Wunderbar98

RetroZilla now fails to load YouTube using the default User Agent (UA) string. RetroZilla still connects and the YouTube search engine from the RetroZilla Search Engines Collection still work. To load YouTube and perform searches, ensure the 'user-agent-switcher-0.6.10-bump.xpi' extension is installed, available from the RetroZilla Extensions Collection linked on the first post of this thread. Then in RetroZilla's Tools dropdown menu select User Agent Switcher -> Options -> Options. Select User Agents -> Add. In the popup's description field, enter 'Googlebot'. In the User Agent field paste the following UA string, then click OK to exit. This adds the UA to the extension. Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html) To use the Googlebot UA string in RetroZilla, select Tools dropdown menu -> User Agent Switcher -> select Googlebot. This needs to be performed during any session when the YouTube page or search engine is utilized. As RetroZilla reverts to it's default UA on restart, re-select the desired UA string during runtime. Thank-you forum member @siria for finding this valuable UA string.

Hi siria, thanks for your help, you're wonderful! My YouTube search engine for RetroZilla uses similar, Sports Car GT example: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sports+car+gt+scgt+%2Cshort ... appending +%2Cshort (%2C = comma) returns videos < 4 minutes. ... similarly +%2Clong think gets > 20 minutes. Figured it was just a UA issue as RetroZilla connects to the site, just doesn't load functionally. Had some success with an Opera v9 string, until it failed. Your Googlebot UA string works well. Will updated the RetroZilla Community Edition thread with this valuable tidbit. Thanks again :)

Not the biggest sourceforge[dot]net fan but no denying they have a lot of software. The site actually works well in RetroZilla. With JavaScript disabled there are no advertisements. Just ensure View -> Use Style -> None is selected. These all work fine: software downloads, site search, software screenshots, user ratings and quick reviews.

YouTube page loading and YouTube searches started failing in RetroZilla. Will play around with user agent strings and such to determine if there is a simple solution, if so will post on the RetroZilla Community Edition thread. Regardless the 9xweb script can still access YouTube videos without actually visiting YouTube. Just right-click and select 'Copy link location' from the desired search result to pass the YouTube URL to the clipboard for 9xweb. If using the RetroZilla Search Engine Collection, the DuckDuckGo-Lite or Startpage engines work well, using the search string below. site:youtube.com search_term Note Duck Duck Go occasionally obfuscate's YouTube URL results, this can be cleaned up using the [t]rim option of the 9xweb main screen. It is, however, just easier to avoid this hassle by using the Startpage search engine. These work-arounds are unfortunate and sad, as they will eventually fail, but for now YouTube can be limped along. As long as you have the YouTube URL, then many (not all) YouTube videos still work using the 9xweb script. # RANT Funny quotes from the about YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/about/ Append each corporate statement with '... unless you're using Windows 98'. "Our mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world." "We believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories." "Our values are based on four essential freedoms that define who we are." "Freedom of Information" "We believe everyone should have easy, open access to information and that video is a powerful force for education, building understanding, and documenting world events, big and small." # END

Thank-you again loblo. The 'reg' file was merged and the running VoptXP window now indicates 'Registered to: COMPLIMENTARY LICENSE COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR'. This appears to be decent software. Not sure how the defrag algorithm differs with official Microsoft, but it's optons offer 'strategic file placement' primarily for Windows 2000. So far so good. Will experiment for a while. System requirements indicate all Windows 9x plus Windows 2000 and Windows XP, if anyone's interested. Fondly remember running defrag as a Sunday evening routine before the start of another work week. Nice that fragmentation level can now be easily checked before deciding to defrag.

Everyone has favourites, personally i wouldn't recommend Diskeeper Lite. The uninstaller failed to remove the startup entry and most of the files from it's C:\Program Files pathway. The startup entry could have probably just been manually removed from the registry, run 'regedit' and search for the culprit key. After running the uninstaller, just used Easy Cleaner 2.0.6.380 to remove the startup entry, then manually cleaned up Program Files. Thank-you for the feedback @siria. The long sourceforge[dot]net windirstat v1.1.2 link auto-downloaded with RetroZilla (no JavaScript needed, windirstat1_1_2_setup.exe, 631 kb, GPL v2 license). On my system, unzipping the setup files and attempting to run 'windirstat.exe' did not work, so the software was formally installed. The installer is nice and by default does not select additional languages. On first run the system appears to hang, 100% CPU with network monitor activated, presumably checking for networked drives, which aren't used here. Doesn't seem to be an obvious way to disable this in the options. The pacman animation and multi-coloured disk check results are too much for me but can be disabled. This appears to be a decent disk usage analyzer, however, don't see any output regarding file fragmentation, am i missing something? As per the about screen, "Shows where all your disk space has gone and helps you clean it up", no mention of file fragmentation. Thank-you also for the feedback @loblo. The exe file linked downloaded fine in RetroZilla (direct download, no JavaScript, VXP_v722.exe, 3094 kb). VoptXP v7.22 installed without issue, lightweight and quickly reports on disk freespace and fragmentation, nice. The web page indicates the software is being freely provided, although the version installed indicates a 30 day trial. Query whether the author disabled the timebomb before his passing? Will keep the software installed and see. Do you use it's built-in defragger or just to check on disk stats? Shoot, accidentally clicked the defrag icon, it's fast, hopefully my system reboots and performs well :)

Hi Feamane. I only dust vacuum keyboards that are regularly used, not too OCD yet. Since using a black keyboard for many years, take a close look at it after one week of heavy use even in a clean office environment, they get pretty gross :) Does anyone know a simple method to check the fragmentation level of a drive, preferably without 3rd party software? Scanreg and Windows ME's Disk Defrag do not appear to provide this feature. Based on an old 2007 forum recommendation, Diskeeper Lite v 7.0.418.0L was trialed (no JavaScript needed, ~12 MB download). https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/diskeeper_lite.html A 12 MB download is heavy just to check file fragmentation. The software installed fine but added a startup entry, not appreciated. The 'DkService.exe' startup entry can be disabled via 'msconfig' -> Startup tab. Upon reboot, the software still works fine without the startup entry. Personally i love Windows ME's Disk Defrag, just want to check framentation levels prior to defragging a drive. Suggestions appreciated.

Hi Feamane, thank-you for your input. Sounds like a wonderful keyboard collection, old stuff! The keyboards regularly used in this house all have PS/2 ports, no PS/2 to USB adapters used here. Mine connects to a KVM switch and is used to run numerous operating systems, including modern GNU/Linux. My better half uses a keyboard purchased new in 1999, still makes proper typing 'clicks', and hopes to never give it up. The keyboards are vacuum dusted weekly. Due to spills, the keys were pried loose on a few occasions over the years for cleaning. There are lots of reports and YouTube videos of owners washing the keyboards and letting them fully dry, never had the courage or the need. The lubricating grease for the space bar dried and got gummy on the oldest keyboard long time ago, took it apart and just cleaned off the old grease, no new grease applied, no longer sticks and works like new. They all still actually work like new. Got a couple extra PS/2 keyboards in storage for backup.

Thank-you siria for the information. The site ruclip[dot]com is not supported by youtube-dl, not a biggie but it would help with testing. Lots hiding behind JavaScript, on my test browser the page's search feature didn't work with JavaScript disabled. Using the YouTube video ID, followed by a trailing slash loads the video page (not the video): https://ruclip.com/video/iuzyA5gDa4E/ May play later to see if this site can successfully access these types of videos. If it's just mirroring YouTube then probably not, it still appears to be served by VEVO. Since my other systems can fully access videos via youtube-dl, not being able to access 'forbidden' videos via 9xweb in Windows 98 isn't a dealbreaker, bummer but not a big deal. Many videos are still accessible, for example retro computing and gaming. Sidenote, keepvid[dot]works has not been updated since early 2019, probably explains why some VEVO type videos are failing. Will monitor to see if they are still actively updating.

Just adding my 2 cents. Since Windows 98 installs have a relatively small footprint, after initial installation and setup, a full system backup is superior, not just drivers. If this is a dual boot system with GNU/Linux, or you have a Linux Live-CD, a simple backup method is linked below. If using the Windows OS standalone, there is undoubtedly full system backup software available. So if you have drive space or an extra USB stick available, personally this would be the way to go. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/11/?tab=comments#comment-1173639

Hi FelixPls1. Not familiar with Pionex computers. If graphic resolutuion worked well before, then it's not likely a hardware issue, probably just driver related. It would be helpful to provide specific information regarding your graphic driver chipset.

Hi Deomsh. If you mean checking for ext2 file systems within GNU/Linux, either of these commands will get what you need, probably other commands too. Optionally 'grep' with -i switch (ignore case) or whatever to get specifics. The ext2 partition does not need to be mounted just to check. sudo blkid | grep -i ext2 cat /etc/fstab | grep -i ext2 If you don't care whether it's ext2, ext3 or ext4: sudo blkid | grep -i ext[2-4] If this is for a script, to narrow down the exact partition just use something like (note space between double quotes): sudo blkid | grep -i ext2 | cut -d" " -f1 | cut -d/ -f3 | sed 's|:||g'

Thank-you for the feedback and link @roytam1. If you start re-compiling TCPMP i can submit a crash.txt report. Hi @siria. Not sure why you can't run Cygwin-Lite, it's not hard to install and set up. If your script is running reliably, consider sharing as a new member project. Three MP4 links to check, all work fine in GNU/Linux using youtube-dl. 9xweb 403 forbidden error, also FAILS with keepvid[dot]works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBF78tA443A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuzyA5gDa4E 9xweb 403 forbidden error, but WORKS with keepvid[dot]works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCCiwPEdEpg

Came across a site yesterday that can download YouTube videos via webpage. It does not appear to get them all, had a VEVO video still fail, but seems to get most, many of which would be inaccessible to my 9xweb script. Pros: - Simply paste YouTube URL into webpage - Fast download speed - Does not require browser JavaScript - Works in RetroZilla Cons: - Does not provide video information - Does not auto-name video (without JS anyway) Bookmarked the site in RetroZilla for now. Not sure yet if i will incorporate a link to this site in my 9xweb script for videos that otherwise fail. It would definitely improve YouTube access for more vanilla Windows 9x systems. Just like youtube-dl, YouTube keeps changing things and the site can sometimes fail, as outlined in the home page's changelog. keepvid[dot]works Took another look at youtube-dl's code for YouTube, not sure yet how they get VEVO type videos to work. Brain tired, may chip away again sometime later, later, later.

Old hardware probably powers most bare-metal Windows 98 systems. An example of patching worn out hardware, which can result in years of extra service. This system uses an ancient IBM MO09K PS/2 three button ball mouse with a centre toggle switch instead of a scroll wheel, similar to the top row third mouse linked below. Presumably > 20 years old, got it used for free years ago. https://www.oldmouse.com/pics/ibm/IBMgroup.jpg The mouse has been maintained and repaired many times. The roller ball is easy to remove, cleaned by using a little spit or water, just rub and roll off accumulated lint and dust into the garbage. Every couple/few years disassemble the mouse, single screw, and remove any built up lint, hair, plastic wear debris and corrosion from the rollers, sensors, switches and electonics. The most commonly used left-click button micro-switch still works great but does accumulate dust, just a dab of isopropyl alcohol on a cotton tip to wipe away the dust. Careful not to saturate the tip and get liquid alcohol into the assembly. The plastic outer casing button, which depresses the left-click micro-switch, wore a concavity several years ago where it strikes the micro-switch. This prevents the micro-switch from engaging, resulting in missed clicks. An ~ 5 mm piece of scotch tape was spanned across the wear area to compensate for the plastic wear. This has been performed twice in about four years and works flawlessly on this heavily used mouse, including gaming. Another issue is that one of two plastic positioning pins broke inside the mouse, responsible for holding a small ~ 1 cm square conductive pad in place underneath the centre toggle switch. Query damaged due to fatigue or 'aggressive' mouse use. The conductive pad needs to be kept clean for good contact, again with alcohol, then carefully slid back into proper position using tweezers. When the scroll function stops working well, gently rotating the exterior toggle switch lines things up again.

The 'Rendering Issues' section of the original post indicates web pages are sometimes difficult to read. As indicated one tip that often helps when viewing a web page that does not format well, or if links are missing, is to toggle View dropdown -> Use Style -> 'Default Style' to 'None'. Also experiment with different font and color preferences, select Edit dropdown -> Preferences -> Appearance and modify as desired. Although useful, drawbacks. First, having to toggle Default Style to 'None' is a hassle and new tabs automatically revert back to 'Default Style'. From previous experiments, changing the style to 'None' via about:config then does not allow changing pages back to 'Default Style' during runtime. Secondly, over-riding font and colour preferences won't render the web site as intended, part of it's character and charm. If the font and background are poorly contrasted (ie. not readable), a quick and dirty method is to simply press Ctrl-A to 'select all' on the entire web page. On this system, this automatically changes the font and background to a blue and white combination, ugly but very readable. Alternatively, left-click and drag a selection to change contrast. Read the information you want, click on a desired link and move on. To disable the 'select all' selection, press F5 or click 'Reload' to re-render the page or left-click another area of the page.

Thunderstorm season where i live. Seems to get more violent every year - stronger winds, flash storms, flooding, lightning and thunder. Fortunately my residence has survived okay but there are more frequent and more expensive property damage claims reported year over year. As a precaution unplug your retro hardware during stormy weather, nobody's manufacturing this old great hardware anymore. If you store hardware or software in a basement, stack it off the floor or in waterproof containers.

Thank-you for your update Bruninho. If you're still located in Brazil, hope you're doing okay, local news reports a lot of COVID cases in the country. Doubt this helps with your install, maybe for others, my Windows 98 SE system uses Zeckensack's Glide Wrapper v0.84c. Unfortunately can't remember which game i've used it for and too lazy to search personal game install notes, likely Nascar Revolution. Regardless the site lists supported games. http://www.zeckensack.de/glide Netscape Navigator was a great browser back in the day, can't believe time marches on so quickly, need a rewind button. This world could really use a do-over, could someone reach forward and hit the reset switch please. Way to new for any of my hardware is rFactor 2, developed by Image Space Incorporated, they did a great job of even Sports Car GT (SCGT) back in the late 1990s. Still playing and tweaking SCGT today, had a strong fan following. Half-decent Windows 98 is good enough, glad to see your gonna play some games, life is short.

Hi i430VX. RetroZilla typically requires extensions that are SeaMonkey v1.1.19 compatible, very old release. The first post in the RetroZilla Community Edition thread provides information and links regarding the RetroZilla Extensions Collection, other extensions that may work, plus information on extension hacking and extension removal tips. https://msfn.org/board/topic/181416-retrozilla-community-edition/ As you've discovered, this old browser does not have about:addons or anything like that. The function and interface with the extension is dependent on it's design. Depending on the extension, this may be additional controls in the drop down menu, right-click context menu, browser preferences, status bar, etc.

Thank-you @loblolly986 for the links, screenshots and information. For sure upgraded ciphers, [edit] default too. An addendum has been added to the first post, requesting members review and decide which browser they wish to use or meld together. Not having spent any time using @roytam1's build, can't personally comment on it's stability, you say it's good, members can choose. For now, the @rn10950 build is good enough for my needs and connects to all sites visited. These updated ciphers will undoubtedly become more important in the future. Not sure where @ZaPbUzZ's installer post went, responding anyway. Glad you found something that works for you @ZaPbUzZ. Personally, still prefer members download the browser direct from source site. This provides additional confidence that members are getting the desired build from source and allows the developers, if inclined, to track download popularity. Hopefully RetroZilla will continue to receive periodic support to keep it viable.

Hi @ZaPbUzZ. The intention is not to mess with @rn10950's build and installer, as well as to keep things modular. Then there is no need to provide diffs and changelogs, etc. The build from @rn10950 is truly open source with the build instructions and changed source code readily available on the github site. From what i can determine, this can not be said of the @roytam1 build, unless someone can provide links, everyone's just guessing what's changed. The first post clearly delineates the steps required to set up the browser. If a forum member can't be bothered to read the instructions and click on a few links, not sure what to say about that. Not everyone will want every search engine or extension installed from the RetroZilla Search Engine and RetroZilla Extensions Collections, so the end-user can customize. The suggested RZ_CLEAN.BAT script is just a cut/paste and will need to be modified to accomodate the browser's user profile(s) anyway. The TLS v1.2 about:config tweaks is just cut/paste, modify and add a few entries. If someone wants to create and attach a custom prefs.js file, think that's the file, just add it to a post to share with others. Sorry for not being more direct @loblolly986, too much Canadian politeness, of course backing up the registry and install before tinkering is trivial. Personally, over-zipping another 7 MB download seems silly when the end-user just needs to modify a few about:config settings. Unless someone can provide evidence of change, not sure what else will be accomplished.

Thank-you loblolly986 for the information and links. The RetroZilla 7z file does not come with an installer, see why you say unzip into existing. Couldn't find any changelog information in the URL sub-directories or zip file, has anything else changed or just TLS? A changelog link would be helpful. Haven't had direct experience with this release, just the build from forum member @rn10950 linked on post #1, which runs stable and great. May test this zipped version in a future Windows 98 build. For now don't want to mess with my existing setup.

A new 9xweb download is available from the first link on the first post of this thread (forum login required). A new Video Fetch screenshot was posted, neglected to upload a new main screen screenshot. The script version is 20200522 Beta. The Changelog post #2 above was also updated.

Experienced occasional (rare) TCPMP crash with MP4 playback. This does not appear video related, as the same file plays back without error on other media players (VLC, SMPlayer/MPlayer). As this has only been tested and experienced on one system, query whether it is this system's particular configuration. If TCPMP is problematic, feel free to configure a different video player in the 9xweb script's USER CONFIG section. Not sure if forum member @roytam1 modified TCPMP's code or just shared the binary, whether it is worth submitting the crash text for review. Quick tip: The main Video Fetch screen automatically seeks the system's clipboard contents upon finishing a previous video. So if you play a video, right-click and select a new video URL from the web browser, then select 'Press [Enter] to continue' in the 9xweb script, the main Video Fetch screen displays the updated URL, no need to manually [r]efresh the clipboard. Quick tip: Toggling settings in the main Video Fetch screen also auto-refreshes the clipboard content, such as changing preview or autoplay settings. Hope to upload a new 9xweb script today or tomorrow.

Still testing before release. Some improvement in Wget reliability and file system race condition. Not sure why Wget sometimes fails, query related to certain YouTube server connections this old Wget can no longer handle. If Wget gives a pop-up error, close the pop-up and try pressing [Enter] on the script. Then retry the video again from the Video Fetch screen. Otherwise, try to gracefully exit the script with [q]uit and 'exit' the COMMAND.COM window. Restart Cygwin-Lite and try again. Last resort just close the COMMAND.COM window with the window X and restart Cygwin-Lite. Note Video Fetch only requires the YouTube URL, the browser does not need to open to the actual video page on a new tab or anything. So just from a YouTube results search, using RetroZilla's YouTube search engine if desired, just right-click the video you want and select 'Copy Link Location', whatever your browser calls it, to get the URL to the clipboard. Websites with embedded YouTube videos will fail when using old browsers with JavaScript disabled. Depending on the browser, it will likely display a black YouTube video box with the message 'An error occurred. Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser'. No problem, just right-click the embedded link portion labelled 'Try watching this video on www.youtube.com' and copy the link to clipboard. There is no need to open a new tab or visit the actual YouTube page.