cannie

I´m using Bluetooth Anycom 2.0 USB-250 since a year ago. I bought it with Windows 98 CD drivers and runs perfect.

Have you noticed that Windows 98 never "calls home" at start, before the firewall is installed? That is its exclusive advantage against all NT present OS. You are the real owner of your computer. But remember that "what is good for the hare is not good for the hound". There are almost no technical difficulties in most of the cases, but excuses to impose you almost by force the backdoors, and this way they make users go wherever they want. Every new OS and most of shareware use the calling home procedure in their own interests, not yours. Some "freeware" is in fact paid, in a different way not always told to the user. I wonder who is the pirate nowadays. BTW I am writing this using Windows 98 and Maxthon 2.1.0.1878 installed normally a year ago. If I try to reinstall it using the same Maxthon 2.1.0.1878 install program that I keep on my HD it is impossible now, because it calls home before the install process is ended and the program "maxthon.exe" is killed by Maxthon. If I don't reinstall it but use a copy of the previously installed program preserved in a .rar file instead, it works normally. The articially limited Windows 98 SE is today a privilege, even more if you doubleboot. Well, there's always the Linux solution, but until now this is almost a monopoly.

You are right. I forgot to say that after my first experience I have different partitions for each OS, using doubleboot. Even so, I have needed in some occasions (not so frequently as before) the .rar file to rebuild Windows 98 because of an abnormal behavior of the old OS, not existing any apparent motive for it. BTW: having a simple copy of the XP windows\system32\config files (you need: default, sam, security, software, system and userdiff, only the ones without any extension) into a folder at a different drive allows you to repair XP registry in seconds using Windows 98. You only have to delete all the windows\system32\config existing files and copy in their place the saved ones. HTH

I loaded Kernelex and had no problems until now. It is great!

Maybe the disk is unformatted or logically but not physically damaged. A good partitioning of the HD and formatting is needed to use Windows 98, already before the installing procedure (it is not neeeded to install XP because format is included in the install process). Partitioning and formatting may be made in different ways, but assuming you would rather know the easiest way I'll try to explain it to you. First you must put the jumpers in main disk mode, install and connect the HD and then boot using a DOS boot floppy and type: fdisk Using the options that the program gives to you, create a primary partition and make it active. You may create also an extended partition and several logical units. After it you must close fdisk, re-boot your computer using the floppy again and type: format c: If you chose to create also other logical units in the extended partition you must format the same way all them. After that you may install Windows 98 in the normal way. Alternatively, if you already have Windows 98 installed in another HD and you want to use the new HD as main you must change the jumpers to slave mode and put this HD as slave of the other and copy the old installation. Don't forget that for using the recovered HD as master you must first change the jumpers again to master mode before moving it into the master place, and then boot using the DOS floppy and type: fdisk/mbr sys a: c: Now you withdraw the floppy and start in the normal way, and everything must work OK. HTH

Wrong entry when trying to edit the precedent post to modify some unadequate words. Please disregard.

In the old times we appreciated something called "decency". This word has been substituted by "profit". "Whores were always better paid than nones". We are now suffering the economic consequences of the change. It is said that the crisis is due to the "lack of confidence". It really means "lack of decency", and not only in the computing sector. Somebody said: "If the truth is not respected, your neighbor is not respected and help is always an interested word, life becomes a real shame". Happy Christmas Time and New Year to you all!

Those links give you the tools to create a big virtual disk to run Windows 9x from Ramdisk, but are not exactly what I mean, that is to run your whole, own and personal installed version of Windows 98 from Ramdisk without using at any moment any HD. I'll keep trying it and if the results are positive I'll post it here. @charly An excellent work. I enjoy doing this kind of things. Thank you both.

Hi jaclaz! Evidently also system.dat and user.dat and also all .ini files. Thanks for your links, they mean different ways to approach the same idea, but none of them reaches the point in which you don't use the HD in any moment, working exclusively from the memory, as a substitute to virtualizing from any other OS. Maybe it is impossible under Win98. But nobody knows. If I find a solution I'll post it here.

By using the cloning procedure described in the first post of this thread, I wonder if it would be possible to run Windows 98 SE without using at any moment the HD whenever you have at least 512 GB memory, the following way: Step 1.- Copy C:\ Windows to a different unit, and change every mention to C: into Z: (or any other non existing unit), so we shall have Z:\Windows, totally installed. We may check it by changing all mentions to C:\Windows into Z:\Windows in the Autoexec.bat, Config.sys and Msdos.sys files. Step 2.- Zip it, including the Io.sys, Command.com, Autoexec.bat, Config.sys and Msdos.sys files in the root. Step 3.- Make a bootable CD using DOS containing the zip file, and instead of the 2048 bytes virtual drive created normally by the Config.sys file generate a bigger one, about 256 GB, giving to it the same drive letter, in which you could unzip that file and run Windows afterwards. Step 4.- Booting from the CD, unzip the file in the newly created virtual drive and afterwards start win.exe in the normal way. Well, I have the idea but don't know how to do it. Maybe it has already been made, maybe not and maybe it is impossible. Any information or idea about it will be welcome.

Thanks, jaclaz, for your kind advice. Merry Christmas!

Moved to the first post of this thread.

I've heard in the news the price recently paid for a Harley-Davidson model 1965 (about 35.000 $). Old doesn't mean bad, only that there are all kinds of interests in forcing users forward to buy and buy and buy....and pay the consequent taxes. The "improvements" are essentially delivered, and even imposed in many cases, in the interest of the manufacturers, with minimal legal restraints, all over the world. I appreciate this forum because it is the only one I've found in which you are not considered to be a donkey for the only fact of saying that you are a Windows 98 user. This OS nevertheless has been valid for a whole generation, has thousands of apps in the Internet and in the HD of many of us, many of them freeware, and even with its artificial resource limits is not the continuous BSOD it was in 1998 but a very stable one. Nowadays it is also no doubt the best friend to clean, repair or restore from scratch XP when you use both in the same computer. Thank you, MSFN! And merry Christmas to you all!

When I first installed XP on doubleboot many of the old .lnk and .pif links were deactivated by the install program, being redirected to unexisting programs in the Documents and Settings folder, and I had to rebuild them. When installing XP apps it happened to me frequently that several .dll or .sys files dissapeared from the old Windows\System folder, even when none of them affected to the apparent normality of Windows 98, which only was apparent because afterwards I had problems when running specific old programs. No viruses at all in any of the cases, but the results of the installer program. I think it is good to post it here so that any newcomer to doubleboot takes good care of saving .rar or .zip backup files of everything on CD before installing XP or new XP apps, in special the ones using Java. HTH

By definition, anything made by a great corporation and given to you as "freeware" is always paid by somebody else, and that someone's interests and not yours are the main motive for any "improvement". He who pays is the only one who deserves an explanation. You may eventually be the scapegoat if you are naïve. That's why I always keep a .rar or .zip backup on CD of the OS before introducing any main changes: you never know the real truth but afterwards, and it may be too late if you "burn your ships after landing", as it happens since a year ago to many people after buying a new preinstalled computer. That's also the reason why I doubleboot and will never abandon Windows 98 for as long as I can. You may always rebuild any of both from scratch using the other.

Hi, Drugwash, here I am once again: I have installed u7 following your instructions and it works perfect, no problem at all in my comp. If I had only known it earlier it would have saved me a lot of time and efforts. Thank you very much!

BTW I wonder, if the update is valid for W98 and we are really being compelled to abandon it and buy new soft/hardware, what confidence may we have it the content of the update itself? Maybe the prevailing interest in the "improvements" which are introduced in this "freeware" is not exactly a better service to the user.

IMO it is the MS update what caused the problem. Not the first time that things of this kind happen.

Can you be more specific? IMO the MS update caused the problem.

Mind your steps!

After reading your posts at last I came to the conclusion that my registry had been altered by a registry cleaner that I used long ago To repair the damage the procedure has been as follows: 1.- I made a simple fresh install of Windows 98 in drive H (to be deleted afterwards), loaded Java 5.17 without any problem at all (in an external own folder D:\Java). It worked OK. 2.- I got all references in the registry concerning to the word "Java" using Registry Crawler and with them I created the text file "java.reg" 3.- I edited this file using Notepad++, to change every mention to H:\\Windows into D:\\Windows. 4.- I deleted all the newly created C:\ root files, restored my old ones and booted normally D:\Windows. 5.- I opened Registry Crawler, searched all mentions to Java in the D:\Windows registry and deleted them. Then I clicked once on "java.reg" to introduce in it the new values. Everything worked OK. 6.- Having doubleboot, I edited java.reg again to change all mentions to D:\\Windows into C:\\Windows (my XP directory) and all mentions to \\System\\ into \\System32\\. 7.- I booted Windows XP unit C:\, I opened Registry Crawler, searched all mentions to Java in the registry, deleted all, and afterwards I clicked once on "java.reg". Everything is working OK now also on XP. The problem is over now. Thanks to you all for your help!

I can't, using the same adress. I wonder if I may have deleted anything in my comp which is needed to use the new versions. It is strange, because the difficulty occurs not only using Windows 98 but also under XP (doubleboot). Thank you oc_dt, rainyd and 98Guy!

I use the Java 1.5.0.07, which I can install or uninstall with no probems at all, but am not able to load any version after that. Java works perfect, but for some apps like Limewire it is neccesary to install the 1.5.0.17. I've followed all instructions given by Sun, but no results at all. Anybody has had this experience? How did you sort it out? Thanks.

I've been using maxthon 2 since the first version, and I'm using it just now. Incredibly, if I try to install anew this same version using the install file I keep on a CD, it calls home at start and at install the program is deactivated. No problem at all if I use the same copy while running XP. This is an example of the "calling home policy" and that's why whenever possible I always use old versions coming from a time before that "generous" policy was invented, no matter if I use Win98 or XP (doubleboot).

I feel happy for as long as the old programs and the old drivers keep being available. In the old times "new" meant always better for the user, but today you never know the reason hidden behind many "improvements". In fact, when working with Windows 98 I always prefer any old version made before 2007 than the new ones. There are many interests in forcing Windows 98 users, and very soon also Windows XP users, to throw away their machines and buy and buy and buy.... Business is business.