Sweet William

Really bad rendering problem with text editors using Scintilla control. The control is used in Notepad++, Scite, Notepad2, and a whole lot more tools. The problem is inserted strings of spaces, particularly when font characteristics change within a line. The problem will be easy for you to spot, just load some source code into Notepad++ and you'll see it. At least the source code for Scintilla is available. Hope you can find a solution because the problem really is a deal breaker. -- Bill

WOW! Thanks heaps.

OK, I downloaded version 1.1.5 and ... Can't find any mention of installation procedures in the archive or this thread. Unfortunately I'm neither psychic nor clairvoyant so I'm going to need some help here. If someone would divulge this little secret, I promise I won't tell a soul. TIA

Rick, In June 2008 the AutoPatcher files were .zip archives. No problem. Now they return after the site had been down for a while as Innosetup installers which are opaque to my AVS. These are new packages. If Soporific only wanted a self-extractor, why use Innosetup? There are heaps of others and they are not opaque to AVS. I do not believe that Soporific would be responsible for any nasty that found its way into a packege that he generated. Once it is placed on the server it is vulnerable to hacking. That is so obvious I feel foolish even stating it. Here is another quote to add to your little list. I think it is a beauty. "Have you even tried just Running them?" CUL8R

"Make an opaque installer when a self-extracting archive would do the job." That is the second dummest idea I've encountered recently and it won't wash. The dummest is a real doozey. Get a load of this! Don't you just love it? Thanks, guys, for being part of the internet. Your presence means so much to me and the black hats. You provide them with a preconditioned crop to be harvested at leasure and low cost and simultaneously ensure my humble security precautions are more than sufficient to define me as an unprofitable target. If more than a few of you realise there is no such thing as a "trusted source", the black hats will ... Nah! It'll never happen. Now, where are my golf clu...

I don't like packages I can not get into and I can't get into these. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I Trust No One! Suggestion: if you must package in an installer then use one that can be opened with winzip. Question: how does the upgrade pack relate to the final pack? Just how are these packages meant to be installed. I know writing documentation is not kewl but ... Whatever idea you had in your head is quite safe, it didn't escape to the wider world. TBB opaque packaging with no explanation goes in the bit bucket. That is not a threat, so please don't be a "wannabea victim" and respond as if it is. It is how I manage my system. If I could get into the packages I would not have to waste time with this message. -- Sweet William

Hi Guys, When unicows is installed, should it be placed in windows/system or windows/system32? I got an official M$ installer and it suggested windows/temp! Also is registration required with regsvr32 /i ? It seems a lot of people have trouble with the location of this dll and I wondered if not registering it was the problem. In one forum a user put it in system32 and his app was able to find it. Maybe that was a 2k/XP app. In the install notes for kernelEx 3.? it says that unicows is needed but doesn't say where to put it. cul8r

Hi Herbalist, there are a number of things I don't like/trust about online virus scanning. Where I am in Oz we have limited bandwith so downloading a scanner and database each time I want to check for a virus is out of the question, financially at least. Any significant amount of cloud computing stuff is not going to happen here for quite a while. Another question is "how do you protect yourself from site hijacking?" It happens to banking sites and such so an online virus scanner seems like a pretty inviting target for exploitation. Sure the connection would be SSL but certificates have been spoofed and the incentive for the bad guys to find a way in is in the mega-buck range. Can you imagine the damage if such a site was compromised for even a day? Personally, there is enough to be thinking/concerned about surfing the net. I _never_ do internat banking because of site spoofing and the like. That might be considered paranoid but I'm old (and proud of it) and I'm allowed! ;-) That attack on routers you mentioned is a serious threat but I don't think to me. I'm running a relatively obscure router (Siemens 4200), I turned off its PnP facility, and 98SE doesn't support the technology. I tested the system with UPnP from GRC.COM and got a clean bill of health, so here's hoping. I've recently prchased an EEE PC901 with XP and I'm quite undecided about letting it anywhere near the internet, it is just so vulnerable. On ClamWin, I just downloaded a new version, installed it, and deleted it. It went off into na-na land on it's first run. Ok, my system has become a bit flakey and is due for a rebuild, but I don't think it is that unstable yet. Probably another oss project compiled with an M$ compiler. Combine all that with a ui that has not improved in the last 12 months. The project manager needs a swift kick. Scratch ClamWin for now. On browsers, I'm probably being impatient with SeaMonkeys speed but it is noticably slower than the current Opera and I don't like the way they run the project. Their bug fixing is spotty; they fix visible security bugs immediately, as they must or go under overnight, but other things like cookie management, which was broken in v1, ignored in v2, has only now been fixed in v3 or so I'm told. Basic Mozilla browsers seem pretty limited in functionality because if you want some necessary feature you have to install a plugin. NoScript as a plugin? Give me a break! And have you seen the code implementing these plugins? It's b....y pathetic. Talk about script kiddies. The plugin system in Opera seems better conceived than in Mozilla stuff. Take the FlashBlock thingy. It consists of a piece of CSS and a piece of JScript that are injected into the web page when it loads and executed before control is passed to any embedded stuff. My understanding is that their whole plugin system is based on this concept. Seems to work OK. For me, their configuration management is better organised and accessible. It ain't perfect but, in an age of mediocrity, it ain't bad either.

Herbalist, this responce has been prepared offline because Opera decided to have a page fault while I was writing a reply online. Rather than quoting I'll do this in point form. Avira and anti-virus s/w: You are right. Avira has dropped 9x support. I should have opened the manual before my mouth. I'll still use it on my XP machine. I think ClamAV is likely to be the only option available to 9x users in the not too distant future. If they have a good project leader, there is no reason why that app should not continue to improve and become quite significant. The problems I had with ClamWin was unreliable updates. Realtime virus scanning is necessary for neophytes but experienced users should not require it. Root kits and trogans are of greater concern and require constant vigilance. Luckily for us, the 9x users, for the most part the creators of this malware are concentrating on XP/Vista vulnerabilities because that is where the money is and, ethics aside, these guys are professional in every sense of the word. Script kiddies are no longer the problem they once were although, I have no doubt, they are still there. That said, I would like to scan some (all) of the old software packages I download for my 98SE. I don't like the idea of online virus scanning. Isn't that the ultimate example of an oxymoron? When it's all said and done, if the web gets too dangerous for 9x then I'll do all my surfing with a Linux live cd. Let's see the b......s get that! Opera and browsers: Compared to the other browsers I've tried, warts and all, Opera is streets ahead of the rest. Repeated page faults is the most significant problem I have experienced. I'll put this one down to the compiler and libraries they use. At least it does not take the system down with the traditional BSOD. The next most significant seems to come from their implementation of the DOM which manifests as a failure to display a page when scripting is _on_ and yet works fine when it is _off_. I can't believe they got the ECMA scripting engine wrong; it's too well documented. I think their slavish belief in defined standards (by W3C) is their undoing. Despite the above, Opera is far, far faster and, for me and the way I like to work, the interface is far superior to IE, Firefox, or Seamonkey. UI appreciation is purely subjective so I don't expect agreement. I'm happy to tolerate its self destructive tendancies.

Herbalist, you are right. I have been running IE 5.5SP2 with the zones rearranged as you suggest for a number of years now and it works. I also use "Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 PowerTweaks Web Accessory" which adds 2 options to the Tools menu to add the current domain to either trusted or restricted zones. That makes surfing pretty painless. I'd still be using the old IE but it does not handle a lot of web 2.0 sites and I was unable to find a way of controlling flash intrusions. I now use Opera with a little add-on to control the flash and it works when it doesn't crash! I also use a software firewall (Outpost 1.0) behind a nat router. If anyone thinks that is belt and suspenders then I say "they're my pants". I dont run a virus scanner at the moment but I'm about to try out the free version of Avira. Great thread; the best ever.

Hi, Here's my take on the problem. Wi-Fi refers to wireless LAN or 802.11x Wireless refers to HSDPA over the mobile phone network which is a WAN or alternatively you can subscribe to the "Alice in Wonderland School of English" and mix them up to your own satisfaction and the utter confusion of everyone -- Sweet William

Thanks guys, I'm looking for a solution similar to Go2MyPC but free. Have been trying to get PCHelpWare working but their documentation really is the pits. -- Sweet William

Hi guys, I'm looking for remote support software for 98SE. No commercial crap and nothing you haven't used successfully yourself. Here's hoping, -- Sweet William

Hey 98GUY, Granted, you can run your system any way you like and so can everyone else. I can't even begin to imagine what spawned some of the points you express. I'm just glad you are not my sys admin. -- Sweet William

Never heard of this and can't find any prior mention in this thread. -- Sweet William

Must be a slow day! This topic has become a total waste of space. Someone should learn what "security by obscurity" means before using the phrase. As for the rubbish about the post title breaching rule 12. I would suggest finding a remedial English course and enrolling for about 10 years! Thanks to XP/Vista freaks and illiterates, this forum is becomming less and less useful or relevant.

I feel a lot better now that I know I'm not the only one who has experienced this. Your question prompted a Yahoo search and I found this site which looks very interesting. http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php I haven't tried it yet but I'm impressed with the quality of their documentation and it is supposed to work on 9x. I hope we both have success. -- Sweet William

Hi folks, What I'm about to tell you is so strange even I don't believe it. I setup a usb thumb drive with a bootable Linux install. Next I enter the bios config and under the hard disk boot options (3 of them, hard disk, usb drive, and plugin cards) and select boot from usb and save the new config. I reset the computer insert the thumb drive and boot to Linux. Pretty good I thought. Everything is fine and I'm a happy chappy. Some time later after a number of windows sessions I insert the thumb drive again and reboot to run another (the second) Linux session. The system doesn't boot from the thumb drive but goes straight through to windows on the hard drive. Not good! Reboot and enter the bios setup, select the hdd boot options. Are you ready? There are only 2 options available: the hard disk and plugin cards That's right! The boot from usb option is no longer in the menu! My question is "has any one encountered this sort of thing before"? TIA Sweet William

Thank You I Googled it and didn't find that one. Just three references to this thread. Sometimes Google sucks! But this is great. It even has the source code in Delphi. I can't thank you enough, Sweet William

I know this thread is 2 years old but has anyone seen COA2.EXE recently. The link to the .ch site does not produce anything meaningful to me. Sweet William

Is IE 5.5 any better?Do you have a version of IE6 which is definitively pre-Sebt.2001? I only have v6.0.2600.0000IC which (according to my personal download notes) I downloaded from MS on 20-Sebbt.2001 "Internet Explorer 6.0 was released on August 27, 2001" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer I'm curious. What is the significance of IE6 pre or post Sept 2001? Sweet William

True, they are better organized. All I want from cookie management is blocking of third-party cookies. Too many sites use unnecessary first party cookies but I can live with that. There is an obvious selection in configuration that says "Accept cookies from originating site only" so I selected it. In this current session I've acquired a cookie from Twitter and I've only visited MSFN. GRC is currently doing testing on cookie related problems and the test there shows all avenues for cookies are open! Try this link http://grc.com/cookies/forensics.htm. Initially I thought the popup blocking was ok until I closed the browser one day and found a big "pop-under" so that system is flawed as well. Even when IE6 is tightened up and secured as well as it can be, it still has one major problem. Anything that compromises IE also compromises the OS, because IE is part of the OS. That integration is Windows biggest security problem because it exposes the OS to the internet. I have to agree that using an alternate browser is the easiest way to prevent most of the internet garbage from getting into your OS. It's been a repeating story, sites that rip IE6 apart can be visited with an alternate browser with no problems. Only one of the OS I use has Internet Explorer installed. The only way it's allowed to connect to the web is through Proxomitron. Rick I've tried IE6 sp1 (2 different installs) and it spat the dummy on some sites that are important to me. Sent that one to the bit bucket. IE 5.5 sp2 has no problems on those same sites. The big danger with IE (all versions) is active-x and allowing it to be downloaded from web sites. Pages can download nothing! If a web master develops a site needing some control that is not already part of the OS then he/she is in the wrong business. Scripting and active-x are also turned off for all but selected sites. The zone system allows me to have 3 levels of security. The internet zone is water tight. Nothing but plain html and css. The restricted zone allows a little bit extra like cookies and scripting. Trusted zone allows some active-x as well. A kit of tools I got from M$ allows me to quickly add sites to the restricted or trusted zones. I can't understand anyone surfing the net without a (big) hosts file. In Australia, most people have down load (and upload) limits so I don't want half a dozen banner ads etc. for every page I visit. Based on what I read on the Seamonkey web site, I don't think the suite is going to be of much use to us as 9X users for much longer. They are planning major changes which amount to a Major rewrite that is very likely to break 9X compatibility. I've just found a new Linux live cd so I think I may use that for my web surfing in future. I still like 9x for my development work better than anything I've tried. Have a nice day, Sweet William.

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Hi, I'm inclined to agree with you, partially. 98SE is the best I have found, I don't use real time virus scanning or any other malware detection but I do run a humungus hosts file and IE5.5sp2 c/w Outlook Express is locked down tight so I haven't seen any nasties (on my system) in the last 10 years. Proper use of security zones is important with IE. I've been trying Seamonkey lately and IE is easier to lock down. Cookie management in Seamonkey simply does not work. I'm also doubtful about its popup blocking. Everyone here is pretty savvy so I don't see why IE should be proving problematic. Sweet William

Hi, The quote above is not really relevant. I wanted to draw your attention to your signature. The link to the unattended boot cd does not work and a search does not find the thread. Can you update that link, please? I'm almost there but not quite. TIA Sweet William.