osRe

There's no need to have the same user name and password. Accessing Win98 from XP should be no problem. The other way around may need some more settings, but isn't too complex to do if needed.

I use 98SE on older hardware. For newer computers XP is preferable, despite its many disadvantages. Likable features of 9x: it's more responsive, faster, uses less resources. It's much easier to fix (no NTFS, simpler registry backup/restore, etc.). There's less unknowns running in the background doing who knows what and sometimes causing problems. I also like being able to rename directories even when there are open handles to files inside. There are some things which are "less broken" in 9x compared with XP, but these can probably be replaced with 3rd party alternatives or fixed that way or another. I just still haven't invested enough time to get there on XP. Booting it from the CD is so excruciating (and so 1980). And it's not very useful at all. Some Linux LiveCDs are probably a better choice for fixing XP.

And it's gone just as abruptly as it came. A mystery.

You'd probably love that Atom-based ASUS computer. With an explicitly low-power CPU I expected it to have no fans, but that's not the case. So, my quest for a noiseless computer is still not over, but it'd be perfect for you noise lovers (and save power while at it).

You could try checking a disassembly of the file. Not much code in there.

I'm in the clear then.

That's interesting. Is it really noticeable in non-Flash content? The media likes to make a big fuss over trivial matters. It's even less critical for us since we aren't computer illiterates who unwittingly stumble across the web. In all my Windows history I've probably only had 2-3 cases where odd randomly-named EXEs appeared and were set to load during startup. They didn't seem to cause any effect and weren't much trouble to remove.How often does one venture into suspicious sites anyway? When I do it's usually with ActiveX disabled and possibly also scripting. And Win9x is much less of a target than XP. Of course, there's nothing wrong with better security. I'm just saying it shouldn't be taken out of proportion. By the way, server-side security is an entirely different matter. The issue here is client-side. Worrying about insidious hacking of existing websites that'd wreak havoc on client computers... I don't think I've ever heard of something like that transpiring. (Phishing attemps are something else, not that I've witnessed any [unless you count silly spam messages a la "Bank of America alert: must validate identity!!!1"]).

Thanks for the suggestions. The problem is none of the above. Fragmentation does not cause delays of many seconds (with no HDD activity) during startup. The NIC has a static IP (and it's most likely too early in the boot process to be related). SMARTDRV.EXE loads after the long delay. I tried disabling it anyway, but it didn't help. (Why would SMARTDRV cause delays actually?)

Never encountered this. Sounds a bit like 4-bit color mode, but even with that it'd normally look okay. Can you show a screenshot?

Since a few days ago I have a long delay during Win98SE startup (right at the beginning). BOOTLOG.TXT shows 0x190 time units between the stuff executed in AUTOEXEC.BAT and "Loading Vxd = VMM". Removing CONFIG.SYS and cleaning up AUTOEXEC.BAT didn't help. I also removed some non-present devices in safe mode just in case, to no avail. There's been no hardware changes, nor real software changes I can think of. Any idea what might be the cause? Initially there was also a second delay near the end of startup, after the logo screen is dismissed. BOOTLOG says it was 0x25B time units between "Enumerated Standard Floppy Disk Controller" and "Loading PNP drivers of Realtek RTL8139...". Not sure if it means the floppy, the NIC, or potentially something else. It's gone now, though. (Relevant changes may or may not have been: disabling and re-enabling the floppy controller, the NIC, removing random UNC paths from the registry, unchecking the checkbox that allows the OS to turn off the NIC to save power.)

How are recent DX9 versions useful for 9x, actually? Won't the new software that might make use of it or need it probably not run on 9x anyway?

Faster in what sense?One thing I did notice in the past was that Q905915 made a certain version of the MSDN Lib I had installed (CHM based) take long to switch pages. Nor overestimated. I do assume in general that newer equals better, but security fixes aren't my prime concern. In what instances did you find them that crucial? I know, but I didn't think it would offer more than what you can download from the KB links. I did visit it actually, but it didn't work (maybe some browser settings). Thanks. I didn't know that file held interesting info. Can be both. And actually I'm not sure what's the difference between these two words. It seems to me "last" could be "previous" and in some cases "final", but also just "most recent". Latest is just "more recent", so it seems the less ambiguous choice.

Thanks. What's exactly the deal with those "repacked" drivers? Was it just an installer that refused to continue if 9x is detected even though the actual DLLs work fine? How could anyone know for sure 9x is fully compatible? Is there no place to find the latest official update? It's not like I have issues with the older version I currently use, so if to upgrade, I'd rather go with the safer route.

My experience with ATI was a Radeon DDR which I've used for a while. Other than that it's been nVidia TNT, TNT2, FX5200. I disliked ATI's drivers. It's a mess. Unclear versioning scheme (Did you know that Catalyst 5.2 is also known as v8.03.98.3-050117a-021000e? . Messy installer (I think I ultimately had to manually install the drivers). Standalone driver control software. I vaguely remember a problem with full screen DOS. NV's installation is much smoother and their versioning makes more sense. (But their video support is an issue, and having to use different drivers for different games is stupid at best. But maybe ATI suffers from that too, I don't know.)

Maybe about a day. (I don't leave the computer on while I sleep, and I tend to do that almost every day.)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm reluctant to use anything that's more than the bare minimum, particularly mixing different replacements DLLs/modified ones. Also I'm hesitant to use patched DLLs without knowing the details on what was changed. Indeed alternative file managers may be the best way to go (a will also be useful with XP whose shell is even worse). So far I haven't found one that I liked, but maybe I haven't look hard enough. For now I'll just stick with using del or deltree.

Is it possible just to replace the single offending DLL, and are there no negative side-effects? And hasn't someone ever figured out what in the last official DLL causes this?

Setting up a new Win98SE install I couldn't find how to enable "Selective Text" for Explorer's toolbars (not IE), useful for having a wider "Back" button. As I do have it enabled on another computer I tried to see what I've done there. While at it, I switched "Text Labels" on then off again, and now "Selective Text" is gone also for my own OS. Any idea how to enable it? Edit: I've managed to do it manually by changing IE's toolbar setting, seeing how it affects the registry value, then applying the same under Explorer's key (which appears to be ShellBrowser and not Explorer): In HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\ShellBrowser\ITBarLayout changing the byte at offset 0x0C from 0x32 to 0x34 did it. Though, if anyone knows the "official" way to change this setting for Explorer I'd still be interested to know.

My usual video player for Win9x is Crystal Player 1.85 (older version). It's lacking some features and has a few annoyances, but overall I find it the most comfortable (after changing the default skin . Some random points: Pros: * Better at handling maxed CPU (that's why I switched to using it from RadLight 3). * On-the-fly switching of rendering mode (Overlay, VMR, etc.) * Nice built-in subtitles rendering (*.sub has some issues though). * Shift subtitles sync with hotkeys. * Dropped frames stats. Cons: * Troublesome seeking. * Doesn't support >2GB files. * Audio shifting increments a bit too coarse (100ms).

Thanks for the information.

Is there a fix for Explorer getting stuck after deleting or moving a large number of files? (Started with one of the IE6/SP1 updates, and I think the problem was somewhere in SHDOCVW.DLL or BROWSEUI.DLL). I saw references to using mixed DLLs from IE5.5 to solve it, but I'm looking for a fix leaving the IE6 DLLs.

Does anyone know where to find the KB916281 update for 9x? I only found some newer, unofficial, updates here, but I'd rather use the latest official.