Multibooter

I am currently archiving my old floppy disks, maybe a 1000. My objective is, if possible, to preserve my old floppy disks on an external USB hard disk drive, preferrably as disk images. These archived floppies should then be accessible under Windows 98. I also want to be able to recreate the archived floppies under Win98 from archive, onto modern-day 1.44MB floppy disks. Example: I have a bootable 360kB 5.25" floppy, which boots into DOS 5.0. I want to archive this floppy on a USB hard disk. Then I want to be able to re-create a similar floppy from archive, but on modern media (1.44MB 3.5"), so that I can boot from a re-created floppy disk into DOS 5.0 on my Inspiron 7500 laptop. Other Example: I have a 5.25" CP/M floppy disk (HP-125 format) which I want to archive on the USB HDD. The floppy disk contains old letters and correspondence created with Spellbinder, an old word processor. I want to be able to archive this old floppy on the USB HDD and then be able to access the word-processing files on it under Win98. I have the following floppy disks to be archived: 5.25" CP/M 2.2, HP-125 Format (DS:DD:48); here some more info on CP/M: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M 5.25" 360kB MS-DOS format 5.25" 1.2MB MS-DOS format 3.5" 720 kB 3.5" 1.44MB Potentially problematic floppies, which I don't have: - 8" floppies - DOS floppies formatted in non-standard ways with software like FDFormat or VGA Copy - floppies with tough copy-protection - Commodore, Atari, etc floppies Toolbox: A. DOS tools for file-copying - xxcopy16.exe (for copying files from DOS floppies). Always use xxcopy16 with the parameter "/V2", otherwise, if the floppy to be copied has a data CRC error, xxcopy16 wil skip over it and you will not know that a copied file is bad. - 22Disk (for copying files from CP/M floppies) B. Tools for creating/restoring image files from floppies - DCF v5.3A (to create .dcf image files of DOS floppies, under DOS/DOS window) - WinImage v8.1 (to restore .dcf image files onto 3.5 inch 1.44MB floppies, WinImage can reformat images of 5.25" to 3.5") - TeleDisk v2.23 to create and restore .td0 image files of: . CP/M floppies . DOS floppies with formats which DCF cannot write from an image file (e.g. 180kB and 320kB 5.25" floppies) . non-standard DOS floppies (e.g. a self-constructed boot floppy for DOS 2.1 on 3.5" media instead of on 5.25" media) C. Hardware required - an old 3.5" 720kB-only floppy drive (some 720kB floppies cannot be read in 720/1440kB drives; also for restoring floppy disk images to 720kB media ) - an old 5.25" 360kB-maximum floppy drive (for 360 kB DOS floppies); required for reliable .td0 images of CP/M floppies with TeleDisk - a Zip/Jaz drive for transferring archived files out of the old computer, via the parallel port I used a Jaz SCSI drive + a Jaz Traveller cable to connect the Jaz SCSI to the parallel port of the old T3100/20. I have been actually using 2 SCSI Jaz drives for the data transfer between the 2 computers, one connected to each of the computers. In this way I only have to eject the Jaz disk and insert it into the other Jaz drive to transfer data. D. Other tools - Uniform v1.07 (is an alternative to 22Disk; also useful for checking that the file-copying by 22Disk under a specific CP/M format is Ok) - FMT 2.6 from Disk Copy Plus (to reformat archived floppies, identifying weak floppies) - FDFormat (to reformat archived floppies, in special formats, e.g. single-sided quad density) BUT: if you format a floppy in a non-standard way with FDFormat, you may not be able to create a floppy disk image from it, for archiving with DCF. Details 1 ) Uniform v1.07 for IBM PC Uniform v1.07 can read, write and format 90 different CP/M formats under MS-DOS (96 different CP/M formats, incl.Osborne 1, if your floppy disk controller supports single density for 5 inch drives) 2) DCF v5.3, the best software there is for copying floppy disks/creating images of floppy disks. It runs under DOS 2 and higher, under Win9x and WinXP. WinImage can handle created .dcf files fine under Windows. If you install WinImage v7.0a first, associate in v7.0a .dcf with WinImage, then install WinImage v8.1 on top ((without uninstalling v7.0), WinImage v8.1 can then read and handle .dcf files, just by double-clicking on the .dcf file under Win98. 3) WinImage v8.1 is the best software for reading and manipulating floppy disk images under Win98. Besides having a GUI for accessing DCF files, it can convert floppy disks from one media type to another media type (e.g. it can convert a 360kB-5.25" DOS 3.3 boot floppy disk/floppy disk image to a 1.44MB-3.5" boot floppy disk/floppy disk image, from which my Inspiron laptop with a 1.44MB floppy drive can actually boot). The instructions are a little hidden: double-click on the .dcf image file -> Image -> Change Format -> select target format (usually 1.44MB) (the displayed image size 1440 kB is displayed on the status line on the bottom left) -> OK, then -> Disk -> Format and Write Disk 4) Spellbinder v5.4 for IBM-PC MS-DOS (for editing Spellbinder files under MS-DOS, which were originally created on the CP/M version of Spellbinder). It works in a Win98 DOS-window, but each word-processing file has built-in printer-specific formatting; when I print on the Inspiron laptop to the attached laserprinter, formatting is really bad, a lot of blank pages, some pages with a few truncated words. The formatting was set for an HP-IB printer (CP/M), then for an Epson FX (FX-80, also FX-120?) dot matrix printer (MS-DOS). Spellbinder in a Win98 DOS-window prints directly to LPT1, like Notepad. Could it be that because of the conversion of Spellbinder word-processing files John Bintz, the President of Spellbinder/Lexisoft, Inc., "bought a motor-home drove off into the sunset" http://www.old-computers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2085 ? http://www.cfhs-alumni.org/Class%2054/Misc...s/Biography.htm I have over 1000 old word-processing files created by Spellbinder. 4) an old Toshiba T3100/20 laptop (Toshiba MS-DOS 5.0, 80286 CPU) with an internal 720kB 3.5" floppy drive http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/doc.asp?c=917 5) an external 360kB 5.25" floppy drive, which can be connected to the parallel port of the T3100 6) an external 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive, which can be connected to the parallel port of the T3100 7) a Dell Inspiron 7500 laptop (of the year 2000) with Win98/XP, with an internal 3.5" floppy drive which can read, write and format 720kB and 1.44MB floppy disks Currently unsolved problems: 1) Dateless files: CP/M files do not have dates. How can I create a .rar or a .zip file of dateless files under Win98, which then extract again under Win98 as dateless files? WinRAR v3.42 under Win98 assigns in the compressed .rar file the modification date "1/5/85 2:02 am" to originally dateless files, WinZip 9.0 SR-1 assigns the current date. The problem of the dateless files is probably just cosmetic, since Uniform v1.07, when it writes back the archived files onto a CP/M floppy disk, just drops the file dates. 2) Uniform v1.07 under DOS can make a directory listing of, but not read CP/M files with filenames which contain characters illegal under MS-DOS (e.g. the file "CP+.COM" on a CP/M floppy cannot be read by Uniform v1.07 because it contains a "+" sign in the file name). Uniform v1.07 displays the error message: "A bad character was found in a CP/M filename; some files may not be accessible"; the Uniform user manual suggests "You probably have to perform the renaming function on a CP/M machine". 3) I have many word processing files created by Spellbinder under CP/M and MS-DOS. I want to convert the documents created by Spellbinder under CP/M and under MS-DOS to .doc or .txt format, for easy access under Win98. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/descri...spellbinder.htm http://books.google.com/books?id=UjtSJTvcI...der&f=false I have tried WordPort v9.0, Filtrix v3.54, ConvertPerfect v2.0 for DOS (by Novell), WordPerfect v6.0 for DOS, Professional Write v3.1 for DOS, FrameMaker v5.11, Lotus WordPro 96, Ventura Publisher 4.1 for Windows, PCTools for Windows 2.0 (contains the Central Point File Viewer v2.0, by Mastersoft), but none of them could properly read/convert Spellbinder files. Any ideas?

Sveikas Fredledingue, good idea for a desktop, but hard to do with a laptop. I have been entering most of my notes into InfoSelect, since 1991. I had the problem of never finding my hand-written notes. My installation notes, e.g. for operating systems, I print out under InfoSelect before proceeding with the installion. InfoSelect 3 (of 1995) works fine under Win9x and WinXP, it's my most-used application, it's portable (no installation needed, just file-copy). In usually less than 20 seconds (the time it takes to think of and enter a good search string) I can find all notes of interest in my pile of notes accumulated during the last 18 years.

Maybe it's better not to program a website with so many good-looking features. Keep it simple. Adding fancy features to a website means a lot of self-inflicted pain.The ultimate measure of the quality of a website is not how it looks, but how much traffic it gets. The ugly-looking www.drudgereport.com uses rather simple webcode and is one of the best websites there is: VISITS TO DRUDGE 8/09/09 017,089,163 IN PAST 24 HOURS 673,202,344 IN PAST 31 DAYS 8,189,949,260 IN PAST YEAR How many extra visitors will you get on your website by adding a fancy feature? Also, adding fancy features may decrease traffic by increasing browser incompatibility and thereby excluding older people who use older browsers. Fancy features should be used at sites specifically targeted at young audiences and at people who want to use the latest gadgets ("early innovators"). I prefer sites which display fine in Internet Explorer 5.5.

Thanks for your tip, submix8c. I have to check into IEradicator, there were some comments that IEradicator makes Win98 more stable. If IEradicator does actually increase system stability, it should also increase eMule uptime under Win98. On my dedicated eMule laptop (Win98), I don't need Internet Explorer at all, and not having Internet Explorer may possibly make eMule less vulnerable to unruly downloaders and other unwelcome visitors. IEradicator may turn out to be a useful eMule add-on.

On my old laptops I do most file copying/deleting/renaming under Win98SE with Beyond Compare. Maybe using Beyond Compare v2.5.3 (of 14-Jul-2008, last version for Win9x) instead of Windows Explorer is a workaround. But I wouldn't trust a computer which cannot copy properly.I suspect that some hardware gone bad is the cause of your copying problem (memory? motherboard? bad cables?) For most of my hardware (desktops, laptops, etc.) I have identical or near-identical duplicates/spares, so that I can find out easily whether a problem is caused by hardware or software.

On the other hand: I am using as main media player VideoLAN v0.8.6i under Win98SE, without KernelEx 4.0 Final. Any chance of getting v1.0 to work without KernelEx? Would a replacement of the files of v0.8.6i by the files of VideoLAN v1.0 work, without installation?

Which DLL??? Is VideoLAN v1.0 stable under Win98SE? At http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html#win98 they still refer to v0.8.6 as latest release for Win9x

On my Inspiron 7500 laptops I have unfortunately installed IE 6 and one cannot go back to v5.5. On these Win98SE systems with IE6 I have turned off Active Desktop with MS TweakUI v1.33.I try to stay away from anything by MS which is not necessary, like Active Desktop. I don't like spyware and who knows for sure where spyware has NOT been built in, even in Win98SE of 1999. I am using on these laptops IE v6.00.2600.0000 of August 2001, and use only very few MS updates released after Sept.11, 2001. When choosing among 2 types of vulnerability, I readily accept vulnerability to malware by hackers rather than vulnerability to potential spyware by MS or Big Brother from the U.S. MS and Big Brother have destroyed the reputation of U.S. software. That's why Kaspersky anti-virus software from Russia is the most popular anti-virus software. When it comes to security, Americans and Europeans trust the Russians more.

IE v5.01 and v5.01 SP2 can be found at http://browsers.evolt.org/?ie/win32I too would recommend IE v5.5, but SP1. I am using it on my dual-core desktop under Win98SE, it does not have the problem of sluggish file deletes, it supports 128-bit encryption for WPA, but it cannot display .mht web archives (Opera 9 can). If I remember right, SP1 does not yet have all that Active Desktop stuff, in any case there was a reason that I chose v5.5 SP1 over v5.5. v5.5 SP1 is probably the safest choice for Win9x if you don't use IE as your main browser, only as a system upgrade. It can be downloaded from http://browsers.evolt.org/download.php?/ie...sp1/ie55sp1.exe or http://download.oldapps.com/Internet_Explorer/ie55sp1.exe

This warning is not at the YouTube front page anymore. Instead they have posted an advertisement for Google Chrome:"Try YouTube in a new web browser! Download Google Chrome" Maybe the message about IE6 was just intended to make people download Google Chrome.

The corrected links is http://www.avast.com/eng/system-requirements-avast-home.html

The mule. It involves not installing those software components which are incompatible with Win9x. For example, the InstallShield installer of v10 does not work under Win95a, so a file-copy of the install-to of v10 created under Win98SE, together with the registry entries produced by installing v9 under Win95a, works fine under Win95a. Yes and no, .docx can be copied+pasted into Wordpad, then saved there as .rtf or as .doc with .rtf features. Some formatting (but not the content) is lost in the copying and paste process, such as the indents and numbering of paragraphs. I have attached the .rtf file with results from saving the copied+pasted MS Word 2007 High Level Test .docx testfile mentioned in my previous posting. Maybe the attached file can help in deciding whether it's worth while getting v10 of Dec2007 to work under Win9x.When the .docx testfile is printed under Win98SE with "Quick Print" (a feature of Quick View Plus 10), the numbering and indentation of the (hardcopy) printed paragraphs is Ok, no formatting seems to be lost. When you choose in Quick Print "Acrobat Distiller" (of Acrobat 5) as printer, a .pdf file is created from the .docx with correct numbering and indentation of the paragraphs, attached as "High_Level_Test.pdf" PS: Somehow the filename of the uploaded file "High level test file.rtf" was changed by the upload-process into "High_level_test_file.rtx", but the file is ok, it is identical to my original upload.

Quick View Plus v10 can be installed after some fiddling under Win98SE and works fine under Win98SE (displays, copies, pastes and prints) with docx, Open Office, MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint for Windows) thru 2007, MS Project 2003, EBCDIC and many other recent file formats. Tested for 3 months, no problems, fully Win98SE compatible. Quick View Plus v10 can also be installed under Win95a with a little more fiddling: Install v9 under Win95, then replace the install-to of v9 with the install-to of v10 created under Win98SE. Quick View Plus v10 works fine under Win95a/98SE with the docx testfile for MS Word 2007 High Level Test https://trac.library.oregonstate.edu/projec...vel%20Test.docx Quick View Plus v10 can also display PDF files up to format 1.6 (Acrobat 7), although the display isn't pretty and it doesn't have JPEG2000-JBIG Decoder suport. An essential tool for Win9x.

Yes. I had to weigh priorities, because Tiny v2.0.15 has a nice handling of peer networks, which Tiny v2.0.14 does not have. My feeling is that it's very difficult to defend against a trojan customized especially to your machine. Maybe one could fake that one is running WinXP or Vista and then hope that this customized trojan won't work under Win98.http://browserspy.dk/os.php is a good site to show what is easily seen of one's computer. Which are the best tools to pretend to be running a different operating system? Yes. "security through obscurity" is based on an economic argument which may not always hold: Criminals want to make money and going after a 0.1% of the potential market is not a money-making proposition. Governments are restricted by budgets: Spending big money on devoping something like a "Bundestrojaner" which covers only 0.1% of potential targets would need a special reason. Maybe some governments spend money to penetrate Arabic Windows operating systems; but Arabic Windows 98 is seriously flawed and hardly anybody still uses it, so it doesn't look like there is a ready source of budget funds for targeting Win98 under that category.One could stay away from popular applications. Removing which unneeded functionality from Win98 would make Win98 safer against customized trojans? Active desktop, webckeck.dll? Any suggestions? Is there a general faking tool which could pretend to have a range of popular (WinXP) applications installed, so that potential trojans fall into such a honeypot and crash Win98?

The dedicated laptop also serves as a print server computer, with the lid usually closed. It's up 24 hours a day. Since I use near-identical laptops, the only work to get another dedicated computer going is to clone a HDD, no additional support is required. Yes. I now remember that at least on 10 different occasions the mule requested to send email messages, then the firewall came up and then Win98 was frozen. I guess this botnet stuff didn't work so well under Win98 Good safe practicce.

Tiny Personal Firewall v2.0.14 (I prefer this v2.0.14 to the last version) can be downloaded with Firefox from http://web.archive.org/web/20011227140728/...PF_Build_14.exe Somehow FlashGet v1.65 couldn't download it today.BTW, there was another benefit of dumping ZoneAlarm v5.5: I have to run Norton Disk Doctor much less now. When shutting down with the power-off button, i.e. when Win98 was hung, ZoneAlarm caused damage to the file system, which NDD detected with the msg: "The following files have allocation errors: \windows\Internet Logs\tvDebug.log". Very often there were also lots of lost clusters.

Hi dencorso,,I don't (On second thoughts: maybe I do). I only make a backup after the final clean install of a new software package. Besides my original software CDs, downloads and data, I only backup \Windows\ and \Program Files\. During the installation of a software package I always choose an install-to location outside of \Program Files\, to keep \Program Files\ small (Exception: Kaspersky KIS6 must be installed to \Program Files\ otherwise an opsys restore turns a valid purchased key somehow into a blacklisted one, there must be a bug in their validation program). Currently the size of my rared up Win98 opsys backup (\Windows\ + \Program Files\) is 495MB. The install-to directory of a new clean software I backup separately, but only once. I have archived all my opsys backups and install-tos going back to Nov.2003. I can restore the system to basically any date between Nov.2003 and now. This helped me to trace the last infection to its origin, a respectable website (trojan spooner, in Jan 2004). I do restore obsessively, mostly the last clean opsys backup, maybe once every third day. It doesn't matter if I tread in murky or black waters, any stuff which gets thru and stays unnoticed, gets wiped out in a couple of days. Because my opsys backups are small, a restore takes less than 10 minutes, including the booting into WinXP, and then back into Win98. Regarding your problem with AVG: a) I went thru a similar problem when my ancient Kaspersky AVP v4.5 stopped working under Win98 in December 2008. My workaround was to purchase at ebay old unopened retail boxes of Kaspersky Internet Security/Kaspersky Anti-Virus v6.0.2.621, which is still supported under Win98. I bought a supply of 3 boxes=3 years of updates, in the hope that Kaspersky Lab will continue to supply signature updates under Win98, and that the 2 unused keys will still be accepted in the next 2 years. The keys of Kaspersky are version specific, i.e. a key for v9 does not work for v6. I don't know where else one could purchase keys of v6, maybe by calling up Kaspersky Labs in Moscow or in Brazil http://usa.kaspersky.com/about-us/contact-info/ . There are no valid v6 keys in dark channels. b ) Real-time scanning is not necessary under Win9x. On-demand scanning plus cautious practices are sufficient. c) Eventually there will be no more virus-scanning under Win98. This means that all on-demand scanning will have to be done from WinXP. Kaspersky KIS can scan across the Network. I am planning on 2 desktop boxes running at the same time, one under Win98, the other under WinXP, and both connected via LAN. 2 boxes under a desk, connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse via a KVM switch. People wishing to continue to use Win98 safely, will most likely have 2 options in 2-3 years: - either they multiboot and have Win98 and WinXP on their computer, checking Win98 from WinXP (or from another opsys) - or they set up a Win98/XP network, and scan their Win98 machine from a WinXP machine in the network

If you asked Eugene Kaspersky this question, he wouldn't answer you, even if he wanted to help you.BTW, did you know that there are collectors of viruses, just like stamp collectors? "I got a virus which you don't have, but I won't show you."

Have you checked whether the IPs came from the html/js files, or whether they came from a Win opsys file/registry?

Younger malware-writer may not know how to write Win98-compatible code anymore. There even is a keygen which displays under Win98 the hiliarious msg: "keygen.exe expects a newer version of Windows. Upgrade your Windows version." (That's where I got my first SNIP in this forum, probably because I mentioned also the program name) Anti-virus software has become lousy at disinfecting, and the disinfected stuff most likely won't work. About 6 years ago my Netscape mailbox was infected and I was able to clean it Ok with Emailchemy, by converting the virus-infected mailbox to RFC-822 message folders, then checking the RFC-822 files with Kaspersky AVP, then deleting/editing the flagged infected message files .txt with Notepad/Wordpad and finally converting the .txt message files to Eudora mailboxes. Format conversion software might be helpful in repairing infected files.

Hi Rick,I have Internet access via cable, and can only change my IP by changing the router MAC, about once every other week. Eventually internet connections may be stored for eternity, this may make it more difficult to tie all together.

I only use on-demand scanning, and I also reject real-time scanning. But the main problem is that it is getting difficult to do ANY virus checking under Win98, anti-virus vendors are dropping support for Win98. Food for thought. Nearly all the malware detected in my current downloads are trojans etc. But it's just a matter of how you call these critters. Kaspersky Anti-Virus would in this sense be a misnomer, since most of the stuff it detects are trojans. Myself, I quite often use the word 'virus' to mean 'trojans, etc', even if it's not correct. And when I run a virus-check, I am checking for all kinds of malware, not just for viruses. In my personal experience, firewall software has had only marginal value in protecting me from malware. The main use of firewall software is to protect me against nosy software vendors trying to call home.The best thing I have done for my computer in the last couple of months was to throw out ZoneAlarm v5.5 and install ancient Tiny Personal Firewall v2.0.14 instead, my computer has become REALLY crisp and fast afterwards. I disagree, unless you meant OS=open source/Linux. I consider my Win98SE system to be safer because I have tried to stay away from updates released after Sept.11, 2001 It has worked for me, because I have a long backlog. In general it's wise not to install dubious downloads for about 2-3 months, the signature updates eventually catch up with newer malware. Kaspersky doesn't have too many false positives. But that doesn't really matter, in most cases there are many sources for the same stuff, anything which Kaspersky flags as infected or which otherwise looks fishy, gets deleted.

2 days ago Autoruns v9.13 only tried to call come to the above IP, and I had repeated it quite a few times. Today, autoruns.chm tries to call home only to 64.4.52.169, port 80 - TCP. File hippo only goes back to Autoruns v8.53 of 10-Jul-2006. When checking the mule, the oldest version seen, with autoruns.chm in it, is v5.01 of 10-Sep-2004. This old v5.01 calls home to the same IP as v9.13. With both versions, whenever one selects Autoruns -> Help -> Help, autoruns.exe tries to call twice. Whenever one double-clicks on autoruns.chm, hh.exe tries to call home twice.The next lower version checked, v4.32 of 26-Jun-2004, did not have a menu selection ->Help -> Help and did not come with a .chm file, and did not call home either. So sometime between June and September 2004 the calling-home-feature was added, possibly starting with Autoruns v5.00. Maybe other software also had such a feature added after summer 2004. Autoruns v4.32 already detects webcheck.dll (but Autoruns v1.2 of 29-Sep-2000 does not). Since it's only a .chm file, it should be possible to identify what kind of information is being transmitted, probably nothing really important.

Kaspersky Internet Security v6.0.2.621 still updates fine under Win98SE as of today 5-May-2009

Thanks Queue. Autoruns v9.13 links fine to Process Explorer v11.11 http://www.filehippo.com/download_process_explorer/3854/ under Win98SE. http://www.filehippo.com/ looks like an authorized site with lots of freeware.procexp.chm of Process Explorer v11.11 calls home to 64.4.52.169, port 80 - TCP