Monroe

Ok ... yes jaclaz, just became aware of DVD Identifier in April ... I think it was mentioned by someone posting at Amazon on the Verbatim DVDs as to which were from factories in India and Thailand. I didn't have time to mention DVD Identifier earlier today. I also didn't have time to get into the Amazon brand DVDs and my experience with them. Last year, they were mostly under $18 all year till late in the year and so far in 2012 the price has been everywhere to as high as $30 / 100 but mostly around $25 ... in Feb (2012) the price dropped below $20 for a short time and I ordered 100 to try them. Most people said they were OK to very good for the price with very few coasters. With the Amazon brand DVDs I bought in Feb ... I found that to be true. I just used them up in the last two weeks and I think I only had one the was bad. In late April the price on the Amazon brand dropped below $22 and I ordered 200 since I had a good experience with the last order. Just started burning them in the last two weeks and my experience with this order is terrible ... just a few days ago, I had five in a row that wouldn't burn or had errors ... Out of about 50 used so far, I'd say about 20 may have been bad or did not finish a complete burn. Just yesterday, I noticed the Amazon brand was below $20 ... still is today when I discovered the Verbatim brand on sale. However, I noticed there were several customer postings over the last seven days complaining of bad burns and many coasters. Perhaps this batch of Amazon DVDs have a problem. I will not buy them anymore myself ... will use the Verbatim brand for now. Also, as someone posted about the Amazon brand ... the DVD is a little "thicker" than most other DVDs, so it might not work in all DVD players or need to be pushed down harder on a spindle to get it to set correctly. I found this to be true, they are somewhat thicker ... I noticed that Verbatim says this about their DVDs: AZO also offers high sensitivity for reliable high-speed recording and high reflectivity to eliminate read errors. The thinness of the recording layer is also critical. The thinner the layer, the higher the sensitivity and power margin; therefore, the better the DVD works for high-speed recording. ... so the Amazon brand DVDs are also on sale but for a little more in price, the Verbatims might be the better deal, if you need some DVDs. ...

Talking about DVDs and some of the better brands ... I am in no way an expert on the best DVDs to buy, just read what others have said or written through the years. I just noticed that Amazon has dropped the price on Verbatim 100 pack DVDs ... this is the Verbatim 95098 product ... Amazon sells another Verbatim DVD also ... Verbatim 97459. I have been trying to find out what the difference is for over an hour on Google and came up with very little information so far ... I have a lot more searching to do, just ran out of time for now. Anyway, I did find an article that isn't too old (Feb 2012) "The 5 Most-Talked-About Optical Discs" and it says this about Verbatium and the two different product numbers. http://www.pcmech.com/article/the-5-most-talked-about-optical-discs/ ... don't know if that link will work but it's correct ... "Aren’t all Verbatim 100-pack DVD+R spindles the same?" No, they’re not. There are many who very specifically seek out the 95098 spindle, meaning not the 97459 and not the 97460. Many people feel that the 95098 is the best DVD+R recordable Verbatim makes. And no there is no price difference between this particular spindle and others by Verbatim; it just happens to be that people like the 95098 the most. .... I did just buy the Verbatium 97459 product from Amazon in early May but the DVDs were listed as being made in Thailand and not India ... that seems to be another story and discussion, what country are the various Verbatium DVDs from. Anyway, the DVDs that were around $29 just yesterday are now $21.99 and they are identified as Verbatim 95098. Both products have the "AZO" dye layer. From the Manufacturer: The Verbatim AZO recording layer gives our DVD media the competitive advantage-the patented coating delivers protection that lasts generations and provides ultimate resistance to UV light damage. That's why Verbatim's been recognized as the No. 1 Optical Brand in the World*--we consistently provide optical media of the highest quality and compatibility. When drive manufacturers test their products for maximum performance, they use Verbatim--so why wouldn't you? Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM), Verbatim's parent company in Japan, brings extensive technological research and development to the table. Core technologies, like the AZO recording layer give Verbatim an offering like no other optical manufacturer. This unique and ultra-stable layer strongly resists UV light, withstands high laser and rotation speeds on newer drives and ensures compatibility with current DVD standards. Verbatim's AZO recording layer not only withstands the extremely high laser and rotation speeds of newer drives, it also maximizes their performance. Verbatim paid particular attention to the durability and light fastness of AZO; tests show that it is more stable than most recording dyes and the least affected by ultraviolet light. AZO also offers high sensitivity for reliable high-speed recording and high reflectivity to eliminate read errors. The thinness of the recording layer is also critical. The thinner the layer, the higher the sensitivity and power margin; therefore, the better the DVD works for high-speed recording. What does all this mean for you? Verbatim AZO technology translates into optical products that cost just a little more but are worth the slight difference. They are products you want-offering reliability, high read and write performance, high-quality photos and sound and superior archival protection that lasts. Features Warranty - Verbatim manufactures our DVDs to meet our strict quality standards. We stand behind the quality of our products-and our Limited Lifetime Warranty proves it! Compatibility - our online reviews say it for us; we make DVDs that work--no coasters! Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM), our parent company, has long-standing relationships with drive manufacturers who use our products to test their performance, making Verbatim DVDs the most compatible in the industry. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009YJXMS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER .... further down the page it go into detail about the AZO layer ... and comments from other buyers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .... as I said earlier, I only know what I read ... I did just order 200 of these Verbatim 95098 DVDs to test them and see how they will burn. I also have the other 97459 product. They are under $22 as I write this but the price could change anytime. Amazon is like that ... sometimes maybe a day or more or just a few hours till the price changes. If anyone has further knowledge of the various Verbatim DVD products ... like to hear about it. As I mentioned earlier, some have posted that Verbatim DVDs made in Thailand or Asia are better than the ones made in India ... but you don't really know, until you get the shipment, where they were made. Hope this might be somewhat helpful ... if the 95098 is the superior product then this is probably a good deal till the price goes back up in the US ... not sure about Amazon prices in other countries ... I sometimes shop and have ordered from other Amazon sites for hard to find DVDs (films) not for sale in the US but I didn't have time to check blank DVDs prices. ...

OK ... thanks for the screenshots ... I will be experimenting with DR shortly. Update ... OK not sure this is working ... followed all your directions and the old icon pattern (which I hadn't seen for a few days) made an appearance ... but it has not come back. However, I did "purposely" move a few icons out of order then rebooted the computer and the icons were still in that order when the computer fully booted ... they didn't change back to the way I want them ... In your earlier directions when you said "With desktop restore installed plain-vanilla" ... I took that to mean no check marks on the Custom Layout Save/Restore page but in your screen shot there is a check mark in the 2nd box down ... Force Unmatched Icons to be Visible on the Main Screen ... I didn't put any check marks in any of those three boxes but I was wondering if a check mark should be in the third box down : Display Only Custom Menu on Desktop? As you said "plain-vanilla" ... I just installed DR and did a "Save Desktop" and went from there ... everything was clear and went smooth. thanks ...

jaclaz ... you have the "links" to everything. I would have never guessed that someone actually did a study of putting CDs in the microwave. That icon was not a "laughing" icon ... it was meant to be a "state of shock" look. Anyway, I just bought 400 blank DVDs in the last month and then this discussion started about just how long Cds/DVDs will actually last. I've used various brands through the years but have tried to get Verbatum DVDs when I can at a reasonable price and Amazon dropped the price three times below $22 in late April and early May. They are supposed to have "long term" storage but who can say. I should be set for some time with my supply. ...

... 10 minutes in the microwave ! .... good to come back here every so often to get some humor ... the icon is perfect ! ... that would be me if I saw my DVDs in the microwave! ... I have never heard of the M-disk, interesting ... probably out of my price range, can't image anyone interested in Windows 98SE and XP software 100 years from now, but there still might be "one old geezer" around somewhere trying to get on the internet with 98SE or XP. ...

dencorso ... thanks for the "detailed" instructions for setting up Desktop Restore, that's what I needed ... never could have figured that all out. I will probably just continue to work with this program since you recommend it and everything stays in place once it's configured. These little XP "annoyances" are slowly going away, one by one. thanks ...

Thanks Geej for the information on DesktopOK ... I downloaded it and also your DesktopOK233_INF_Addon cab file. I will experiment with them this week-end. So far my desktop icons are holding in place ... they "flicker" a lot but are not shuffling around. The flickering is annoying at times and I will look into that later on to see if that is just a "normal" XP thing ... just happy the icons are staying place. Thanks for clearing that up about "F5" being a Windows Standard thing ... I only have three T series IBM notebooks at hand so I just wasn't sure about other computers. That DesktopOK program looks interesting ... good to have all these programs handy to get to in a hurry. I see it also works with Windows 98. thanks again for the input ...

Understand ... at your convenience and time. I have two computers that are OK, seem to be perfect for that final Ghost backup but the third is "one stubborn computer" ... the desktop icons refuse to stay in the order that I want them. I continue to hit "F5" and they continue to shuffle around. I have all three notbooks set up the same way ... same software, same everything. I will continue being stubborn also and keep putting the icons back to the way I want them ... hopefully the settings will finally "hold" in the next few days or so. ... human vs computer ! ... I 'm not even 100% sure the other two computers are good to go, they seem to be for now ... I hit "F5" and the icons don't shuffle around. I guess after a few weeks I will know better with those two. That "F5" is an IBM thing only for the desktop icon order, don't think that is a standard on all computers, not real sure. thanks ... OK, I just noticed what you did in bringing the "old and newer" threads together in dealing with this subject. I knew about the older thread but it was under "Windows 2000", if I remember correctly, ... and there was a newer one under Windows XP already started ... reading parts of the older thread brings back a few things I didn't completely understand ... working with the command-line version and getting everything fully correct. I will look that over again. Update ... seem to have the third Thinkpad holding the icon order. Worked with putting the icons back in order for about 45 minutes ... did a few reboots and the "F5" key no longer shuffles the icons around. I have "Display Only Custom Menu on Desktop" checked under "Custom Layout Save/Restore" in Desktop Restore 1.6.3. Again, time will tell if this will hold permanently on all three notebooks.

This question is for dencorso ... when I was playing around with XP last year I posted about Desktop icons not staying in place or rearranging at different times. You posted about midiox desktop restore (Desktop Icon Save and Restore 1.6.3) at that time and I went and downloaded it ... but I didn't seem to get it working right or something and got frustrated and just decided to stay with Windows 98SE. However, because of my WiFi problems occurring with these IBM Thinkpads, which is now a thing of the past with XP installed, I am staying the course this time with XP. As I said earlier, I have three Desktop icon restore programs on my machine, counting Desktop Restore 1.6.3 and they do the job when the icons shuffle around. I would like to know the settings that you use for Desktop Icon Restore 1.6.3 on your computers. When I read the information at the web page, I'm not sure if I am reading what I think I'm reading. Will the program automatically put the icons back in order "without" any input from me? In other wards, everytime the icons move, Desktop Icon Save and Restore will in a split second restore the icons on its own? Am I understanding this right? Here's what I have under "Custom Layout Save/Restore" ... I have my icon layout saved and then there are three boxes to check or leave unchecked at the bottom. I have the bottom line checked ... Display Only Custom Menu on Desktop and nothing else checked. Is this how you have your system set up? This looks like a very good program that should work but I may not have the settings just right. ... I said earlier that this question was for dencorso, since he recommends this program and uses it but input from anyone is also welcome. thanks ...

Thanks dencorso for doing the editing ... I don't mind at all, it looks a lot neater. I have that program also installed Desktop Restore 1.6.3 and I just noticed the TIP that the author provides at his site. TIP: Even with Desktop restore installed, does Windows seem to scramble your icons now every time you reboot, or press F5 to refresh? If so, after you restore your icons the way you want them, manually move one icon a space or two over and then move it back. After that Windows should remember their placement for a much longer time. ... after my last post and after two days of the Desktop Icons staying in place, they did shuffle around when I opened XMPlay and went to the Integration tab to set "Associated filetypes" of music to play ... as soon as I hit the Apply button ... the Desktop Icons shuffled to the old positions. I just now tried the author's tip of "manually move one icon a space or two over and then move it back ... that seems to be working ... when I hit F5 now the icons do no move but before every time I would hit F5, the icons would change position. Maybe this will work after all. I will keep "icon watch" for the next few weeks and have my fingers crossed. thanks ...

bphlpt ... after my last post I decided to go ahead and post everything I have on the subject ... I guess if the Mods decide it's OK or not OK, then they can remove my post. I don't see anything sinister about it, forum looks OK ... a person asked for help with Desktop Icons and this guy (securityguy14) comes along with a registry fix that seems to work for most people. He didn't give anyone credit so I give him the credit. It must have been his discovery or fix. I have posted the replies of thanks that came in after various people tried the fix. As I write this my Desktop Icons are still in place after a full two days. I sure hope this is a permanent fix ... like I said earlier, after a few weeks I will have a better feel for everything. How can I lock desktop icons? (at answers.microsoft.com)

I myself keep having my Desktop Icons shuffle around when I startup the computer or when I am on the computer and open or close a folder and they will suddenly move back to the layout that I don't want. I have three programs to restore the icons back to the order that I want ... mostly use one but the others are secondary backups, in case one fails. Anyway, having just switched over to XP Pro earlier this month (from 98SE) I have been getting everything to my liking for that "final" Ghost backup but my one problem has been the Desktop icons changing every so often ... so the other day I spent a few hours hunting around on Google for a possible registry fix for this problem. Finally as I was ready to give up, I came across this forum and a guy there had posted a registry fix and several people had said "it works" ... one person had 12 computers to look after and said it works. There were some that said it didn't work for them but they might not have did the registry fix correctly. I have three notebooks and have put this registry fix on two of them to try it out. Since I have applied the fix my Desktop Icons have not moved from the way that I want them to be on the desktop. It's only been (roughly) two days that I have been using the fix so I guess in a few weeks or a month I will know for sure if it's truly a fix. I can gather all the information and post it here for others to try out, if it is OK to do so. The guy that everybody is thanking will get the credit of course, but he seems to have disappeared from the forum ... made two or three postings and left. If dencorso or any moderator says it's OK to do so, then I will. I am just not sure, since it was on another forum. Like I said, so far it seems to be working ... since I have applied the registry patch/fix ... every time I have started my computers, the icons have not moved and when I'm on the computer for several hours, the icons are staying in place. So far, this is fantastic ... that icon thing has been driving me crazy. thanks ... ... just will add, I'm not sure if it will work for icon patterns all over the Desktop ... my icons are in two columns on the left side and staying in the order that I place them ... so far.

Just a few words on the subject ... having just recently made the decision to put XP on my computers, I continue to use K-Meleon 1.5.4 and 1.6.0 from my 98SE setup. Wasn't sure how the setup would work but am very happy with the speed and results so far. Was nothing to set up, just put the folders into Program Files ... also using Proxomitron with the same filter setup as in Windows 98SE. I will probably try a few other browsers out over the next few months, but no complaints so far with K-Meleon. ...

OK, you make good points but at present I am still opting for DVD storage. Having just changed my system to XP, I guess I can look into larger type hard drives. I can store the DVDs easier for now ... a good quality DVD may have a storage life of 80 to 100 yrs or so I have read ... obviously nobody has been around yet for that length of time to see if their DVDs are still OK. Thanks for the input ... I was also wondering if the floods in Thailand has something to do with the upward trend of blank DVD prices or maybe oil prices dealing with the plastic. thanks ...

Multibooter (or anyone also) ... have a question related to this discussion and long term storage. What brand DVDs do you use? I have also noticed the jump in blank DVD prices since last year. I was waiting for Amazon to drop their price on Verbatim 97459 4.7 GB DVD+R (100 Disc Spindle) ... some discussion there that Verbatim DVDs made in Thailand are superior to the ones made in India. Over the last month the price on these DVDs dropped below $22 but not for long ... usually less than a day or just for a few hours. They are usually priced at around $28 ... they also make a lower grade/priced brand I believe but the good ones are the ones that have Azo ("Advanced Azo" recording dye) on the outside wrapper. "Verbatim DVD+R offer 4.7GB or 120 Minutes of write-once storage capacity, superior recording quality, and compatibility with 1X to 16X DVD+R writers. Verbatim's 16X cutting edge technology allows users to record a complete 4.7GB/120Min disc in approximately 5 minutes. Recognized as the choice for professional users, Verbatim DVD+R offers the optimal "Advanced Azo" recording dye, which provides the highest level of read/write performance, reliability, and archival life." I ordered these (Verbatim 97459 4.7 GB) in Apr/May .... the DVDs with that number were made in Thailand. I guess that Taiyo Yuden DVDs are maybe the best but these seem to be close for long lasting storage DVDs. This was posted at Amazon about Verbatum DVDs made in India over Thailand or Asia .... "I've used to have good success over the years with Verbatim quality and they used to be worth the extra few dollars. Sadly this is no longer the case, you may need to look elsewhere, I am disappointed. This purchase from November 2010 shows the discs are now made in India, so even though they have the same product code as the ones that used to be made in Singapore or Taiwan, they are not up to the same standard." ... as I said earlier, the Verbatim 97459 DVDs that I got were made in Thailand. I had no idea when I placed the order where they were made until I received the shipment, first thing I looked for when I opened the box ... the "Azo" label and place of manufacture. Placed a second order after the price dropped again for part of a day a week or two later (below $22). Today, now they are $27.84 for 100 blanks. Anybody with DVD info or experience with a good brand, I'd like to hear what you recommend or use. I have 400 of these Verbatum DVDs since the price on blank DVDs has jumped since last year. thanks ...

Multibooter ... thanks for the USB info and mentioning Beyond Compare ... found some info on it, will spend more time later today checking it out. "1) Win98SE Explorer has serious issues. To copy, move or delete files I always use Beyond Compare, never Windows Explorer. 2) I always do file copying, moving or deleting under WinXP, very rarely under Win98. 3) Under WinXP I rarely use Windows Explorer, nearly always Beyond Compare for file operations 4) After copying files with Beyond Compare, I always make a binary compare with Beyond Compare of the source and the target." .... thanks for the tips ... also, shortly after I bought the Seagate drive I started reading about serious problems with Seagate USB hard drives ... making clicking noises and just complete failure. So far, since I just discovered that I am able to transfer files much faster with it (March) I have been using it quite a bit and so far all is well ... I have gone over the "half way" mark of having around 300 GB of stored info and all is OK so far. I remember people saying that problems started showing up after going past the 200 or 300 GB mark ... loud clicking noises, general failure and a few other things. Maybe these problems were more with the larger size drives, don't remember much talk about the 500 GB size. I wanted a USB drive with a power adapter and not USB power, Office Max had them on sale 3 yrs ago so I bought this Seagate model. I converted it from NTFS to FAT32 to use with Windows 98SE but it pretty much just sat around in the box till March when I discovered how much faster my files were transferring over using my 4 and 8 GB flash drives. So I have been using it fairly heavy and as I said, all seems to be OK ... maybe I got lucky on this particular model or shipment ... time will tell I guess ... most of the stuff I have on it now will be burned to DVDs shortly when I get the XP setup completely finished on all three IBM notebooks. Want to get all that out of the way and have a final Ghost backup on everything. dencorso ... appreciate the USB 3 info ... 3 to 7 seconds ... that's fast, so I guess I am just getting USB 2.0 transfer speeds but I am very happy with 25 seconds after having 4 minute transfers with the flash drives. You are the USB guy, one of your many "hats" you wear ... I will wait to hear more about this USB 3.0 from you, rloew, jaclaz or anyone with new information but I sure have no complaints with 25 seconds or just having faster transfer speeds. thanks ...

Well, I have a new observation to report about USB 2.0 speeds and that Seagate 500 GB USB drive. From my other post, I am in the process of updating my notebooks from Windows 98SE to Windows XP Pro. Earlier I made the discovery that I was getting fairly fast USB 2 transfer speeds with Windows 98SE and the Seagate USB hard drive. I was able to transfer a 700 MB file in about 45 seconds or so ... just today, using this Seagate drive with my newly installed XP setup, the same files are transferring at 25 seconds ... I am impressed at this faster transfer rate. I don't have access to Windows 7 ... I have to ask, does this transfer speed sound right, are others also seeing a fast transfer rate at times for files with a USB hard drive? dencorso, we aren't talking USB 3 type speeds with this one drive, are we? ... you have talked about USB 3 in an earlier post. What would be your or anyone's guess at how fast a 700 MB file would possibly transfer with USB 3? ... I transferred several different 700 MB files and the little box was always showing 25 seconds ...it was fast. thanks ...

Hi Multibooter ... "Cloning a HDD is so much faster than re-installing operating systems and applications on several computers. Also, to support 3 laptops with different configurations and installations is already quite some task. The comment at the bottom of posting #11 http://www.msfn.org/...post__p__997784 might be interesting. With your approach you may have to activate for example your virus scanning software several times." Yes, I have been working mainly on one computer ... getting everything just right and then doing a Ghost backup. I put that backup on the other two notebooks, since they are so close, it's like 99% OK but I have a driver or two to add ... like the T41 has a different modem than what the T42's have but that can be fixed in less than a minute. Actually all three notebooks have been "ready" for WiFi testing a few days ago but I didn't want to take three computers all at once to a WiFi spot ... just taking one at a time to test everything completely and then I do a new Ghost backup on each computer. I have been updating some of my software programs that were "Last Versions for Windows 98SE" but still have "newer" versions for Windows XP. Yes, I am pleased with the "transfer" from Windows 98SE to XP and then hope to look into a dual system or virtual system soon. Once I get the "final" Ghost backups made, then I will experiment. Thanks for your help ... I don't have a Router setup at present, that's another project for later. ...

Like where this post has gone over the last few days ... thought I would just make my announcement and fade away but a pretty "lively" discussion has been going on. It's just fine with me, learning more and getting some new ideas for Windows 98SE and XP ... maybe others are also. If the Moderators are OK with everything, so am I. Now to why I am posting .... Update: I fired up the T41 with XP complete ... this notebook has no internal WiFi adapter so I use a newer Netgear card with it. When I had Windows 98SE installed and the Netgear 98SE drivers the card would usually take 2 to 3 minutes to get connected and then sometimes the whole process would freeze up and I'd have to reboot, so it could be another 5 minutes (8 +/- minutes total) till I actually was online. Having XP installed with the Netgear drivers and I am up an running (online) in less that 30 seconds. It's totally amazing the difference in speed between 98SE and XP and no glitches. One more notebook to go, sometime next week ... the second T42 which is very much like the other T42 except this once is a little faster ... 1.6Ghz over 1.5Ghz but I don't foresee any problems since the drivers and setup are the same, so I probably won't post anything more on the subject. thanks ...

Just a quick update ... I took my 1st T42 notebook to the WiFi spot and it connected fast and perfect. This has XP now completely installed and many fixes ... It shows me all the available networks in the area. With Windows 98SE and the IBM drivers it never did this ... if it connected, I only saw numbers (no names) and really had no idea where I was connected. Working great at this moment so I guess XP will be staying on my notebooks ... those drivers were supposed to also work with 98SE or there were a few others just for Windows 98SE only but the WiFi just didn't work or look right. Well, this is a really huge development for me ... end of frustration, I hope unless XP has a surprise down the road. ...

jaclaz ... I knew you would show up with your "flame thrower"! Always nice for your input ... I have seen your input in several other forums when I'm searching on Google. I happen to also like the Find Files/Search on Windows 98SE, not crazy about the XP model but I found this web site with registry fixes, there are so many I have not been able to look at every one ... however they have a simple registry fix called : #49. Old Style Search Engine On or Off ... it takes the cartoon character away. These are all registry fixes for XP. Will take a chance and put the link here since Windows 98SE and XP and dual boots are being discussed. I found about five items so far but there are so many, I just haven't had time to check them all. There are two columns of fixes. Looks like over 800 registry fixes. Registry Edits for Windows XP http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm Multibooter ... yes I have all the manuals, got them right away when I bought the notebooks and I have downloaded videos to save from YouTube ... several on taking a Thinkpad model (my models T41 - T42) apart to replace a keyboard and such. thanks,

dencorso: "Download and save Virtual PC 2004 SP1, while it's still available. It's one of the real pearls MS offers for free!" ... thanks again, just finished downloading Virtual PC. Can't wait to try that out.

Multibooter ... man thanks a lot for taking the time to type all that information in your post. Some very interesting stuff you posted plus many ideas on using the two OSs together. As soon as I can get this WiFI thing resolved and get some more XP settings in place, I will take one of those notebooks and start to experiment. All three hard drives have been changed to NTFS ... so I can then partition maybe 20 or 40 GB back to FAT32 to put Windows 98SE back on. The security thing with XP does worry me a little, I did feel more secure with Windows 98SE. I am using the same older ZoneAlarm version on XP that I was using with Windows 98SE. Just a simple firewall and no bloat that came in later versions. I have a simple question for anyone using Ghost to do an image backup ... when you have 2 different partitions on a hard drive ... one NTFS and one FAT32 does Ghost just copy the whole hard drive image on one DVD or do you have to run Ghost separate for each partition (NTFS and FAT32)? Lots of things to figure out on this dual boot setup. Again, I appreciate and probably others do also, all the information in your post. I would never have posted this "farewell" message if the WiFi worked on these Thinkpads. I can live with some shortcomings from Windows 98SE but I really want that WiFi to work most of the time. There is one "radical"solution that someone posted on another forum ... open up the notebook and permanently disable or remove the WiFI adapter and use my Netgear card. I really like the Netgear WiFi card better anyway ... seems to pick up more stronger signals since it is on the outside of the notebook ... but I want to try everything else first, including XP fully before I open up the notebook for WiFi removal surgery. thanks,

Hi Fredledingue ... well the "flame war" over XP and Windows 98SE is probably pretty much in the past since these two OSs are now sharing the same fate ... but I remember years back when someone using XP would drop into this forum and start an argument over the "best" operating system and one of the Moderators would have to get involved. As to buying a new Windows 7 computer ... yes, I could do that but I seem to like Windows XP for now. I think I will have a very good setup on all three of my Thinkpads once I get everything finally to my liking and they will still have some "Windows 98SE" nostalgia to them. I plan on still being around, just not active with very many questions unless the "dual boot" or "virtual machine" doesn't go as planned but there is plenty of information on all that at MSFN ... just have to dig it out. Also, if I stumble across some nice Windows 98SE software, I'll be posting. thanks ...

Thanks Guys for the replies ... the one thing I didn't want to happen was to start a "shooting war" between Windows 98SE and XP ... and that's not happening. So I decided to make my earlier post. Yes, I realize I could maybe pick up a few older computers but I made my decision in 2009 to buy these Thinkpad T series notebooks, bought my third one last October (2011). I spent a lot of money on them since ... additional memory on two of them, three DVD burners and larger Hard Drives for all three. As I said earlier, these IBM notebooks were bought to put Windows 98SE on and also because they had USB 2.0 ports ... my older Dell Latitude has the older USB port. It was a lot of fun converting these Thinkpads over to Windows 98SE and I always had fun looking at someone's facial expressions when I tell them I'm still using Windows 98SE in today's world ... but then I explain about the MSFN group and how people from all around the world have helped keep Windows 98SE going strong into 2011 / 2012. I tell them that it's actually better now than when MS left it go some years back. I have new chances and challenges with XP to explore and once I get all my settings fixed and Ghost backups made then I want to try out having Windows 98SE and XP on the same computer ... and hunt around for older software for XP and probably 98SE also. In 2005/2006 I started to hunt around for everything I could find for Windows 98SE and burn everything to CDs/DVDs since Windows 98SE software links were starting to disappear. I will probably do that now with XP while the software links are still good and working. Like I also said earlier, the age thing has something to do with my decision also ... just want something more stable and less problems to deal with when I turn the computer on. Finding little XP fixes and settings here and there ... I knew the day would come and eventually I would move on to XP. I have no plans for anything newer ... I think XP will do me just fine for the future, along with firing up the old Dell Windows 98SE computer every now and then. As these two old Operating Systems fade further into history, it's nice to know they are still very usable in 2012. ... just to add ... dencorso, that's also my interest of trying Windows 98SE in a Virtual Machine setup. I don't know much about doing it for now but that will be a future project. .