Wunderbar98

Did quick tests three trials each with/out loading SMARTDRV.EXE via AUTOEXEC.BAT then downloading @Deomsh's speedtest link below. The rational is that SMARTDRV.EXE is supposed to help with disk performance so read/writes maybe faster during downloads, browsing, bookmark management. I know SMARTDRV.EXE makes a big difference when issuing DELTREE commands, for example, in DOS. Surprisingly, however, the download trials were consistently slower with SMARTDRV.EXE loaded. In fact, running without SMARTDRV.EXE loaded was found to be 34% faster. Download speed numbers were obtained by downloading the 100MB.zip file for an elapsed time of 60 seconds then recording the documented average speed. Just some quick lay-person testing, but still :( http://speedtest.tele2.net/100MB.zip Reminds me of the 'Turbo' button on an old 486, it doesn't actually make the system faster, just prevents it from running slower! Since SMARTDRV.EXE does make a difference when managing files in DOS i will continue to load it manually as needed, just not during Links sessions.

Thank-you for your response @Gansangriff. Ah the sinking feeling of failed hardware, knowing it will never run again. I've never been traumatized by hardware but did receive a give-away Pentium 4 motherboard/CPU combo once that lost a power supply after brief usage. Replaced the power supply and the replacement died shortly after. Lost faith in the board/CPU so it was sent to recycling. To me the first power up is a little stressful after a 'new' Frankenstein build, usually works out okay though. Sad about the dead HPs @RainyShadow and strange how old glue can become conductive. I've seen the glue inside my power supplies, looks like hot glue. As an aside, purged unenhanced Firefox_2.0.0.20.exe and dillo-win32-3.0p9.exe from my hoard. To me any browser that can't connect to most sites is no longer useful. For anyone new running vanilla Windows 98, see 'Vanilla Windows 98 Web Browsing Summary' for several browsers that still work quite well. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/33/?tab=comments#comment-1189203 Unfortunately youtube-dl does not work in vanilla Windows 98 but i see some advanced users got it to run with the help of kernel extensions. If anyone's interested, youtube-dl recently experienced a lot of drama. Been chipping away on a new 9xweb release, probably within the next couple weeks. https://github.blog/2020-11-16-standing-up-for-developers-youtube-dl-is-back/ Since playing DOS oldies even my (slow) 800 MHz system greatly exceeds system requirements. Having experimented with a couple slow down programs recently (MoSlo and SLOWDOWN), seems your mileage will vary and there are lots of variables related to hardware and system configuration. Wish i had an old 386 or 486 kicking around to play the speed sensitive games as intended. A nice summary of slowdown utilities some may find useful. http://www.sierrahelp.com/Utilities/SlowdownUtilities.html As expected MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat installed perfectly from CD, both the DOS and Windows 95 versions. The DOS install allows gameplay resolution up to 1024x768 while the Windows 95 version only up to 640x480. Yes there are tons of patches out there, just want to play it vanilla if possible. Dumb luck, i apparently purchased one of the desirable releases years ago (see screenshot link below). Hope to play it through around Christmas time, read the back story, etc. This DOS/Windows 95 release is a real hassle to get running in Windows XP, all hail DOS! http://mech2.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=281 http://mech2.org/forum/download/file.php?id=593 For me operating giant mechs never gets old. If anyone's interested 'The entire Tribes series, including its predecessors Earthsiege and Starsiege, are free to download from the series' official website, Tribes Universe, thanks to Hi-Rez Studios.' https://www.polygon.com/2015/10/30/9646074/tribes-free-downloads-pc-ps2 Below is the official Tribes Universe link. In RetroZilla change View -> Use Style -> None to properly access the site and download links. I couldn't get Earthsiege (1994) running in DOS but did find a way to run Earthsiege II (1995) in Windows without having to burn Earthsiege2.iso to CD. It's pretty basic but if anyone's interested in my notes just send a PM. https://www.tribesuniverse.com/

Thanks for the post RainyShadow, hope you eventually finish the game. Make time gosh darn it, life is short. For me it's been fun to finish some games i've waited too long to play. Some are more fun that others, of course. Some anti-climactic, my life would not have been any less complete without them, did that make sense :) Recently rebuilt and thoroughly cleaned an old tower that sweetly runs Windows XP and Devuan Ascii (Debian 9). The hardware is a circa 2001 Giga-Byte motherboard, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Coppermine processor, 512 MB RAM, Intel i810 graphics, AC'97 sound, D-Link ethernet. If the Windows XP install dies hope to convert it to Windows 98. IIRC the system requirements for Windows XP were decent for older hardware. Huge jump in minimum system requirements with Vista onward, don't have the hardware for any of these more modern Windows OS'. Probably been over two years since this hardware was rebuilt. Want to do it every year but never enough time, guess it depends on the computing environment and runtime. If possible try to complete a rebuild in one session, makes it much easier to remember screws and connections, etc when re-assembling. With a decent work area and basic tools a thorough job takes 1-2 hours, especially if the power supply is opened and the processor is re-seated. The system has performed well for many years, nothing special with the rebuild. Highly recommend anyone with old hardware always clean out the power supply unit. Quite simple, don't need to worry about voiding a warranty. Just four screws to remove the power supply unit from the tower, another two screws usually opens up the actual power supply. Vacuum brush or blow out the dust to restore air flow and proper cooling. Dust is the enemy as it restricts airflow and acts as an insulator which contributes to overheating, hardware death and is a fire hazard. Ensure the fan blades are clean and turn freely, occasionally a half-drop of bearing oil if the fan is noisy or problematic. One of the main board capacitors is beginning to leak, will keep an eye on it. Two of the 4 pin peripheral power cable connectors from the power supply no longer fit tightly when connected to hard drives. This can lead to problems if the drive loses power during runtime due to thermal expansion, including data loss. This was improved by inserting a small jewelers screwdriver shaft between the plastic plug and the metal prong to re-crimp the prong tighter. Now it fits more snuggly when plugged into a hard drive. http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#peripheral Everything was disconnected, inspected, cleaned and re-seated. Noticed one data cable had a cockeyed connection to a hard drive, the pins were inspected and nothing was bent, oopsy now fixed. There was some corrosion on one of the two RAM module contacts, cleaned with a cotton cloth and Isopropyl alcohol. New thermal paste for the processor's heat sink. The laser on the CD drive was cleaned last time and does not have issues so it was left alone. To jog my memory a sticky was placed on the tower with the rebuild date.

IfranView v3.17 (3.17_iview317.exe, 522 KB) was briefly installed and tested as i read many good things about the software. It seemed okay though my Windows 98 workflow does not require dedicated image viewing or manipulation software. For me Kodak's built-in 'Imaging for Windows' (KODAKIMG.EXE) is adequate and most images are just opened in a web browser. Seems the earth may no longer rotate without Twitter. Mobile Twitter without JavaScript works well to monitor accounts, even pic[dot]twitter images. The RetroZilla Search Engine collection includes a Twitter search engine or just replace 'your_query' below with your search query, using '+' between any multi-string queries. https://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=your_query Fittingly just finished Return to Castle Wolfenstein (circa 2001) between Halloween and Remembrance Day (Canada). Good gameplay, graphics, sound and storyline with lots of atmosphere. War is scary, provides some (limited) insight into what poor soldiers must experience. Wish we could all stop taking advantage of one another and live in peace. My impression, enemy AI was much better than Quake II but not as good as Half-Life. Looking forward to playing some games that are less intense. Considering Windows 98 as a 'gaming platform' so to speak, IMHO there is a strong argument for one of the most successful platforms of all time. It spanned many years of gaming ranging from early DOS (1980-90s) to more 'recent' Windows games (early 2000s). Combined probably thousands of games: text-based, simple graphics, 2D, early and more polished 3D, Flash, Java, etc. It also supported lots of hardware peripherals. The system is highly configurable and there is so much helper software out there to get games running and tuned. Wonder whether anyone here recently trialed ReactOS as a bonafide Windows alternative. A recent article indicated they've hired a short term, dedicated kernel developer, getting serious. The liveCD is only a 90 MB download and the entire OS 120 MB. Hope to give it a go someday if i live long enough and catch up on a seemingly never ending list of projects.

Thank-you for the feedback RainyShadow. System settings were changed to mono speakers yesterday and sound appears to be working well before and after the change. No feedback, hissing, distortion or anything funny. Sound is crisp and clear. Volume settings are always kept low even when playing music.

Hi FantasyAcquiesce. I know nothing about compiling in Windows environment, not even sure the source code is available, someone else may know. Netscape Navigator was uninstalled on this system shortly after posting the browser how-to as i don't see much of a difference between it and TLS v1.2 capable Firefox 2. Did some experimenting and it appears a user may be able to create their own portable version without formally installing the browser. For testing re-downloaded netscape-navigator-9.0.0.6.exe. Unzipped it via 7-Zip into default netscape-navigator-9.0.0.6 directory. Within this directory are several subdirectories. Copy all relevant data from the 'localized' directory into the 'nonlocalized' directory. Also create a new directory named 'Profiles' in the 'nonlocalized' directory. For first run open a COMMAND.COM prompt in the 'nonlocalized' directory and launch the browser with the profile switch (see below). When the profile wizard opens point it towards the newly created 'Profiles' directory. navigator.exe -p Note minimally tested so i can't confirm on a fresh system how well this would work. Also note it will still create a blank profile directory structure in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data.

For several years i have used >20 year old 'walkman' headphones, now apparently called earbuds, instead of computer speakers on this Windows 98 machine. Unfortunately the cord is only long enough to get one speaker from the tower to my ear. It's been great, energy efficient, no need for boosted speakers, doesn't disturb others, can still hear household activities with the other ear. Unfortunately one of the wires finally kinked and broke. The repair was simple though the wires are delicate and it required patience. The main cord consisting of four wires (right and left channel, two grounds) was easily cut with dollar store scissors. A fine tipped blade was used to strip the plastic wire casing. Although the fine wires have integrated insulation it was not necessary to tediously remove it, which seemed impossible without damaging the copper threads. Not sure if this step is necessary, a lighter was used to burn off most of the integrated fine wire insulation around the copper strands. From the main four wire lead both right and left channels were twisted together, then both grounds were twisted together. These wires were then twisted together to the sound channel and ground wire of a single earphone speaker. The twisted wires were soldered. Several strips of precision cut electrical tape was wrapped around the individual solders and the entire cord. The other speaker goes into the parts bin for future repair. Now both right and left sound channels come through the single speaker so no 'directional' sound is missed, albeit using only one speaker it's impossible to tell during a game which direction the sound is actually coming from. Being without sound only briefly it's apparent how important it is to modern computing. Many video games, such as firt person shooters, are impossible to play without sound feedback. Can't watch videos or listen to music. Don't hear comforting OS sounds. Most of my Windows 98 system sounds are set to 'START.WAV', such a satisfying click when managing windows and files :)

Netscape Navigator update Upon end of support in early 2008, Netscape blogged: This included default install of an add-on promoting a Flock or Firefox download, pop-up nagware that opens when the browser has been running. It can be remedied by clicking 'Don't show again' on the pop-up or selecting Tools dropdown -> Add-ons -> Disable or Uninstall 'Netscape 9 Migrator 1.2'. A quick note was placed on the Netscape 9 post above. https://web.archive.org/web/20131014131031/http://blog.netscape.com/2008/01/28/netscape-browser-support-extended-to-march-1st/ The Book of Mozilla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Mozilla The RetroZilla startup splash screen depicts a green lizard-like creature standing on it's hind legs and breathing fire. In Windows 98 SE entering about:mozilla in to Internet Explorer 5 does indeed provide a blue screen (actually looks more purple to me). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Mozilla#Internet_Explorer

=== Vanilla Windows 98 Web Browsing Summary === == Web Browsers == Windows 98 had many cool web browsers though most are now non-functional due to lack of support for HTTPS website connectivity. Fortunately several browsers have been updated with TLS 1.2 support (Transport Layer Security) allowing them to connect to almost all HTTPS sites - for now :) Note these old browsers do not display most web pages as intended, use work arounds outlined in the threads, and will not process JavaScript correctly even causing crashes, recommend disabling JavaScript. The list is sorted alphabetically, they are all quite functional. Arachne for DOS with TLS 1.3 hack Modify Arachne for TLS support as a tinker project, not for serious browsing. https://msfn.org/board/topic/182432-arachne-web-browser-community-edition-for-dos-with-tls-13-hack/ K-Meleon Forum member @roytam1's K-Meleon v1.5.4 fork. A nice, lean and configurable browser. Note not tested on a virgin vanilla Windows 98 install, should be okay though. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181726-k-meleon-tls-12-in-vanilla-windows-98-se Links for DOS A very functional graphic or text only web browser for DOS, configure as desired. Has been receiving periodic updates. Recently logged in to an HTML only Gmail account and successfully sent an email attachment - long live DOS. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181853-links-web-browser-community-edition-for-dos-with-tls-12 Lynx for DOS A text only browser with a long history, since 1994, ported to DOS. https://msfn.org/board/topic/182400-lynx-web-browser-community-edition-for-dos-with-tls-12/ Netscape Navigator Netscape Navigator v9.0.0.6, based on Firefox 2. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/33/?tab=comments#comment-1189098 RetroZilla based on Firefox Forum member @roytam1's RetroZilla browser based on Firefox 2, labelled 'Firefox Community Edition'. Note not tested on a virgin vanilla Windows 98 install, should be okay though. https://o.rthost.win/gpc/files1.rt/rzbrowser-tls12-20180504.7z RetroZilla based on SeaMonkey The 'RetroZilla Community Edition' member project, which includes both @rn10950's and @roytam1's RetroZilla build information, based on old SeaMonkey v1.1.19. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181416-retrozilla-community-edition == Bonus == Custom userContent.css A custom userContent.css to improve web page rendering in older browsers (K-Meleon, Netscape Navigator, RetroZilla), especially this forum. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/page/52/?tab=comments#comment-1206351 Quick and Dirty YouTube Small script to download most YouTube videos, note YouTube throttles download speed. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/page/41/?tab=comments#comment-1199455 Quick and Dirty MSN Video Small script to download most MSN Videos. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/page/41/?tab=comments#comment-1199501 Windows 9x Web Helper (9xweb) - DISCONTINUED uses Cygwin helper software, still works well for personal projects. A Bash script that runs from a COMMAND.COM window. Designed to improve internet accessibility, such as easy cache page access, custom Wayback Machine date search for old URLs, search and fetch YouTube video, etc. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181417-windows-9x-web-helper-9xweb NOTE: ABOVE INFORMATION MAY BE OUTDATED, SEE PROJECT PAGE FOR ANY UPDATES. https://msfn.org/board/topic/183125-vanilla-windows-98-web-browsing-summary

Hi @FantasyAcquiesce. Everyone has a preference although the last time i tested with SMPlayer v0.6.7, SMPlayer startup time was 22 seconds vs 4 seconds for MPlayer standalone, huge performance improvement. IMHO once you memorize the relevant keyboard commands the GUI just slows things down and gets in the way. MPlayer standalone runs lean and adding the executable to the right-click 'Send To' context menu makes it easy to launch videos from Windows Explorer. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-1173033

== Netscape Navigator 9 == According to Wikipedia this browser is based on Firefox 2. It's last release, v9.0.0.6, was from February 20, 2008. Thank-you forum member @ZortMcGort11 for notifying about this browser. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_9 Download Netscape Navigator v9.0.0.6 (netscape-navigator-9.0.0.6.exe, 5.8 MB, no JavaScript needed). http://ftp.vim.org/netscape/netscape9/en-US/9.0/windows/win32/ Download Netscape Navigator 9 NSS update (ns9-nss-update.7z, 923 KB, no JavaScript needed). http://o.rthost.win/gpc/files1.rt/ns9-nss-update.7z Install netscape-navigator-9.0.0.6.exe, default path C:\Program Files\Netscape\Navigator 9. First run creates a profile in C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Netscape\Navigator\Profiles. Disable JavaScript and Java via Tools dropdown -> Options -> Content tab. Close browser and extract the contents of ns9-nss-update.7z into the Netscape Navigator installation directory, overwrite existing files when prompted. Restart Netscape Navigator and load the link below to confirm TLS v1.2 support. https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/viewMyClient.html Recommend disabling ciphers flagged as INSECURE by toggling them to 'false' via about:config, filter string rc4_128: security.ssl3.ecdh_ecdsa_rc4_128_sha security.ssl3.ecdh_rsa_rc4_128_sha security.ssl3.ecdhe_ecdsa_rc4_128_sha security.ssl3.ecdhe_rsa_rc4_128_sha security.ssl3.rsa_rc4_128_md5 security.ssl3.rsa_rc4_128_sha Notes: 7-Zip v9.20 was utilized for extracting the ns9-nss-update.7z file, direct downloaded link below. http://netcologne.dl.sourceforge.net/project/sevenzip/7-Zip/9.20/7z920.exe All downloads above are HTTP only so a fresh vanilla Windows 98 installation can use even Internet Explorer v5 to fetch all required items to get a TLS v1.2 compliant web browser. Netscape Navigator was tested on a vanilla Windows 98 system that is no longer virgin Firefox 2, although the above should work fine notify of any issues. In the Flock/Firefox upgrade pop-up nagware click 'Don't show again' or select Tools dropdown -> Add-ons -> Disable or Uninstall 'Netscape 9 Migrator 1.2'. View -> Page Style -> No Style often needs to be toggled to display web page content. Blast from the past, the built-in AOL and Yahoo search engines appear to work well!

All the best with your hardware upgrades @Feamane, thank-you for your input. Will try to remember your Hordes of the Underdark feedback. Since my gaming to do list is loosely organized from oldest (DOS) to newest it will be a while before i get to Neverwinter Nights. By then will likely be using newer hardware, either my faster Windows 98 backup machine or better. The Baldur's Gate series always interested me but never purchased it. BioWare originated from my home province! Just finished two DOS games been meaning to play for 20 years (original Quake and Tomb Raider). Delayed gratificaton, pretty good though anti-climactic like most things, just games afterall. Recall the Tomb Raider demo years ago riding a snowmobile, query third release but don't want to go there, finishing the first game was good enough for me. Played too much Quake II back in the day, was never that good plus slow network connection. IMHO the world would be better without First Person Shooters but their development from creative minds was inevitable. Still tackling old DOS games, will finish U.S. Navy Fighters (USNF, half done) and MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat. Re-started MechWarrior 2 so many times over the years but never completely finished, what a great game. Temporarily breaking out of DOS and just re-installed Return To Castle Wolfenstein (supports Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP). Only played through partially years ago due to a drive crash. Even the installer music and images freak me out. Almost too immersive, can't imagine what the kids are now playing. Thank goodness for an internet full of gaming forums, hints/tips and walkthroughs. Still lots of DOS and Windows 9x information out there. Sometimes the most obscure information is needed just to get a game running. Never would have thought disabling Castle Woftenstein's openglv3.dll and openglv5.dll files would fix the game's failure to launch on this system. Works well now and looks very good for an older game. Aside from games recently stumbled on a blog post from a Microsoft developer, entitled 'Why does Windows 95 have functions called BEAR, BUNNY and PIGLET?', fun. https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030818-00/?p=42873 DOS ain't dead is apt, there's still so much software out there. My only quip is lack of multi-tasking, generally okay as reboots are fast and many applications require a custom runtime environment anyway. Wish it had something like 'screen', a terminal multiplexer useful in a GNU/Linux TTY environment, or at least the ability to suspend and/or background tasks. Some DOS applications, such as web browsers, do have something similar built-in, whereby a user can exit the web browser to the DOS prompt, do DOS stuff, then exit the DOS prompt back to the web browser, so maybe it's sorta covered. Remember posting about the DOS 'date' command and being able to run it just to check the date, then just press empty Enter key when finished to avoid updating the date. Well this also works well with the 'time' command, very useful. My favourite PDF viewier, MUPDF was ported to DOS. It works well and requires loading CWSDPMI.EXE (DOS Protected Mode Interface) beforehand. Don't remember where it was downloaded from (mupdf10.apm, 3463 KB, extracted with 7-Zip). Don't think it was from FreeDOS, regardless they have lots of good stuff.

Hi ZortMcGort11. Not yet fleshed out on your website, do you have download links for Netscape 9 and Netscape 9 NSS Update? TIA.

Hi Deomsh. Not sure if this helps. In Unix-like environment an easy work-around is to declare variables containing spaces and double-quotes with a pair of single-quotes instead. It then doesn't matter how many spaces or double-quotes are embedded, provided there is only the single pair of single-quotes wrapping variable content. a='space " quote " "' echo $a space " quote " "

Hi @siria, works well though my system is no longer Mozilla virgin, previous installs of SeaMonkey, Firefox and RetroZilla. The browser download link you provided identifies as Firefox Community Edition. The executable is 'firefox.exe' and is based on Firefox v2.0.0.2. In about:config 'general.useragent.extra.firefox' with value 'RetroZilla/2.0.0.2'. First run creates profile pathway C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, although it also creates a blank C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\RetroZilla directory, query potential conflict with concurrent use of other RetroZillas. The ssllabs site confirms TLS v1.2. https://clienttest.ssllabs.com:8443/ssltest/viewMyClient.html Nice browser but only briefly tested. Since it's already branded Firefox Community Edition, maybe an appropriate member project title if someone wants to start this with extra content for add-ons, updated search engines, etc.

Thanks siria, why didn't i think of that :( Downloaded via Links in DOS-land. Will test tomorrow, too busy tomb raiding with Lara Croft :)

Noticed Links supports left-click and drag to highlight text then middle-click to paste content the GNU/Linux way, nice. So then it is easy to select for example View -> Save Clipboard to File or else File -> Goto URL for URLs that are not hyperlinked. It also has a nice right-click -> View Image to enlarge or fullscreen. Aside from a packet driver being slower the browser itself has been great to use. Occasionally quick reboot into Links during DOS gaming sessions to look up gaming information, such as walkthroughs. One item of concern not sure about, DOS firewall. As my internet modem sits on the desk i typically just switch it on/off as needed, no big.

@siria: @Wunderbar98 just curious, if you have time, can you test roytam's RT-Firefox2+TLS1.2 in your vanilla system? :) https://o.rths.cf/gpc/files1.rt/rzbrowser-tls12-20180504.7z Unfortunately this link is down.

Hi siria. Unfortunately we already trialed Firefox v3.6 in vanilla, it does not work requiring newer GDI32.DLL and KERNEL32.DL, confirmed with Dependency Walker. Due to nostalgia this may be the only 'newer' browser (aka non-vanilla) i would trial with a kernel extension, although seeing what Firefox morphed into is killing the nostalgia. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181726-k-meleon-tls-12-in-vanilla-windows-98-se/?tab=comments#comment-1185275 The K-Meleon v1.5.4 thread link i posted above has the necessary download links and information to get it running nicely. This includes installing @siria's StyleKILL macro, often essential for displaying all web page content. Agree Windows XP browsers are far more functional. Although these old Windows 98 browsers still connect to sites fine they are not functional for proper rendering and JavaScript processing. Using a site 'Captcha' will probably fail with vanilla Windows 98 browsers, as they need to run with JavaScript disabled to prevent crashes, not sure about kernel extension browsers. FYI you can log in to this forum by disabling JavaScript, which kills the Captcha, the only way i can log in from vanilla Windows 98 or DOS!

Hi ZortMcGort11, responding to your query above. These browsers provide TLS v1.2 support and run very stable in vanilla Windows 98. The RetroZilla build used here needs minor extra configuration, outlined in the first post of the link. Personal preference is not to use kernel extensions, trading one old browser for another slightly newer but still old browser. These browsers load Wikipedia fine (with JavaScript disabled), although the site has become quite bloated over the years. RetroZilla v2.2. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181416-retrozilla-community-edition/#comments K-Meleon v1.5.4. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181726-k-meleon-tls-12-in-vanilla-windows-98-se/#comments Links for DOS v2.21. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181853-links-web-browser-community-edition-for-dos-with-tls-12/#comments ***** ZortMcGort11: (My system specs, by the way, are: Pentium III, 866 MHz CPU, 384 MB Ram, 32 Gig Hard drive) --- Ancient Crap, I know! You're running hardware similar to mine (800 MHz, 384 MB RAM, 32 MB graphics, 6 GB partition). I realize you are just being lighthearted but to me any hardware that still runs well after 20 years is exceptional actually, just dated. All my day to day computing, even banking, gets done on this hardware using dual-boot Windows 98 and lightweight GNU/Linux. Enjoy your retro computing :) Edit: RAM typo

Still hard at it Deomsh, thanks for reporting your findings. Amazing a TLS v1.2 browser can be used in Windows 3.1 (1992 release) using an unheard of back-in-the-day graphic resolution.

Hi stvpls, add my 2 cents, random suggestions, mostly routine maintenance, using Windows 98 here so some items may be different in Windows 95. Since you don't want to mess up the install, backup the entire partition first onto separate media. If you have a Windows 95 install CD and copies of favourite software then maybe a full partition backup isn't critical, aside from important personal files. Here a GNU/Linux liveCD is booted and second backup drive gets attached. A 2 GB partition backup would only take a few minutes from a Linux terminal using a command like 'sudo cp -axv /mnt/sda1/* /mnt/sdb1/backup_directory', sda1 is the Windows installation and sdb1 is the backup drive. There is likely lots of Windows backup software available too, not familiar with it. There could be a filesystem issue, run scandisk as already suggested. Personal preference is to launch it from a fresh DOS boot. If a suspect virus is filling the drive then you need to do more research to identify and fix the issue. If the system is compromised, IMHO best practice would be to reformat the drive and start fresh. A 2 GB drive is pretty small, attach a second hard drive or USB stick and offload some data. Ensure Recycle Bin is empty. Run Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe). Run Add/Remove programs for anything obvious you don't want. The failed anti-virus install likely left installation files behind. If the anti-virus program is not listed in Add/Remove Programs then manually delete applicable program directories. Anti-virus is not used here, never had an issue last few years with Windows 98 online daily using Tiny Personal Firewall v2.0.14. Run Find -> Files or Folders (Windows-F keys), select C: drive and in Advanced tab 'All files and folders', Size is 'at least' '1024' KB -> Find Now. In results list toggle the 'size' column to sort biggest files first and review. There's lots of information available on the internet and lots of cleanup utility programs, you'll need to decide how best to proceed.

Thanks for clarifying @loblo, don't use Opera anyway. The browsers mentioned earlier @ZortMcGort11 all work fine with Wikipedia: RetroZilla V2.2, K-Meleon v1.5.4, Links for DOS v2.21. Since you're using kernel extensions and like K-Meleon, a newer K-Meleon release is probably better, best bet is a @roytam1 build. RetroZilla is stable here, were you running JavaScript? JavaScript processing is broken on old browsers and will cause crashes, disable via about:config.

Okay, Windows 9x driver expert with a subspecialty :) Don't want to stray off track, just showing off your 'simple' diagram for someone's previous audio problem. https://msfn.org/board/topic/178295-audio-driver-for-realtek-hd-audio-hardware/page/16/?tab=comments#comment-1187123

Similar to @siria's response if your browser supports TLS v1.2 it should connect with virtually all sites. Another new site that loads quick. http://www.msn.com/ For HTML only Gmail try the 'Basic HTML version of Gmail' link from below. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049?hl=en