Monroe

Vince ... just watched your videos ... very nice presentation, wish I would have had these when I first got into computers and Windows 98SE. ... thanks for the great effort !

Good information about a possible virus residing on the flash drive. I did see on Google that some message boards brought the virus possibility up also ... but then the person said they ran a virus check and nothing turned up, just that the Recycle Bin was eating of a lot of flash drive space. I ran a virus check on my computer (negative) but not on the flash drive, stupid on my part, wasn't thinking it might be a virus on the drive. If the "hidden" Recycle Bin does show up again, I will give the flash drive a quick scan. It does seem suspicious that the "hidden" Recycle Bin was holding over a GB of something. This is probably understood by most of you who are more into the real inside workings of an OS. I just don't understand how a GB of "something could be completely invisible. I had the setting set to "unhide" all hidden items ... so that is one level down, now is there also another level of "more hidden items" in an OS? I deleted everything off that drive eventually and only that hidden Recycle Bin was left still showing over a GB of space being used ... there wasn't anything visible in that folder. A reformat did wipe the drive clean and I got all the space back on the drive. Unless that was a "program" called Recycle Bin that was over a GB in size. Well, I just noticed all this yesterday when I tried to put a few items on the drive and it said the drive was full, when it shouldn't have been. I was wondering if anyone here also had a "hidden" Recycle Bin showing up on any of their drives. I will be on the watch from now on for any strange stuff showing up on my flash drives. M()zart ... in answer to your question about a "Hidden" autorun.inf" also on the drive ... there was something else there but I don't remember exactly what it was. I was able to delete it, just couldn't delete the "hidden" Recycle Bin folder. ...

PROBLEMCHYLD ... I mentioned iBin earlier. I wasn't able to actually delete the "hidden" Recycle Bin but then I installed the iBin program and I was able to get rid of the Recycle Bin on the flash drive. In case anyone might want to work with this program, I will post a link. It might have some advantageous in keeping "invisible" deleted files from filling up a flash drive. I haven't worked with it enough to know. When I reformatted the flash drives, everything was wiped off the drive. iBin v2.9 http://www.autohotkey.net/~FirstToyLab/project_iBin_download.htm iBin Adds a Recycle Bin to Your Flash Drives iBin is a small—700k—stand-alone portable application. Place it on your flash drive and run it to create the iBin folder that will be your portable recycle bin. If you have a large flash drive with a lot of files we'd suggest running it for the first time when you're not going anywhere. iBin indexes the entire drive to build a list of files it should protect and send to the recycle bin, it took about 10 minutes for the initial index of a 4GB drive at around 95% capacity with small documents and images. Once iBin has finished the initial drive index it's quite snappy. It comes with a well written manual, but if you skip reading it at least note that in order to delete a file from the flash drive while iBin is running you'll need to hit WIN+DEL not just the delete key—iBin intercepts the standard delete if it is performed on a file it has indexed. All files you delete with iBin end up in X:\iBin\ where X is the letter of your flash drive. In the Custom Options menu of iBin you can specify what happens on deletion, how files are restored, how big the recycle bin should be, and if iBin should auto-clean the recycle bin. iBin is freeware, Windows only. ...

Thanks rloew for the information. I will keep an eye on those two flash drives as I use them to see if the "hidden" Recycle Bin folder shows up again. It wouldn't too bad of a problem if the Recycle Bin wasn't filled with over a GB of invisible something eating up flash drive space. I was reading about others getting the message that their flash drive was "full" when there should have been plenty of room for additional items to be added. It was the "hidden" Recycle Bin holding deleted invisible files.

Ok, I just discovered something today on one of my flash drives and I have some questions. Several years ago I bought two 4 GB Kingston DataTraveler flash drives or memory sticks. I only had Windows 98SE installed on my computers at the time. One of the flash drives has had this "hidden" Recycle Bin folder on it for some time but I am not sure when it first showed up on that drive ... the other drive, which is identical, does not have a "hidden" Recycle Bin on it. The flash drive with the "hidden" Recycle Bin is used almost daily but the other is not used very often ... mostly have it as a spare flash drive. What I discovered today is that the drive with the "hidden" Recycle Bin was nearly full but looking at the items that I have on the flash drive ... I figured that all those items in no way totaled 4 GB so I checked the "hidden" Recycle Bin, which was empty, nothing visible inside it but when I right clicked on it to check Properties, it was showing over 1 GB of something in there. My Recycle Bin on my Desktop was empty. I searched around on Google and found others also having this same problem but with newer OSs like XP and maybe Vista. Some suggestions were to just reformat the flash drive but I had some things that I wanted to keep on the flash drive. Was only going to reformat as a last resort. I did learn about a program called iBin v2.9 (iBin is a portable recycle bin for USB flash drives.) I installed that program and was able to finally get rid of the "hidden" Recycle Bin and then I decided to move the items I wanted completely off the flash drive and do a reformat of the drive anyway. I put those items back on the flash drive and have no "hidden" Recycle Bin showing. Just curious if anyone can explain how I probably got this "hidden" Recycle Bin on this flash drive in the first place ... since it isn't on the other identical 4 GB flash drive. I checked all my other flash drives, all were OK except for one Memorex 512 MB flash drive which also had the "hidden" Recycle Bin ... this 512 MB flash drive is used every day. These two flash drives (with the "hidden" Recycle Bin folder) are mostly connected to my Win 98SE computers but I have connected them both to XP machines occasionally. Could being connected to an XP machine have put this "hidden" Recycle Bin on my flash drives? I'm sure some of my other flash drives have been connected to an XP machine occasionally and they have no "hidden" Recycle Bin folders on them. I don't want any Recycle Bin folders on my flash drives so I'd like to know how all this happened in the first place ... also, why (where) was there over a GB of "something" in the Recycle Bin of the 4 GB flash drive but there was nothing showing in the Recycle Bin ... it was empty so I couldn't actually see what was in it that totaled over a GB. If anyone understands what I'm talking about, what caused it and how can I prevent any "hidden" Recycle Bins from ever showing up again in the future. ... thanks,

EnTech Taiwan has this little free utility called ResMan for Windows 98SE. Maybe it could be of some help. http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/legacy.shtm ResMan integrates a resource monitor, process manager and memory recovery into a single little utility (124 kb) that resides in the system tray. ResMan will require the Microsoft libraries in this 16kb archive if they aren't already installed in your system directory. (Windows 95/98/Me only)

A few days ago I mentioned about Stinger being updated ... for a quick check of some viruses on a computer. There is also another free virus/spyware checker that I used to also use on my computer a few years back. It's called Multi Virus Cleaner but it hadn't been updated since 2009 when I last checked ... decided to check it out again today ... discovered that it has been updated to 2011. It is still "free" and I just ran it on Windows 98SE and had no problems. I decided to post information about it here. In the past, Stinger always seem to be updated more often than Multi Virus Cleaner but it's a nice quick check program also. Maybe it will be updated more often in the future. Multi Virus Cleaner 2011 v11.5.2 - (May 13th, 2011) http://www.viruskeeper.com/us/mvc.htm Multi Virus Cleaner 2011 (MVC) : detects and removes major viruses and spyware. Multi Virus Cleaner is a free, stand-alone utility used to detect and remove major viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when cleaning infected systems. Multi Virus Cleaner is regularly updated and can detect over 14,500 common viruses, worms, trojans and spyware (including all variants of the Sober, MyDoom and Bagle viruses). The program boasts a fast, user-friendly scanner that requires minimal processing power and is an excellent choice for repairing a compromised system. The new 2011 version also detects and removes major spyware. ...

New Stinger version update released on June 30th ... still seems to work OK on Windows 98SE. Stinger v10.2.0.146 (June 30, 2011) http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/how-to-use-stinger.aspx Download: http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/stinger.aspx ...

Hi all ... I don't always read all my e-mails till they are a little "old" ... just read this one today dated April 25th ... about Karen Kenworthy passing away on April 12, 2011. Perhaps many of you received her newsletter - Karen's Power Tools Newsletter ... or used some of her software programs. I have used several myself through the years. I didn't see any mention of her passing anywhere and many of her programs did work with Windows 98SE ... I thought I would make mention of her passing and provide the e-mail that I received on April 25th ... I was shocked to read it and sorry I didn't read it sooner. Dear Friends, I suspect that many of you have noticed that the last issue of Karen©s Power Tools Newsletter was dated March 17, 2010, and you may have been anxiously awaiting another. It is with great sadness that I write to tell you of Karen©s death on April 12, 2011, after a long struggle with several debilitations, including diabetes. I know that Karen touched many of you with her kindness, wit, creativity and encouragement. She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend. And she was a pretty darned good programmer, too. We are deeply grieving her loss. For now, Karen©s server is still running, the programs she has written can still be downloaded, and donations can still be made through the website. We are also working to fill all CD orders that have been submitted or mailed. It is difficult to make business decisions while grieving. So, at this point, I cannot say what will be the future of KarenWare.com, except to say that we will certainly continue Karen©s commitment to safeguard your privacy as shown at the Privacy link of KarenWare.com. Many of you have already written many kinds words of condolence and comfort. Please know that we greatly appreciate you. If you care to make a contribution in her honor, she was a long-time supporter of The Dohnavur Fellowship, a special children©s ministry in southern India. You can learn more about them at www.DohnavurFellowship.org. All we ask is that you remember her whenever you take the case off of your computer, contemplate removing entries from your Windows Registry, listen to Bob Wills or Riders in the Sky, or wave and say ©Hi!© to anyone on the ©net. May God richly bless you, as He has all those who knew Karen. Bill Kenworthy Karen©s brother -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .... Here's a link to her site with her software programs, in case some might want to check her programs out. Really hate to see computer smart people pass away. The e-mail says her software programs are still available for now. RIP ... Karen Kenworthy (2011) Welcome to Karen Kenworthy's web site. Karen is the author of the popular Power Tools, free programs that make life with Windows a lot easier. Karen also writes a free e-mail newsletter. In it she discusses her new programs, answers reader questions, and explains technical details in a way that anyone can understand. News! The latest edition of Karen's Power Tools newsletter is now online! Read about Daylight Saving Time, time zones, and how to teach an old version of Windows how to live with new Daylight Saving Time rules! If you've subscribed, your copy should be arriving via e-mail soon. If you're not a subscriber, why not sign up now? It's free! http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp

I never noticed any problems with Stinger on any of my computers. I don't have any other McAfee products on my computer however ... so I don't know. I've always kept the latest update version handy ... "just in case" ! ... I was glad to see it still works with Windows 98.

New version of Stinger released on May 19th ... still works on Windows 98SE. Nice little virus "quick check" program to have on hand, if you don't keep a regular virus detection program on your computer. http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/how-to-use-stinger.aspx McAfee Labs Stinger Build Number: 10.1.0.1601 Build Date: 19-May-2011 Stinger is a standalone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system. Stinger utilizes next-generation scan engine technology, including process scanning, digitally signed .DAT files, and scan performance optimizations. It detects and removes threats identified under the "List Viruses" icon in the Stinger application. There is a note for Windows ME/XP/Vista users to read this first. It's instructions on how to disable system restore. ......

Thanks AA ... nice effort and some interesting software I wasn't aware of.

Hi Systemchris ... I have a 10 yr old NEC notebook and a 12 yr old Toshiba Satellite notebook .... both have Windows 98SE on them. Maybe this site will be of some help to you, just found it searching around. The Ultimate Unofficial 486 Toshiba FAQ http://www.bitlink.ca/Library/toshiba.shtml * just a small update to my earlier posting ... NEC notebook is a P3 - 750 mhz (32MB upgraded to 512MB) - 40GB HD Toshiba Satellite is a Pentium MMX - 300 mhz (32MB upgraded to 96MB ... highest I could go) I am not familiar with the 486 line, so the others posting here will certainly be of more help. ...

Agree with glocK_94 ... an impressive list. I have tried some of them before ... Replicator, BackUp4all (last free version) and some others ... still working with AceBackup and EZBack-it-up. You didn't mention which one(s) you liked in the end ... so the big question, which program, if any, did you decide to keep on your computer? I thank you again for the list, it will probably be helpful to others also ... I was wondering what I was going to be doing this summer ! ... I guess trying out backup software !!!

I appreciate the feedback on my Windows backup post. I guess I should have put the word "data" with backup, which I have now added. I will probably just keep using Ghost for a complete "image" backup, since I know how to use it and it works 100% of the time for me. I was just interested in learning what other "data backup" programs might be out there to check out. I also made a discovery yesterday after my original post. I have the Nero 6 package installed and forgot that it also has a complete backup program (Nero BackItUp) ... never used it but I remembered later that it was on the computer. I am also going to check out Samedir v3.9.7 mentioned by jaclaz and SyncBack. v3.2.18 mentioned by risk_reversal. The Nero backup program might be just what I'm looking for and it's already installed. Thanks again for the input ...

OK ... I use Ghost for a complete backup of all my computers but I have been thinking I would like to get a good data backup program to keep from having to use my Ghost backup all the time ... unless there is no other option and the hard drive is beyond repair. I did once use the Windows 98 backup program but it doesn't backup to CDs or DVDs unless someone was able to work on that and update that backup program ... I have searched on Google and have not found any information anywhere concerning Windows 98SE and if someone might have updated the Backup program to now work with CDs or DVDs. I want to use RW DVDs ... Just today I found this article written from last November (2010) dealing with 20 free Windows backup programs. Not all work with Windows 98 but some still do. I particularly like the one called AceBackup ... haven't had a chance to try it out yet but it may be what I am looking for ... another is EZBack-it-up which is also listed as still working with Windows 98 ... but AceBackup is more recently updated ... April 2009. I just thought I would ask what others here at this forum might like or be using with Windows 98SE? Haven't used one of these programs for several years and I thought about it yesterday that maybe I should search around and see what is still out there for Windows 98SE. If anyone knows if the backup program that comes with Windows 98SE has been updated to work with CDs / DVDs, let me know ... perhaps someone took this on as a project. 20 Most Reliable Windows Backup Programs For Free .... http://savedelete.com/20-most-reliable-windows-backup-programs-for-free-download.html AceBackup is a powerful tool to create completely secure backups of your data. Store your data on any local storage device, on CD, DVD or on your remote FTP server! A special advantage of AceBackup is the possibility to backup single files and groups of files, for example for important or confidential documents. The program can also store different versions of your files. This can be useful if you would like to restore a certain version of your file at a later date. System requirements AceBackup 3 * Operating system: Windows® 98 or later (XP, Vista etc) or Windows NT® 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later. * 400 MHz Intel Pentium II processor or later * 512 MB RAM or more * 15 MB of free hard disk space ... thanks

OK ... thanks for the information. I knew a lot of people considered it "bloat" from discussions in the Windows 9x forum ... I never installed it fully on my 98SE machines ... just the 1.1 version. The "Silverlight" thing is new to me ... when I went to the IRS web site to see about doing my taxes for free ... they said I couldn't proceed since I didn't have "Silverlight" installed on my computer. That surprised me a little. I was using a "User Agent" to get over the Windows 98SE check but Silverlight did me in !

OK ... thanks for the information ... I kinda found the same stuff when I went into Google. I saw where all the links were removed from MSFN ... just decided to pass on it for now.

Thanks for the reply ... sorry to hear about Gurgelmeyer. It really seems like a nice project he had going. I am not familiar with the HFSLIP project (HotFix SLIPstreamer). I guess something for Windows 2K ? ... I will research it all out unless you can add a few things about the project as it pertains to Windows 2000 or any other OS. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Just would like to know the Pros and Cons of installing .NET Framework v1 and v2.0 in Windows 2000. Is it recommended? ... and also, what about MS Silverlight ? Any information about putting these two items on a Windows 2K computer would be appreciated. .... thanks

thanks ... well a small update to post ... I was fooling around with the Administrator rights yesterday and I seemed to have lost the Administrator rights for good and most of my Desktop icons ... I was thinking the problem was in there (possibly) after reading a few things in some other older forums. I lost about 2 days of work ... installs and fixes ... and I only have about 4 Desktop icons left now, when I had about 16 before ... but I have a good Ghost backup from last Friday, so not everything is lost ... just the Saturday and Sunday stuff, which was a fair amount. I want to see if I can fix the Administrator thing first before doing the Ghost backup. However, in my searching around I came across a software program that someone wrote for a person that was also having the the Desktop icon problem. It's called Desklock and I haven't tried it yet ... want to experiment with it ... but it looks real interesting. ------------------------------------------------------- Use DeskLock To Lock Your Desktop Icons You must have wondered some time or the other about how to fix the position of your desktop icons. You arrange them spending an hour only to find that they are all “re-arranged” after you play a game. Annoying, isn’t it? Well, DeskLock has come to the rescue. You can use this small utility to lock the desktop icons at their place. You won’t be able to move any icon now. All the icons are now locked at their specified positions. If you want to disable DeskLock, simply double click on its icon in the system tray or notification area. Enjoy! http://www.hacktrix.com/use-desklock-to-lock-your-desktop-icons ----------------------------------------------------------- The guy was asking for help with this problem and someone at the forum made this little program ... he updated it twice to version 1.2 and disappeared. I am not sure what version this download is ... 1.0 ... 1.1 or 1.2 since I haven't worked with it yet. The guy was very happy with the program however, stopped his icons from moving around and the developer made a few changes and moved on ... I think the forum was from 2006. I also think the guy had the icon problem on Windows 2000 Pro so it should work ... I can't find the forum I was reading yesterday. So this might be the way to go ... I also found two other programs that are suppose to "lock" the Desktop icons in place ... the downloads are on another computer so I don't have that information at hand right now. ... thanks ... this download says version 1.2 ... DeskLock 1.2 June 8th, 2006 Freeware - Windows ALL 197 KB Skrommel (That's the guy that was posting in the forum) A small software application that doesn't allow you to move desktop icons. This small utility prevents the moving of desktop icons. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Other-Desktop-Enhancements/DeskLock.shtml ----------------------------------- Update ... well, I have several good Ghost backups in 3 stages with most everything installed and my icons are not acting up. Everything staying in the order that I placed them ... both Desktop and Quick Launch. I have no clue as to why there are no problems at this time ... I did install DeskLock and tried it but I decided to not run it for now ... perhaps it is still running somehow in the background ... so for now, I can install some larger items and see if my luck holds ... with the backups available for any screwups.

Thanks for the reply ... well, the Quick Launch icons seems to have been "fixed" somehow. The last 5 times I have shut down and rebooted the computer ... the Quick Launch icons have stayed in the order I want them. However, the Desktop icons are still always going back to the same out of order mix, it's always the same exact order. I did install TweakUI v1.33 and the Layout.dll program since I first started this topic. ... also tried a couple of registry fixes ... nothing seems to fix the Desktop problem. I'm not sure I understand your question about how I shutdown the computer. I am logged on as Administrator and there are no other users/guests on this computer. I just go to Start ... the Shut Down tab and then Shut Down. I will keep the information handy that you supplied dealing with the Quick Launch icons, in case they start acting up again. ... thanks I tried this registry fix I found on Google ... it was to Save the Settings on Exit ... doesn't seem to work. Not sure if it was just for XP or also 2000. Save Settings On Exit Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] "NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] "SystemTray"="SysTray.Exe" [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU] [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell] "BagMRU Size"=dword:00001f40 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam] "BagMRU Size"=dword:00001f40

OK ... I have a new problem ... my Desktop icons are OK for awhile, staying in the order that I place them, but every so often they are all mixed up when I turn the computer on. I have searched most of yesterday for a solution on Google and last week also. My Quick Launch Icons are also now acting up ... they are for the most staying in order but I added 5 new Quick Launch icons yesterday and every time I restart the computer those 5 icons are at the bottom of the Quick Launch list ... I must have put them back in the correct order now at least 12 times. My Desktop icons were out of order again this morning. I did try a "search" of this forum but I never get any results ... No matter what I put in the "search the forum" area, I always get "No results found". I have 2 desktop restore programs on my computer so I can "fix" the Desktop icons problem but that's not a "solution" to me. I know of no program to fix the Quick Launch icons. I don't want to have to do this forever. Is there some sort of registry fix for both? I found this "registry fix" on Google but it doesn't seem to work. 1) Registry hack Run regedit (start > run and type regedit) Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer. Right-click in the right pane and select New, DWORD Value name it NoSaveSettings and press the Enter key. Right-click on the new NoSaveSettings item and select Modify. Enter 1 in the Value data box. Reboot to be sure and I think that should work. I am going to try it again ... delete it and reinstall the fix. It may have worked for a time since my Desktop icons did stay in order for several days. Any help and ideas for a solution appreciated ... someone else must have run into this problem also. ... thanks

tomasz86 ... thanks for the reply. I just installed the next "lower" Shockwave version and it installed with no "popup" window and no problems .... this was Shockwave v10.2.0.023. I will check out the information that you supplied about BlackWingCat's hotfix. That sounds interesting ... finishing up my first week of having Windows 2000 Pro installed and I really like everything so far ... working right now on a Dell Latitude Pentium 3 and everything seems so much faster ... just installed KMPlayer, utorrent, Flash Player plus other software that I have on my 98SE machines ... everything seems to be OK so far ... definitely think my computer is faster ... seems to really "jump" around. I am thinking of putting Windows 2000 on my Thinkpad T42 with the Pentium M, want to work all the "bugs" out first on the Dell and then when I have everything just right on the Dell then it should be an easy install on the Thinkpad ... the speed should be in "light years" on that notebook ! ... thanks Extra ... here's a good site to check your Shockwave install at ... also gives a few other checks. http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cCorp.dspTest

I just tried installing Shockwave v10.3.0.24 and got this pop up message. .... C:\winnt\sys32\kernel32.dll (GetSystemWow64DirectoryA). The Specified Procedure Could Not Be Found. So it didn't install ... this message may have nothing to do with this version of Shockwave, I don't know. I am going to drop back one version and try again. Would like to know what others have installed on their Windows 2000 setup? ... thanks