hardcoded in their dialogs. 8 point is reeeeeally tiny at 1680x1050. Luckily I discovered Resource Hacker and have now created my own versions of the above programs which have nice 10 point Arial Bold in their dialogs. The squinting has stopped. But, just curious, is this kind of modification legal? e.g., can I give large-font versions to vision-impaired friends as gifts?

I am right now running the v77.72 driver and have available widescreen 1680x1050, 1440x900 and 1280x800. You just need to add the desired resolution(s) to NVAGP.INF and reinstall. Or alternately, add them also to the registry and no need for reinstall, just reboot. The added lines for NVAGP.INF for 1440x900 and 1680x1050 are: HKR,"MODES\8\1440,900",,,"60" HKR,"MODES\8\1440,900",ModeRefreshRateList,,"60" HKR,"MODES\8\1680,1050",,,"60" HKR,"MODES\8\1680,1050",ModeRefreshRateList,,"60" HKR,"MODES\32\1440,900",,,"60" HKR,"MODES\32\1440,900",ModeRefreshRateList,,"60" HKR,"MODES\32\1680,1050",,,"60" HKR,"MODES\32\1680,1050",ModeRefreshRateList,,"60" For my FX 5200 these entries are in the [NV30Modes.AddReg] section. You'll need to check for the correct section for your card. You can add other refresh rates per your monitor specs. Also note that I only added modes for 8 bit and 32 bit color. If you plan on ever using 16 bit then you'd need to modify the 16 bit list as well. In the registry, you can add the resolutions and refresh rates under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Display\0000\MODES\32 (and \8 or \16). Look at the existing keys and use the same format for the new keys. HTH! Widescreen is well worth it.

This logic sounds right. Such a key, and/or its values could only function as input data if the seeking application already knew what to look for. Which points to the key being tied to either a specific installation or a specific license.

For what it's worth, my system has in common with the above: - 98lite - IE and other M$ software removed - no usey Windows Update - Firefox (through v.2) with noscript - internet secure

In case this relates to that possibility -- the key names posted here are all 9 characters long, with 4 data values each. It would be rather a highly visible way to hide an encrypted string within the registry. I mean, there's less obvious ways to do it. Especially having only 4 characters, it seems possible that this data was meant to be written to, not just read. I just tried substituting a different key, rebooted etc, but nothing happened. (well..... so far .......

Well I deleted that key and Windows boots/runs with no complaints. The registration info is unchanged in CP. I'm going to merge it back in there though, as who knows if it will apply later on for some process.