CharlotteTheHarlot

Please post a link to an example file.

I had totally forgotten about that, Dencorso is absolutely correct. Referring to the old Qbasic version of MS-DOS Help ... The CONFIG.SYS file is a text file that contains special commands. These _ commands configure your computer's hardware components so that MS-DOS and _ applications can use them. When MS-DOS starts, it carries out the commands _ in the CONFIG.SYS file. Typically, the CONFIG.SYS file is located in the root directory of drive C. _ _ CONFIG.SYS commands _ _ The following CONFIG.SYS commands can be used only in the CONFIG.SYS file: _ _ <Buffers> <Files> _ <Country> <Install> _ <Device> <Lastdrive> _ <Devicehigh> <Numlock> _ <Dos> <Shell> _ <Drivparm> <Stacks> _ <Fcbs> <Switches> _ _ The following commands are commonly used in the CONFIG.SYS file and can also _ be typed at the command prompt: _ _ <Break> _ <Rem> _ <Set> _ _ The following special CONFIG.SYS commands are used only to define multiple _ configurations within the CONFIG.SYS file: _ _ <Include> _ <Menucolor> _ <Menudefault> _ <Menuitem> _ <Submenu> _ I re-read the section about MSDOS.SYS and must correct what I said above. It is true that it can initialize the environment with PATH strings, however there seems to be no way to influence environment variables, global or otherwise. It would seem that CONFIG.SYS is the earliest vector one can use. From the Win98 Resource Kit (Rk98book.chm) ... Config.sys Processing Config.sys defaults are implemented by Io.sys, as described in the previous section. However, Config.sys can contain application-specific entries in addition to information stored in Io.sys. These are processed in the sequence they are listed. After the base Config.sys file has been read, all devices are loaded, and Command.com is started. Windows 98 loads memory managers supplied by other vendors if they are present in Config.sys; however, some might cause errors. Similarly, Windows 98 allows the use of command shells from other vendors, but there are some differences. For example, long file names are disabled, which might also indicate that other problems could occur using these command shells. Config.sys Changes for Windows 98 Windows 98 has predefined settings built in for most common Config.sys settings, so Windows 98 Setup removes many of these lines (such as settings for files, buffers, and stacks) if they are equivalent to the default values, by using rem to comment out the line. Tips for Editing Config.sys in Windows 98 If you edit Config.sys in Windows 98, observe the following basic guidelines: Do not include the smartdrv command. Windows 98 includes built-in disk caching, and double-buffering is now provided by Dblbuff.sys. Remove any device=mouse.sys lines or similar lines. Windows 98 includes built-in mouse support. There used to be this really great explanation of the Win9x startup procedure ... yes! ... it is still online after all these years over at Chris Quirke's Win9x Page. This section used to be required reading: The Startup Axis

Not a subkey, they are strings (data names and values). Export the whole registry and then text search for "temp" WITH quotes but WITHOUT case-sensitivity. Here is what should be found (well, these are only some of the values I have in that key): [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Environment]"Path"="C:\\Windows;C:\\Windows\\Command" "Prompt"="$p$g" "Temp"="C:\\Temp" "Tmp"="C:\\Temp" "WinBootDir"="C:\\Windows" "WinDir"="C:\\Windows" A simple experiment is to rename the AUTOEXEC.BAT to something and then reboot. Then, immediately get into a command prompt and type: SET. Take note of the environment strings. If they are not there.you can insert those two registry values and reboot again and check SET once more. See what happens. I just took a peek into the Win98 Resource Kit (Rk98book.chm) and found the pertinent information about SessionManager ... System Subtree in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE The data in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System is organized into control sets that contain a complete set of parameters for device drivers and services that can be loaded with Windows 98. All data that controls startup is described in the CurrentControlSet subtree under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System. This control set has two parts: The Control key contains information used to control system startup, including the computer’s network name and the subsystems to start. The Services key contains information to control the loading and configuration of drivers, file systems, and so on. The data in the Services key also controls how these services call each other. Control subkey. The Control subkey contains startup parameters for the system, including settings for startup and shutdown, file system performance, keyboard layouts and language support, and so on. Table 31.13 describes some typical Control subkeys. Subkey Contents ComputerName The computer name, which should be set using the Network option in Control Panel. FileSystem The type and settings of the file system. IDConfigDB The identification for the current configuration. Keyboard layouts A list of the DLLs for the keyboard language, which should be set using the Keyboard option in Control Panel. Resources Descriptions and driver information for multimedia components. NetworkProvider Descriptions of the network providers. Nls Contains information on national language support, including language and locale preferences, which should be set using the Keyboard option in Control Panel. PerfStats Statistics gathered from system components that can be viewed using System Monitor. Print Contains information about the current printers and printing environment, contained in several subkeys: Environments, which can contain subkeys defining drivers and print processors for operating system environments. Monitors, which can contain subkeys with data for specific network printing monitors. Printers, which can contain subkeys describing printer parameters for each installed printer. Providers, which can contain subkeys describing DLLs for network print services. SessionManager Global variables that are maintained by the operating system, plus subkeys that list applications that do not run well under Windows 98, DLLs whose version numbers should be checked, and directories and file names for all the Session Manager DLLs. TimeZoneInformation Values for time zone settings, which should be set using the Date/Time option in Control Panel. Update Value indicating whether Windows 98 was installed over an earlier version of Windows. VMM32 The file names of VxD files combined into the Vmm32.vxd virtual device driver. And here is some pertinent information about AUTOEXEC ... Autoexec.bat Processing Autoexec.bat is not required for Windows 95 or Windows 98, but it is included for compatibility purposes. If the computer has an Autoexec.bat file, each line is processed in sequence during system startup. Autoexec.bat can contain additional application-specific entries that are run in the sequence they are listed. Windows 98 passes the initial environment to Command.com with the correct Windows and Windows Command directories already in the path and with the environment variables PROMPT, TMP, and TEMP already set. (TEMP= and TMP= indicate locations for temporary directories; both are specified for compatibility reasons.) The default Windows 98 environment includes the following: tmp=c:\windows\temp temp=c:\windows\temp prompt=$p$g path=c:\windows;c:\windows\command comspec=c:\windows\command\Command.com Autoexec.bat Changes for Windows 98 Windows 98 Setup makes the following basic changes to Autoexec.bat: Updates the path= line statement. Uses rem to comment out incompatible TSRs. Deletes any win statement (or equivalent) and Share.exe. Copies the original Autoexec.bat to Autoexec.dos. Sets the Temp directory. I hope this looks ok. Right now I am lost trying to format these excerpts. There seem to be unexplained linefeeds and other stuff going on. The worst thing is lack of scroll bars for long excerpts. Doing some testing over in this thread.

So far none of this is forcing scroll bars and allowing markup. Going to try some of the language tags and hope for some luck. PHP Code ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test SQL Code ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test XML Code ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test So far so bad. Hopefully someone has figured this out. Anyone?

So the first impression I get is that CodeBox is no longer a framed entity (for lack of a better word). What is this 'HTML Code' thingie ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test The 'HTML Code' thingie (with ANGLE brackets instead) ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test <b>This</b> is a <color="#ff0000">test</color>, this is <i>only</i> a <size=5>test!</size> Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test <b>This</b> is a <color="#ff0000">test</color>, this is <i>only</i> a <size=5>test!</size> Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test <b>This</b> is a <color="#ff0000">test</color>, this is <i>only</i> a <size=5>test!</size> Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test <b>This</b> is a <color="#ff0000">test</color>, this is <i>only</i> a <size=5>test!</size> Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test <b>This</b> is a <color="#ff0000">test</color>, this is <i>only</i> a <size=5>test!</size> Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test And this 'Extract Blog Entry' ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test And 'Multi-Page Articles' ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test This is a test, this is only a test! Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test

Please indulge this. Been away a bit and now things seem different once again - no scroll bars in a codebox, a bunch of new things in the other styles dropdown. I want to try them out and see if markup and scrolling is available in a codebox or perhaps something else. I did not see a 'TESTING' forum, so mods please move this if necessary. Is there a page that details all these 'other styles'? I am not getting any mouseover text or flyouts for any of these icons in the full editor. Can someone point to a URL with all the 'other styles' and maybe all the normal tags as well? CodeBox ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Code ... Test Test Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test. This is a really long line and will hopefully make horizontal scroll bars. Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test [b]This[/b] is a [color="#ff0000"]test[/color], this is [i]only[/i] a [size=5]test![/size] Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Well I see in the preview the CodeBox is not working. I need to post it now to see.

Autoexec.bat contains 2 lines: set temp=C:\TEMP set tmp=C:\TEMP Not sure what I needed the 2nd entry for. E:\<windows>\Temp\ nearly always stays empty; on rare occasions, maybe years ago, it contained some junk. Well, that's unfortunate. In that case, it is probably not safe for you to clear out your %tmp% directory. Normally this directory and associated environment variable is created automatically. If you use a separate %temp% directory, it's then much easier to delete those left-overs that inevitably accumulate. He's probably ok because AUTOEXEC in this case should be redundant occuring after the registry initialized where the environment strings most likely were set already.. Remember that since Win95 both AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS have been truly optional (and if you have been at this game since the DOS 2.xx era you will remember just how big a change that was). Those global environment variables are seen as registry strings named "Temp" and "Tmp" and are loaded from: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Environment] Please note that there may also be a similar key with \Session Manager\ (note the space). I could never figure out if the latter one was a remnant from Win95 where it is actually mentioned in the HLP Resource Kit. The \SessionManager\ key is at least from Win98 as it appears in the CHM Resource Kit. I have always duplicated both just to be sure. However, while this is all interesting, a better question might be why one would use a global environment variable in any risky situation. Being by definition both global and variable should give pause to a careful person! I mean anyone can change the contents of %temp%. Any batch file, any application, any user (if someone actually uses multiple users on Win9x)! Some random bad ideas: set TEMP=C:\Windows del /y %TEMP%\*.* set TEMP="C:\My Documents" rd %TEMP% <CRLF set DRIVE=C:\ format %DRIVE% /Q <CRLF Well you get the idea! (note that CRLF represents a dummy file containing a single <ENTER> keystroke, and it used to work and might still, but I am not sure). I also just remembered that MSDOS.SYS also can initialize the environment so there is another vector that can be exploited by the bad guys. Anyway, IMHO, all directory removal and *.* deletes should always be spelled out by hand and not automated. But to each his own!

I took a look at this file wmi9x.exe that comes from that link. It identifies as some kind of modified Wise package. But none of the Wise unpackers I have handy would touch it. That includes the most reliable one, E_WISE. Latest 7zip (7zip.exe) deconstructs it to a set of installer resources (with some date/times preserved): 5,096 09-24-99 4:54p CERTIFICATE 4,096 09-24-99 4:54p .data 4,096 09-24-99 4:54p .rdata 4,096 09-24-99 4:54p .text 20 12-29-10 5:44a .\.rsrc\GROUP_ICON\102 766 12-29-10 5:44a .\.rsrc\ICON\1.ico 3,076,267 12-29-10 5:44a .\.rsrc\RCDATA\101 <-------- candidate 32 12-29-10 5:44a .\.rsrc\RCDATA\101_1 1,924 12-29-10 5:44a .\.rsrc\VERSION\1 That large file identifies to a MSVC++ executeable of unknown compression, which 7zip and E_WISE won't touch. On a hunch I threw it into Wise Setup UnPacker v0.90A (WUN.EXE) and it almost extracts (date/times lost): WISE0000 328 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0000 WISE0001 28,336 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0001 WISE0002 155,648 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0002 WISE0003 26,624 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0003 WISE0004 24,576 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0004 WISE0005 27,136 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0005 WISE0006 5,607 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0006 WISE0007 16,384 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0007 WISE0008 457 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0008 WISE0009 32,768 12-29-10 7:02a WISE0009 WISE000A 5,444 12-29-10 7:02a WISE000A WISE000B 81,994 12-29-10 7:03a WISE000B WISE000C 65,620 12-29-10 7:03a WISE000C WISE000D 266,293 12-29-10 7:03a WISE000D WISE000E 77,878 12-29-10 7:03a WISE000E WISE000F 6,108 12-29-10 7:03a WISE000F WISE0010 34,484 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0010 WISE0011 687 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0011 WISE0012 918 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0012 WISE0013 1,105 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0013 WISE0014 605 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0014 WISE0015 34,484 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0015 WISE0016 687 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0016 WISE0017 918 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0017 WISE0018 1,105 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0018 WISE0019 605 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0019 WISE001A 34,484 12-29-10 7:03a WISE001A WISE001B 687 12-29-10 7:03a WISE001B WISE001C 918 12-29-10 7:03a WISE001C WISE001D 1,105 12-29-10 7:03a WISE001D WISE001E 605 12-29-10 7:03a WISE001E WISE001F 34,484 12-29-10 7:03a WISE001F WISE0020 687 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0020 WISE0021 918 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0021 WISE0022 1,105 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0022 WISE0023 605 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0023 WISE0024 34,484 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0024 WISE0025 687 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0025 WISE0026 918 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0026 WISE0027 1,105 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0027 WISE0028 605 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0028 WISE0029 486 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0029 WISE002A 778,317 12-29-10 7:03a WISE002A WISE002B 167,992 12-29-10 7:03a WISE002B WISE002C 21,200 12-29-10 7:03a WISE002C WISE002D 163,915 12-29-10 7:03a WISE002D WISE002E 61,491 12-29-10 7:03a WISE002E WISE002F 172,100 12-29-10 7:03a WISE002F WISE0030 147,537 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0030 WISE0031 372,805 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0031 WISE0032 41,041 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0032 WISE0033 639,045 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0033 WISE0034 704,580 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0034 WISE0035 196,686 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0035 WISE0036 32,838 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0036 WISE0037 139,333 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0037 WISE0038 28,744 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0038 WISE0039 143,430 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0039 WISE003A 24,656 12-29-10 7:03a WISE003A WISE003B 40,848 12-29-10 7:03a WISE003B WISE003C 17,004 12-29-10 7:03a WISE003C WISE003D 995 12-29-10 7:03a WISE003D WISE003E 163,904 12-29-10 7:03a WISE003E WISE003F 184,381 12-29-10 7:03a WISE003F WISE0040 2,177,964 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0040 WISE0041 10,282 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0041 WISE0042 31,945 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0042 WISE0043 12,408 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0043 WISE0044 1,441,988 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0044 WISE0045 110,658 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0045 WISE0046 6,240 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0046 WISE0047 899 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0047 WISE0048 113,510 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0048 WISE0049 57,714 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0049 WISE004A 421,947 12-29-10 7:03a WISE004A WISE004B 143,420 12-29-10 7:03a WISE004B WISE004C 65,611 12-29-10 7:03a WISE004C WISE004D 36,752 12-29-10 7:03a WISE004D WISE004E 442,440 12-29-10 7:03a WISE004E WISE004F 34,484 12-29-10 7:03a WISE004F WISE0050 538 12-29-10 7:03a WISE0050 81 file(s) 10,362,324 bytes It would certainly take some time and effort to parse this out further. Don't have the time myself at this moment. If I remember correctly, this installer places a large set of files and registry entries in the system. I would suggest installing it on an imaged (roll-back-able) 9x test machine with a registry dump and filelist, BEFORE and AFTER. P.S. I just noticed in the preview that the CODEBOX does not have scrollbars! Did something else change with the forum software again?

Well there certainly are a few programs that try to do this but most just really duplicate the Add/Remove CPL applet. There is Add Remove Plus and Nirsoft has one called MyUninstaller. Too much guesswork for this to be possible and accurate IMHO. If you want to do it perfectly, try this on a spare/test computer. It is very simple too! (1) Save a full registry export: RegDump_0.reg (2) Save a full DIR listing of the Hard Disk: DIR C:\ /s /a >FileList_0.txt (3) Now properly install your program from its setup.exe or whatever it is called. (4) Now execute and test your program. The point here is to use all its utilities and functions, configurations and options. (5) Save a full registry export: RegDump_1.reg (6) Save a full DIR listing of the Hard Disk: DIR C:\ /s /a >FileList_1.txt --- NOTE: we'll call this Checkpoint-A --- (7) Now properly uninstall your program from Add/Remove. (8) Save a full registry export: RegDump_2.reg (9) Save a full DIR listing of the Hard Disk: DIR C:\ /s /a >FileList_2.txt --- NOTE: we'll call this Checkpoint-B --- Use WinDiff to compare the files. The GUI lets you File | Compare Files then select them: RegDump_0.reg, then: RegDump_1.reg. Or from a DOS command window: WINDIFF.EXE RegDump_0.reg RegDump_1.reg WINDIFF.EXE FileList_0.txt FileList_1.txt WINDIFF.EXE RegDump_0.reg RegDump_2.reg WINDIFF.EXE FileList_0.txt FileList_2.txt While in WinDiff press F8 to jump forward (F7 backwards) through all the changes. Copy/Paste the differences into a text file for safekeeping. Press F1 for help, particularly to understand the color scheme identifying NEW files and registry keys versus MODIFIED files and registry keys. Notice at Checkpoint-A, the results will give you all of the registry changes and all of the File System changes that your program uses in total. Collect these for a complete manual uninstall. Notice at Checkpoint-B, the results will give you any straggler registry changes and any straggler File System changes that your program left in after a proper uninstall. Collect these to just find the left-over remainders. This works on all Windows versions. The only things that this method cannot find are: * Any disk tattoos made outside the File System proper, that is directly writing to sectors before the data area in the first cylinder (these can be obtained by also saving snapshots of the first 95 sectors of the drive and comparing them in a binary viewer like UltraEdit for example). * One other way a tricky program can hide stuff. They can place files in a hidden sub-directory which does not get seen by DIR on Win9x. There is a free patcher called DOS-FIX.EXE which makes a tiny change to the COMMAND.COM file(s). It is well worth the effort to patch COMMAND.COM if you are in the habit of making and comparing HDD filelists.

Broken google? Nah, it was the Microsoft Bing powered search at the System Internals section of Microsoft.com. No patience to debug it now, but it just didn't do anything (on Opera 9, scripting enabled). Guess it is either Flash or Silverlight problem. But I figured Google would work fine from outside MS though. There is some kind of irony there!

Over at System Internals there was a utility/demo called RegHide. It seems to be gone now (broken link) or at least the website searching is not working right. This demo covered the methods of what you are asking. Maybe the Wayback Machine can find it or you can ask on the forum. Note that the forum searching there sucks also. The nearest living relative at System Internals is RegDelNull. It is used to remove the bad characters from the registry placed there by RegHide or other methods.

More searching on the official distribution discs ... * 199MB found on the original Win98 v4.10.1998 CDROM (1998-11-24): 150x112.avi 552,164 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Win98\Content\Nbc\Images\ Barneysw.avi 12,265,076 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Bball3d.mpg 3,039,396 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Books98.mpg 5,850,026 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Cartrace.mpg 2,862,916 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Chaos.mpg 4,073,829 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Dilbert.mpg 4,506,126 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Empires.mpg 3,880,062 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Encarta.mpg 7,273,034 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Flaglobe.avi 4,923,392 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Flight98.mpg 4,202,940 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Gamepad.avi 2,832,302 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Gamezone.mpg 11,948,178 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Golf3.avi 1,478,908 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Greeting.avi 8,337,074 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Homeess.mpg 6,635,134 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Imouse.mpg 8,420,696 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Intro.mpg 7,740,223 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Money98.mpg 6,873,403 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Msbdinos.mpg 3,609,786 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Msbearth.mpg 2,377,553 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Msbrain.mpg 9,334,978 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Msn.avi 5,462,526 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Msnbc.mpg 4,211,789 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Mutant.mpg 4,296,120 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Picture.avi 10,543,484 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Puzzle.mpg 6,963,251 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Rarcade.mpg 4,761,853 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Streets.mpg 6,972,718 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Swforce.mpg 3,841,048 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Swpro.mpg 2,713,287 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Trespass.mpg 4,129,816 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Tripplan.mpg 7,206,595 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Tutor.mpg 7,367,347 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Vrglobe.mpg 7,549,411 1998-11-24 08:02 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ * 178MB found on the Win98se v4.10.2222 CDROM (1999-04-23): Barneysw.avi 12,265,076 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Combat.mpg 7,740,220 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Encrs.mpg 8,136,096 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Golf99.mpg 7,760,288 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Hompub99.mpg 8,795,508 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Keyboard.mpg 6,134,804 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Mcmi5.avi 10,501,130 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Mon99.mpg 5,940,949 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Mouseall.mpg 9,829,336 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Mpt2.mpg 11,035,742 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Mtm2.mpg 8,490,401 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Open.avi 13,393,944 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Phone.mpg 9,993,544 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Photo.mpg 10,992,251 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Pinball.mpg 4,787,578 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Rome.mpg 7,927,255 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Swfree.mpg 7,569,577 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Swwheel.mpg 8,965,381 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Varcade.mpg 8,013,936 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ Works.mpg 10,067,568 1999-04-23 22:22 a .\Cdsample\Videos\ * 004MB found on the WinME v4.90.3000 CDROM (2000-06-08): Avitest.avi 2,217,996 2000-06-08 10:00 a .\Tools\Pssutil\Mediatst\ Mpegtest.mpg 1,867,780 2000-06-08 10:00 a .\Tools\Pssutil\Mediatst\ And finally the Plus! series ... * 000MB found on the Win95 Plus! CDROM (1995-07-14): nada! * 105MB found on the Win98 Plus! CDROM (1998-05-01): 2_3click.avi 14,903,286 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Demos\ Aimdem.avi 9,773,660 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Demos\ Chgcontr.avi 2,136,688 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Pie\Uafiles\ Cortint.avi 2,436,872 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Pie\Uafiles\ Fb01vid.avi 2,420,296 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb02vid.avi 2,414,572 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb03vid.avi 2,416,144 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb04vid.avi 2,723,004 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb05vid.avi 2,109,152 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb06vid.avi 2,726,980 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb07vid.avi 2,412,448 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb08vid.avi 2,514,164 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Fb09vid.avi 2,106,404 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Golf\Preserve\Flybys\ Gfeat.avi 16,190,168 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Demos\ Mcutout.avi 2,345,812 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Pie\Uafiles\ Mrr.avi 3,513,470 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Pie\Uafiles\ Natswing.avi 10,542,342 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Demos\ Simmode.avi 9,739,272 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Games\Demos\ Stack.avi 6,535,080 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Pie\Uafiles\ Text.avi 5,139,390 1998-05-01 20:01 .\Pie\Uafiles\ There you have it, most of the Win9x 4.xx series. I also looked for keywords like FEAR REAPER DFTR BLUE OYSTER CULT BOC etc., but no Reaper was found I'm afraid. Same for the Stones. I remember that Start Me Up audio was used for the Windows TV/Radio commercial, but no video that I can recall. Besides, there is an infamous lyric in there that could have caused real embarrasement (Bill Gates --> ;-) It is theoretically possible something might be tucked away in a CAB file but I would not bet on it. More likely that the Reaper is located on another Microsoft product, possibly Office/Bookshelf/Encarta/Money/Works or even some game. Good luck!

Jeez, now you forced me to watch the whole darn thing! Thanks so much! OK, this Weezer, I get it, its an edit, LOL! For anyone else wondering, its a 90's grunge band that made a video by dubbing their song to a collage of Happy Days clips, {see here, the band used the actual TV stage set and Al showed up for this video, essentially it was a Forrest Gump which had just came out in 1994} interspersed with some clips of the main characters, including Ritchie, Potsy and the Fonz in a few frames (don't blink). Come to think of it, I think I recognize the intro sequence where Al announces the band. It looks like they actually grabbed this segment from the episode where the Fonz was doing a motorcycle jump outside Arnold's (I think he crashed?). It is very well done from a producer's point of view, the syncing is exceptional. The music, ah well, I'm sure somebody likes it ( ) In that era my favorite band was probably Dream Theater. Anyway, I never saw it before, probably because MTV lost me long before 1994 came around. I'll look through the Win98 and Plus CD's later. EDIT: Further info in this color

Searched for *.avi *.mpg *.mov ... 283MB found on the original Win95 v4.00.950 CDROM (1995-07-11): Ancient.avi 12,513,280 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Ancient\ Enfury.avi 4,795,210 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Fury\Movies\ Extfury.avi 479,034 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Fury\Movies\ Goodtime.avi 24,299,360 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\ Goodtime.avi 39,311,306 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Ifaf01qa.avi 12,630,956 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Nations\ Inflmvc.avi 2,284,124 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Oceans\Sounds\ Intro.avi 3,337,894 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Wine\Sounds\ Lvfury.avi 3,203,998 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Fury\Movies\ Overview.avi 5,094,312 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Creature\ Robroy.avi 18,765,400 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\ Robroy.avi 30,883,426 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Salmon.avi 2,793,530 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Cookbook\Avi\ T100493a.avi 1,428,718 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Products\Demos\Explorap\Sounds\ Weezer.avi 31,470,750 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\ Weezer.avi 59,999,400 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Welcome1.avi 4,375,174 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\ Welcome1.avi 6,844,784 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Welcome2.avi 3,599,664 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\ Welcome2.avi 5,946,346 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Welcome3.avi 3,713,276 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\ Welcome3.avi 5,976,134 1995-07-11 09:50 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ 227MB found on the Win95 OSR v4.00.1111 CDROM (1996-08-24): 200bttrf.avi 12,354,270 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Sampler\Video\ Cp.avi 9,229,428 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Carpoint\ Ddlytdmv.avi 13,147,762 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Tide\ Flash.avi 326,984 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Picture\ Goodtime.avi 39,311,306 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Goodtime.mpg 36,735,152 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Mpeg\ Human300.avi 7,287,356 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Msb\Bod\Video\ Insid200.avi 7,149,304 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Msb\Geo\Video\ Mslogo.avi 628,650 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Sampler\Video\ Ocean2.avi 8,736,090 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Msb\Sea\Video\ Opening.avi 11,312,630 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Picture\ Solar.avi 5,204,322 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Msb\Solar\Video\ T039739a.avi 653,168 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Encarta\Audio\ Truck.avi 11,468,466 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Demos\Truck\ Weezer.mpg 44,990,580 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Mpeg\ Welcome1.avi 6,844,784 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Welcome2.avi 5,946,346 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ Welcome3.avi 5,976,134 1996-08-24 11:11 a .\Funstuff\Videos\Highperf\ The files on both CDROMs called Weezer.avi and Weezer.mpg is the same clip from Happy Days. It is the one where a band called Weezer is playing at Arnold's. I didn't see the Fonz in that video. EDIT: See later post for better info. No sign of Blue Oyster Cult anywhere. What I was really hoping to find was the Stones 'Start Me Up', but alas, nada. Note that the Win98 series CDROMs have some videos also but quite a few less than the Win95 series. EDIT: corrected Weezer mention and the file totals.

That file is a compiled executable, MSVC++ v5/6, nothing but code. Nothing to dissect or extract. As herbalist stated, it will probably add/delete registry keys and call other API and shell functions (like reboot) so they can be very dangerous. Use a test computer to capture the reg changes. The main key (on Win9x) to backup and save is: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2] These Winsock adjustments almost always replace the data found in a subkey: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\Parameters\Protocol_Catalog9\Catalog_Entries] If you have registry backups it is simple enough to manually grab these 'catalogs' and replace them at will. P.S. There are no spaces in those registry key names. I see at least one in the preview though! Buggy forum software apparently.

Gotta admit that is the first I heard of that. I have all the Windows CD's a few feet away, so I can look for it. Do you have any filename/filetype clues?

UPDATE TO POST #1 The top post has been re-written to describe the current ZIP package suite dated: 2010-08-02. (downloaded on 2010-08-17). Win9x fans will notice no functional changes among the very few remaining compatible utilities distributed in the Suite. Interestingly, the newest utility: RAMMAP.EXE requires Vista or higher. This means that both Win9x and WinXP are now victims of Microsoft's latest compilers. Wonderful. So to any WinXP users: Welcome to the Party pal! -CTH-

If that registry patch were ever to work, it would have to be edited like so: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\Shell\WMP] @="Windows Media Player" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\Shell\WMP\Command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Windows Media Player\\Wmplayer.exe" Note the double backslashes in the path. Also note the CRLF line breaks after each key closing bracket ']' before each default '@'. Both are necessary for REGEDIT to insert the keys. Leave out the double backslashes and the name/value will get tossed away and you wind up with an empty key. The case corrections are of course optional ;-) And you are probably aware that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is shorthand for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes. However ... don't bother because it won't work anyway! In fact this key almost never exists ... [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\Shell] I did some experimenting with this key in the past and I believe that \Shell entries have been intentionally disabled (but I am not 100% sure), so custom entries are apparently limited to \ShellEx, specifically in this case to \ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers. To utilize ShellEx handlers you will need to use CLSID calls to functions in a DLL. Here are some examples: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\New] @="{d969a300-e7ff-11d0-a93b-00a0c90f2719}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\Igfxcui] @="{3ab1675a-ccff-11d2-8b20-00a0c93cb1f4}" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\Byblos Extension] @="{922b698f-936b-11d5-9bf4-d10253d4f315}" You see that the {CLSID} is a pointer to another key that contains the path to the DLL and some other stuff. The 1st one is the 'NEW' submenu that we all love to hate since it fills up with meaningless nonsense that causes long delays when you drag the mouse over it. The 2nd one is a typical Intel Graphics submenu for changing resolution and stuff. The 3rd one is the very interesting Byblos DLL that you can read about here. So, IMHO you need to find DLL based ContextMenu handlers for each program you want to see in the desktop rightclick popup menu. I don't know about WMP but I would be surprised if one does not already exist somewhere.

Looked into this last year when things changed. Pretty sure that the last version of DvdFab that worked was 6.0.7.0. Here is the history file from that version ... DVDFab 6.0.7.0 September 19, 2009: Core/UI Updates: New: Updated language files DVD to DVD Option: New: Added support for new copy protections as found on DVDs (Knowing, etc.) from EUROVIDEO, Germany. New: Improved PathPlayer performance in certain cases. Fix: Playable content may be removed in very special case when PathPlayer is enabled. Note: PathPlayer is very stable now, we strongly recommend users to select "Always enable PathPlayer". Blu-ray to Blu-ray Option: New: AACS MKB15 (Easy Virtue, US) is fully supported now. New: Improved copying performance when there are multiple unit keys. Fix: Blu-ray disc cannot be opened when there are certain authoring errors. And the important part of the README ... 3. System Requirements ________________________ * Windows Vista/XP/2000/98/ME (32-bit/64-bit), Linux(with Wine) * Pentium II 500 MHz * 256 MB of RAM (DVD) * 10 GB of Free Hard Disk Space (DVD) * A DVD-R(W) or DVD+R(W) Drive (DVD) * 512 MB of RAM (Blu-ray) * 50 GB of Free Hard Disk Space (Blu-ray) * A Blu-ray Drive (Blu-ray) The next version I found was 6.1.0.2 Beta (26/09/2009) ... 3. System Requirements ________________________ * Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 (32-bit/64-bit) * Pentium II 500 MHz * 256 MB of RAM (DVD) * 10 GB of Free Hard Disk Space (DVD) * A DVD-R(W) or DVD+R(W) Drive (DVD) * 512 MB of RAM (Blu-ray) * 50 GB of Free Hard Disk Space (Blu-ray) * A Blu-ray Drive (Blu-ray) Truth be told, if you are intent on using Win9x for DVD chores you have little choice. Personally I've been busy retiring most of my Win9x systems and have XP or newer boxes holding the DVD-R drives and software. This removes any chance of bumping into filesize limits or sudden BSOD and scandisk. FWIW, that version 6.0.7.0 did seem to work ok on Win98se although I probably didn't press my luck and try something difficult. It is possible that KernelEx might get you past 6.0.7.0 into a later edition. And I believe that Fengtao will still sell you one of the older ones if you have no computer running something above Win9x.

Apropos of the Codebox discussion above, it seems that color tags are broken within them as well. Testing in Codebox tags ... No Color [color="#ff0000"]Red[/color] No Color [color="#00ff00"]Green[/color] [b]No Color Bold[/b] [color="#0000ff"]Blue[/color] No Color [i]No Color Italics[/i] No Color [b][i]No Color Bold Italics[/i][/b] No Color [u]No Color Underline[/u] No Color [b][i][u]No Color Bold Italics Underline[/u][/i][/b] No Color [size="5"][font="Comic Sans MS"]No Color Large Text Comic Font[/font][/size] Testing in Code tags ... No Color [color="#ff0000"]Red[/color] No Color [color="#00ff00"]Green[/color] [b]No Color Bold[/b] [color="#0000ff"]Blue[/color] No Color [i]No Color Italics[/i] No Color [b][i]No Color Bold Italics[/i][/b] No Color [u]No Color Underline[/u] No Color [b][i][u]No Color Bold Italics Underline[/u][/i][/b] No Color [size="5"][font="Comic Sans MS"]No Color Large Text Comic Font[/font][/size] Same text not in Codebox or Code ... No Color Red No Color Green No Color Bold Blue No Color No Color Italics No Color No Color Bold Italics No Color No Color Underline No Color No Color Bold Italics Underline No Color No Color Large Text Comic Font Is it safe to say that there is no formating of text within a Codebox or Code now? I'm afraid to look but here goes, this next codebox was in a post about HDD boot sectors (see #25 here), this should be a real mess ... [font="Courier New"][size=3][color="#008800"]33 C0 8E D0 BC 00 7C FB 50 07 50 1F FC BE 1B 7C BF 1B 06 50 57 B9 E5 01 F3 A4 CB BE BE 07 B1 04 38 2C 7C 09 75 15 83 C6 10 E2 F5 CD 18 8B 14 8B EE 83 C6 10 49 74 16 38 2C 74 F6 BE 10 07 4E AC ; this entire green area 3C 00 74 FA BB 07 00 B4 0E CD 10 EB F2 89 46 25 ; is executable code 96 8A 46 04 B4 06 3C 0E 74 11 B4 0B 3C 0C 74 05 ; except the 6 bytes in black 3A C4 75 2B 40 C6 46 25 06 75 24 BB AA 55 50 B4 41 CD 13 58 72 16 81 FB 55 AA 75 10 F6 C1 01 74 0B 8A E0 88 56 24 C7 06 A1 06 EB 1E 88 66 04 BF 0A 00 B8 01 02 8B DC 33 C9 83 FF 05 7F 03 8B 4E 25 03 4E 02 CD 13 72 29 BE 46 07 81 3E FE 7D 55 AA 74 5A 83 EF 05 7F DA 85 F6 75 83 BE 27 07 EB 8A 98 91 52 99 03 46 08 13 56 0A E8 12 00 5A EB D5 4F 74 E4 33 C0 CD 13 EB B8 [b][color="#000000"]00 00 80 11 11 11 ; Drive/Timestamp Mystery Bytes[/color][/b] 56 33 F6 56 56 52 50 06 53 51 BE 10 00 56 8B F4 [b][color="#000000"]; Important! see link![/color][/b] 50 52 B8 00 42 8A 56 24 CD 13 5A 58 8D 64 10 72 ; [size=2][url="http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/mystery.htm#COPY"]Don't make exact copies of Win9x HDDs![/url][/size] 0A 40 75 01 42 80 C7 02 E2 F7 F8 5E C3 EB 74[/color] [color="#FF00FF"]49 6E 76 61 6C 69 64 20 70 61 72 74 69 74 69 6F 6E 20 74 61 62 6C 65 00 45 72 72 6F 72 20 6C 6F 61 ; this section contains error 64 69 6E 67 20 6F 70 65 72 61 74 69 6E 67 20 73 ; message strings such as: 79 73 74 65 6D 00 4D 69 73 73 69 6E 67 20 6F 70 ; 'Missing operating system' 65 72 61 74 69 6E 67 20 73 79 73 74 65 6D 00[/color] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [color="#880088"][b]8B FC 1E 57 8B F5 CB[/b][/color] 00 00 00 00 00 00 [color="#880088"][b]; MSWIN4.1 FDISK mark[/b][/color] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [color="#000088"][b]00 78 01 78[/b][/color] 01 00 [color="#FF0000"][b]80 01[/b][/color] [color="#000088"][b]; NT Drive Serial Number[/b][/color] [color="#FF0000"][b]01 00 0C FE 7F 00 3F 00 00 00 82 37 F9 0D 00 00[/b][/color] [color="#FF0000"][b]00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; Partition Table[/b][/color] [color="#FF0000"][b]00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00[/b][/color] [color="#FF0000"][b]00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00[/b][/color] [b][color="#880000"]55 AA ; signature ID Magic Number[/color][/b][/size][/font] yup, FUBAR. Some upgrades are really downgrades (comment not directed at you Xper, but at the forum software authors of course). They deserve massive ridicule and should not be allowed anywhere near a computer for the duration of their meaningless lives. IMHO.

UPDATE TO POST #1 The top post has been re-written to describe the current ZIP package suite: 2010-04-15. (downloaded on 2010-04-17). Win9x fans will notice no functional changes among the very few remaining compatible utilities distributed in the Suite. -CTH-

Just an FYI to everyone concerned with the firewall alerts due to phone home boilerplate code found in the System Internals utilities circa the Microsoft acquisition (some posts here at MSFN about it in Win98 vulnerability, where Multibooter noted the behavior). An explanation is found at System Internals in 2006 the thread Process Explorer and Internet Access, which was just before the Microsoft takeover. In short, the phoning home occurs for two reasons that I can see ... The utilities attempt to verify digital signatures, which can be disabled in the GUI of each app under options (which apparently only appears on WinXP and above). Also there can be internet access initiated from the using help file, no doubt from some JavaScript in the source code of the compiled CHM.

Jeez, never seen that before. Though at first glance it reminds of something you might have seen back in the bad old days when disk BIOS parameters were lost and crosslinked files in a bad FAT displayed in a DIR command. This may be one of those times that the lame advice of clear the cache might help (because those dialogs are looking at the file sizes on your HDD, the originating URL is merely info). Those should be files in Opera\Profile\Cache and Opera\Profile\Temporary_Downloads. You might temporarily try opera:config under User Prefs and set Cache Directory4 and Temporary Download Directory to another disk drive if you have one. This is just to rule out any HDD problem. I might even do a DOS bluescreen scandisk to be extra sure. And keep something like TestDisk on hand. You probably have no USB right? I believe it will still fit on a floppy. I'm not a huge fan of the current cache system which is looking more and more like the MSIE cache. What I find worrisome is if you peek into Opera\Profile\Icons you might see thousands of files using http%3A%2F%2Fsomething.ico for example. This is no sweat for NTFS under WinXP, but makes me nervous on FAT32 and Win9x (expecting an Opera bug anyday now to place real colons and backslashes into the filename!). Hmmm, aren't you on FAT16 with Win95? Might even be more dangerous. But this might simply be some locale related error which also might be found on that preferences page.

Yes. Yes. and Yes. I have multiple confirmations that this problem goes back to 9.2x. Further, there are possibilities that it may even precede that. The strangest relevant symptom is that it is progressive, changing over time, for the worse. There must be some use by Opera of a particular system setting (like a registry based ActiveX security flag) which causes the JavaScript execution to behave differently from one computer to another. @Everyone ... I have tested over a hundred Process Monitors now, no luck so far finding one that can monitor an individual process/thread and record a log entry when a condition is met Still looking though. I believe I can solve this absent that utility, however, I would like concrete evidence of this Opera freeze to present to the devs. So if anyone has any ideas please post them to this thread. Thanks all!

This thread has been helpful to me. This slight detour about Opera and Java has caused me to dig into enough articles and do some experiments to remove Java from the list of candidates of culprits behind the freezes every six minutes. First let me clarify any misconceptions I posted previously: Opera currently (January 2010, version 10.10 for Windows) requires no 3rd party Java runtimes or virtual machines to run itself because its compiled binaries have no dependencies to such files for normal operation. Opera official statement here, but as is often the case for me lately, clear and concise explanations are found offsite from Opera. Since around v5.12 Opera has shipped with its own distribution: classes in a JAR archive (easy enough to find) and a mysterious embedded runtime that both Sun and IBM are aware of but Opera itself does not describe. So, will Opera operate without any trace of Java existing on the computer? Yes. I tested this by purging all remnants of Sun JRE/SDK and MS JVM physically on a Win98se test computer (zipped up all the files and deleted the directories, and close/restart Opera). In this configuration, the only Java that Opera has access to is its own distribution. Note that the physical presence of JRE files on the HDD is signaled to Opera either from the system registry or its local INI files or both. Opera works as usual, (NB: the pause/freeze still occurs at regular intervals, more on this later). Now, if you try to do what I described in my previous post above: Tools > Advanced > Java Console nothing will happen, which indicates the Java Console is completely dependent on 3rd party JRE components. Interestingly, the presumingly buggy Opera ABOUT page still lists the Sun Java Runtime so it must be reading a string tucked away in some INI file or the system registry. If you try to check Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Enable Java, a dialog pops up to download the Sun JRE (this only occured on the first attempt, subsequent attempts to Enable Java silently disappeared from the screen. However it seems that its native components (at this point in the experiment: the Opera JAR classes and the mysterious embedded runtime) fail to handle Java content, and proof can be seen on this Java Test Page, which results in a Java error notification from that website. I am left wondering just what this embedded runtime is and just what it is supposed to do. I am beginning to think that zipped classes in a JAR constitute a runtime in Javaland (but there's my lack of knowledge showing again). So let's also get rid of the native Opera Java components: I zipped up the Java subfolder with its JAR and policy, deleted the original files, rinse and repeat. In this experiment there is not a single trace of Java physically existing on any HDD. Result: Opera works exactly as described above (pause/freezes still exist as well). I conclude that the supplied Java classes and so-called embedded runtime (if it really exists) is only used when a 3rd party Java runtime (Sun JRE) is being utilized by Opera. It's worth noting here that the Sun JRE plugin has absolutely no purpose with regards to Opera, it is meant for other browsers. Opera loads files from the JRE installation directory it does not use any npj*.dll plugin. As far as I am concerned Java in all its flavors and implementations is now off the hook with regards to the Opera freeze. Stick a fork in it, it's done. Personally I feel that this is way too much research to do in order to exhaust a single ingredient as the problem in this Opera stew (thanks really to all the misguided information all over the net about Opera and Java). Its tantamount to studying ActiveX to debug MSIE problems, which is one main reason I avoid that browser except when absolutely necessary. Whatever. Nothing is easy these days. Let me also point out that I have done the same exact experiment regarding all of the other plugins (deleting every trace, etc). I really hoped to find Adobe and its Flash disasters to be underneath this problem. Sorry to say, they are not. They may have security problems and memory leaks but Opera continues to operate exactly the same whether or not any plugins even exist on any HDD. So I am left with some periodic task within Opera itself, occurring nearly every six minutes that paralyzes Opera completely for approximately 30 seconds. My suspicion is that Opera is running JavaScript Garbage Collection, see wiki for basics, including this statement: Simple stop-the-world garbage collectors completely halt execution of the program to run a collection cycle. Hmmm, methinks we're onto something. Once this is solved it will be very interesting to find out why some machines have this while others do not. Those of you that do not see this problem may not appreciate its significance. Honestly, I do not remember anything this spectacularly painful since Windows 3.1. While typing this long post it has occurred almost a dozen times. Entire sentences are cached and then appear when the freeze thaws. Fortunately the freeze is confined to the Opera instances (though one Win9x hard lockup occurred complete with bluescreen scandisk). For me, there are not words enough to describe the anger and rage that I feel during some of these freezes, it all depends on what you were just doing really. If I have a bunch of downloads in progress, some (both http and ftp) do not recover and become ERROR in the status field. My rough look at this indicates that files originating from slow or non-resumable servers are most likely to die. Regardless, while Opera is suspended, packets are bouncing and this adds great pain to the disaster. Couple these facts with yet another: Opera freezes even if you are completely offline - no modem or ethernet or network at all. This wonderful feature makes any offline web development or browsing of saved webpages equally frustrating. I am also going to bail from this particular thread since I have personally seen enough evidence to know that Opera 10.xx is not to blame at all. Can someone suggest a better home for a new thread about this generic Opera problem? Would Software Hangout be better? Finally, I am desperately looking for one utility: a Realtime Process Monitor for Win9x, which can perform a specific function: log to a file when a condition is met. Specifically it must write a log entry whenever Opera.exe freezes, which is notable because its CPU utilization goes to 0%. Please let me know! Thanks! I am also trying to locate any debug switches or settings that can cause Opera to log its own events, the built-in Error Log seems to be limited to webpage JavaScript errors only (kinda like a validator) but nothing substantial.