Wunderbar98

Due to outdated security protocols vanilla Windows 98 can no longer connect to many websites, regardless of browser utilized. Fortunately numerous free proxy websites are available. Just bookmark a proxy that is able to successfully connect to your desired site. When encountering a site that won't load, open a tab and load the proxy site, then enter or paste the target URL to browse the inaccessible web page. Example, tested in Dillo and SeaMonkey: - Open browser and load an encrypted URL, such as https://openbsd.com, it will fail. - Open a new tab and load a proxy site, such as http://free-proxyserver.com. - Enter or paste the previously inaccessible URL into the proxy site. Note: - Find a web proxy that works with encrypted (https) sites. - The web proxy continues to work in the desired tab when clicking target site links. - Free web proxies have limits, such as timeouts, data utilization, file size download. - Beware proxy sites aren't inherently safe, yet another middle-man. - No appreciable load time increase and now you can visit the site.

My Windows Explorer was intermittently sluggish a while ago, sometimes taking >15 seconds to navigate even small directories. It appears resolved after replacing the buggy network card, mentioned in earlier posts. Unsure, maybe a buggy adapter/driver unsuccessfully seeking non-existent network shares. Snappy fast again. Mentioned in case it helps someone troubleshoot a laggy Windows Explorer. Always got confused with Windows Explorer drag and drop for copy/paste, hold down Shift/control/whatever. Finally learned to right-click and drag then just select Move or Copy from the popup menu. Modifying the right-click Send to menu adds a lot of functionality. Ensuring DOS Edit, Notepad and WordPad are in the list makes it easy to open files that don't have a recognized extension, rather than holding shift, right-click and select Open with. Using the Windows Explorer File dropdown more to quick zoom to previously visited directories. Similarly, adding frequently accessed directories to Windows Explorer favourites helps. This old software is not given enough credit, still a blast to use and very functional. Windows 98 isn't the most stable OS i've ever experienced but it is lean, efficient and configurable. It's also hard to break, most everything is fixable. DOS with eye-candy. Reminds me of Tiny Core, Linux-land has also become bloated. All are welcome to share any favourite Windows 98 tips here, won't be considered a hijack.

Just an aside for systems with lower-end hardware. Running MPlayer standalone will slightly reduce RAM usage, bypassing SMPlayer front-end. Also, launching MPlayer with a quiet option will slightly reduce CPU usage, no unnecessary COMMAND.COM output during video runtime. Just add a 'quiet' or 'really-quiet' entry in C:\Program Files\SMPlayer\mplayer\mplayer\config: ## MPlayer Windows configuration subfont=c:\windows\fonts\arial.ttf really-quiet=TRUE Personally i add a c:\progra~1\smplayer\mplayer\mplayer shortcut to C:\WINDOWS\SendTo. Then just right-click desired video and select Send to -> MPlayer for direct launch. Edit: Forgot to mention launch time improvement. Using the hardware mentioned earlier with Send to launches, SMPlayer takes 22 seconds to load and launch a video, 4 seconds for standalone MPlayer. Both executables were recently loaded into RAM.

Hi jumper. Thanks for the information. Seems there is no way to prevent COMMAND.COM from opening in the first place. Presumably it is launching MPlayer via DOS. Even entering c:\progra~1\smplayer\mplayer\mplayer c:\mydocu~1\media\my_file.mp4 for example, into Start -> Run opens COMMAND.COM then the video (SMPlayer not involved). Too bad, i can live with it. Thanks again.

Thanks again for all multimedia responses, decided to stick with what i know. On vanilla Windows 98 SE (Super Edition) kept VLC v0.8.6d. Then added SMPlayer v0.6.7 from videohelp[dot]com. On my hardware (800 MHz AMD, 384 MB RAM), SMPlayer performance is better than VLC but will keep both in the toolbox. I backup my favourite software on to USB to make future installs easy. Some SMPlayer notes below. On first run there was an error about mplayer.exe not knowing the correct install pathway. Just open Options -> Preferences -> General and set the full pathway for the MPlayer executable and screenshot folder, default is: C:/Program Files/SMPlayer/mplayer/mplayer.exe C:/.smplayer/screenshots During the installation there is an extra online codec request. Against better judgement, out of curiousity accepted and temporarily allowed Tiny Personal Firewall to connect. It failed on the first attempt, after selecting retry it downloaded and installed extra codecs, cool it still works. Will zip and save C:\Program Files\SMPlayer\mplayer\codecs for future re-installs. In Performance settings, allowing framedrop is standard. In the Cache tab consider raising these significantly if your hardware exceeds the Windows 98 era. IIRC back in the day 128 MB was decent. Only nagging issue is a COMMAND.COM window that opens up when playing media. Closing the window crashes SMPlayer. Not sure yet how to disable this undesired behaviour. This version may not be optimized for Windows 98, may try an earlier release like v0.6.4 later. Despite fair performance it is evident these players have come a long way since then.

Thanks for all the media player suggestions. Still checking stuff out, downloaded and installed many. Some versions don't work or can't find the required old version, don't play all file types, mostly music oriented, too commercial, too cluttered, too complicated, want to call home, etc. Will casually keep looking, may max update WMP. Must say downloading and installing random files from the internet feels dirty, after almost 15 years of utilizing centralized open source repositories, coding and compiling much of my own. Almost wore out add/remove, cleaned up temp files and registry, must take long shower :) Added a Dillo search engine to find information on this forum: search_url="MSFN_Yahoo https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=site:msfn.org+%s"

Hi jumper, a link for those Pythons was provided by loblo a few posts back, already tried and failed. Goodmaneuver the official python-2.7.1.msi would not install, a DLL required for the install could not be run. I don't plan on swapping parts from a newer OS, will just let it rest. Looked at a bit of custom coding to replicate youtube-dl functionality, even just for one specific website. Went through JavaScript, Windows Script Host, Unix utilities, crazy .BAT file. Too much effort with limited success, as running vanilla even has issues with wget due to SSL. Thanks all for trying to help. Provides insight into the limitations of an old OS on today's internet. Access to a modern browser and youtube-dl is just a reboot away. Initial intention was to get some online access to browse and download gaming related files, mission accomplished. Tried Winamp, liked it back in the day, not so much anymore. My VLC is okay, sometimes flaky compared to their newer releases. Any suggestions for a vanilla Windows 98 multimedia player that handles most codecs please let me know.

Thanks for the clarification, tried running from __main__.py, still no success. Did not work at all with Python v2.5. Python v2.6 may have worked the best, able to get Python prompt and run __main__.py --help, still not able to get video or even check available formats. Cascading Python errors, ending with OSError failed to write string. Python v2.7 was worse. Still able to get Python prompt but launching __main__.py resulted in an illegal operation crash. Python caused an invalid page fault in module kernel32.dll. Went back to best result Python 2.6 and tried an older version of youtube-dl from 2017 for final test. Still no success, plus the extractor files would be out of date anyway. Still good to try, now i know. Not interested in trying a custom compile, at this time anyway. Thanks again for trying to help.

Hi loblo. Last versions for Windows 98 thread indicated Python v2.5 broken but was able to install official v2.54 (December 2008) from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. Tried this plus the two releases you linked. Not sure Python is the issue. The latest youtube-dl Windows versions apparently have Python built-in but require Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package, which only works in WindowsXP and higher. Older versions of youtube-dl for Windows require Python v2.6 or v2.7, so thanks for the link. Unfortunately the oldest youtube-dl.exe i could find online was from November 2014 and reportedly requires a newer version of Windows. Not knowing the history, it is unlikely youtube-dl.exe was distributed back in the Windows 98 days. For now, not sure what else to try, probably move on and enjoy other Windows 98 adventures. I hope to keep this install relatively vanilla, don't want to get too hacky and turn it into an XP type system. Thanks again for trying to help.

Access YouTube from vanilla Windows 98 in 2019 This is a very cumbersome manual method. Using my GNU/Linux toolbox (Bash, wget, grep, sed, awk) an automated script could be completed in minutes that would accept a YouTube URL, retrieve the video URL for the desired format, download and launch the video. If anyone has the Windows 98 tools and expertise to automate these steps it could be pretty slick, i'm out of my element. Requirements: - Full featured web browser, last running SeaMonkey v1.1.19 used below - Built-in Microsoft WordPad as Notepad can't handle larger HTML files Not required: - KernelEx or other OS extensions - Newer browser supported by KernelEx - Browser add-ons or plug-ins, YouTube search engine optional - JavaScript execution - Adobe Flash or equivalent Note a formal YouTube search is not required, you just need the YouTube video URL. The video URL can be cut/pasted from other browsers, search engines, articles, etc. For example, the custom Yahoo search engine provided earlier displays the YouTube video URL directly in the search results. The method below would also work on other sites, it just takes time to review the HTML file to determine the actual video URL. Just like youtube-dl is able to access videos from probably hundreds of different sites. This is, however, a moving target. So i'm not picking on YouTube, it's just an example. Stock SeaMonkey v1.1.19 no longer displays YouTube, just an out of date browser message. SeaMonkey workaround, enter about:config in URL bar, seek the useragent.extra entry, right-click and modify the general.useragent.extra.seamonkey entry, delete SeaMonkey/1.1.19. This should now be an empty entry. Reload YouTube to access site. Optionally add the YouTube for SeaMonkey search engine below. Like other SeaMonkey search engines outlined a few posts up, paste this into an empty file, name it youtube.src and move it into C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\SeaMonkey\searchplugins. # YouTube plug-in <search name="YouTube" description="YouTube" method="GET" action="https://www.youtube.com/results" > <input name="search_query" user> </search> Find desired video, Caddy Shack movie trailer example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Nl39uWEYk Load video URL in browser, will not play the video, you just need the URL loaded to save the HTML page. In SeaMonkey click File -> Save Page As, default save okay, probably C:\Windows\TEMP\watch.htm. Right-click watch.htm, send to Wordpad. If a Wordpad shortcut isn't in C:\WINDOWS\SendTo then add one. Ensure the WordPad text option is set for wrap the text to window. Open watch.htm, Ctrl-F (find) itag\. Jump through the various itag\ entries, these are the available video formats. For example, itag 18 i believe is a 360 x 640 pixel MP4 video, one of the most available formats. Immediately after this is the obfuscated video download URL. Note the video format URL is very long, it starts after the double-quote of "https and continues until the next encountered double-quote. Below is the download URL for the YouTube address above, format 18. https:\/\/r3---sn-uxa0n-txbs.googlevideo.com\/videoplayback?expire=1573278884\\u0026ei=RADGXdelCciskwburp-ACw\\u0026ip=162.157.244.22\\u0026id=o-AJynbhVcr4BFv9Cz9-R8rxEpVONx6wFJ23v3KHWOsvoS\\u0026itag=18\\u0026source=youtube\\u0026requiressl=yes\\u0026mm=31%2C29\\u0026mn=sn-uxa0n-txbs%2Csn-uxa0n-t8gl\\u0026ms=au%2Crdu\\u0026mv=m\\u0026mvi=2\\u0026pl=22\\u0026initcwndbps=2015000\\u0026mime=video%2Fmp4\\u0026gir=yes\\u0026clen=9498884\\u0026ratebypass=yes\\u0026dur=155.016\\u0026lmt=1467884965653078\\u0026mt=1573257199\\u0026fvip=3\\u0026fexp=23842630\\u0026c=WEB\\u0026sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cratebypass%2Cdur%2Clmt\\u0026sig=ALgxI2wwRQIgUwu52jYu97XTswyJsaNP9gbuL1QHPo1enKBtCUmlBCACIQCeq3OFe-VOtC_CUJGUQwdzCv1vWcTu4mMXWvXEvuLfzw%3D%3D\\u0026lsparams=mm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps\\u0026lsig=AHylml4wRAIgQpGB1MM6El-n9uoJXSsYXC8oNwcOi96Rx6qZ3qs2xbcCIA0oE8W9Y_AH_qDgC9Bccn4D5A2WAfUa_IX8fgWG2h1h Convert the URL, change all: \/ to / \\u0026 to & The converted URL from above now looks like: https://r3---sn-uxa0n-txbs.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1573278884&ei=RADGXdelCciskwburp-ACw&ip=162.157.244.22&id=o-AJynbhVcr4BFv9Cz9-R8rxEpVONx6wFJ23v3KHWOsvoS&itag=18&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mm=31%2C29&mn=sn-uxa0n-txbs%2Csn-uxa0n-t8gl&ms=au%2Crdu&mv=m&mvi=2&pl=22&initcwndbps=2015000&mime=video%2Fmp4&gir=yes&clen=9498884&ratebypass=yes&dur=155.016&lmt=1467884965653078&mt=1573257199&fvip=3&fexp=23842630&c=WEB&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cgir%2Cclen%2Cratebypass%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ALgxI2wwRQIgUwu52jYu97XTswyJsaNP9gbuL1QHPo1enKBtCUmlBCACIQCeq3OFe-VOtC_CUJGUQwdzCv1vWcTu4mMXWvXEvuLfzw%3D%3D&lsparams=mm%2Cmn%2Cms%2Cmv%2Cmvi%2Cpl%2Cinitcwndbps&lsig=AHylml4wRAIgQpGB1MM6El-n9uoJXSsYXC8oNwcOi96Rx6qZ3qs2xbcCIA0oE8W9Y_AH_qDgC9Bccn4D5A2WAfUa_IX8fgWG2h1h Paste and enter the converted URL into a new tab, video download should initiate. Set browser preference to auto-play this video type immediately after download. Manually rename the saved file if it doesn't automatically save the proper file extension, for example add .mp4. For the next video repeat the process. Allow overwriting of any previous watch.htm file to avoid having to rename files. If unsure which watch.htm is being viewed, Ctrl-F for the keyword title to find the video title. Obviously this method needs automation.

Microsoft RegClean v4.1a is one of my favourites. It often removes additional cruft, even after running other registry cleaners. It does, however, have a known minor issue affecting game controllers. Most Windows 98 gamers run dxdiag.exe (DirectX Diagnostic Tool) to confirm everything is in working order, such as DirectX, video, sound and game controllers. After installing a controller and running regclean.exe, it may remove a controller registry item. This gets flagged by DirectX Diagnostic Tool, under the Input tab, the notes indicate problems found in the system registry. This is a minor issue and may not even affect controller functionality. Nonetheless, to patch the issue, create a *.reg file from below, right-click the file and merge it back into the registry. Run dxdiag.exe again to verify a fix. == DXDIAG_GameControllerKey.reg full fat below == REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{92187326-72B4-11d0-A1AC-0000F8026977}] @="Game Controllers CPL Shell Extension Default Property Sheets" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{92187326-72B4-11d0-A1AC-0000F8026977}\InProcHandler32] @="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM\\gchand.dll" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{92187326-72B4-11d0-A1AC-0000F8026977}\InProcServer32] @="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM\\gcdef.dll" "ThreadingModel"="Apartment" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{92187326-72B4-11d0-A1AC-0000F8026977}\ProgID] @="Game Controllers CPL Handler" == DXDIAG_GameControllerKey.reg skinny version below == REGEDIT4 ; Double click on this file from Explorer to automatically ; undo these deletions or modifications and return the values to the registry. ; - Modified or removed by RegClean 4.1-a (7364.0001) [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\CLSID\{92187326-72B4-11d0-A1AC-0000F8026977}\ProgID] @="Game Controllers CPL Handler"

Trying to make old SeaMonkey v1.1.19 a little more productive. It has lots of limitations on the modern web, moreso without JavaScript and avoiding Flash. Clearing popups for new certicates and outdated protocols is fatiguing. Anyone with access to a more modern browser probably would not spend much time using this old SeaMonkey. Two of the built-in search plugins, dmoz and jeeves, are broken, leaving only Google. Added a few plugins to improve functionality, see below. If desired, paste the contents into a *.src file and place in C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\SeaMonkey\searchplugins. Changing search engines is cumbersome from preferences, it is easier to press F9 and access the search tab from the side bar. In the above directory, recommend renaming dmoz.src to dmoz.srcDISABLE or similar, same with jeeves.src, so they no longer show in the search engine dropdown. These files may still be useful as templates if wishing to configure additional engines. Attempted to get some multimedia. Haven't figured out how to access YouTube with the above limitations. In Linux i just use youtube-dl, don't know if something like that is available and working for Windows 98, doubtful. Don't want to access illegal mp3 sites. Best i could find for now is archive.org, which has quite a bit of multimedia, plugin below. Append search terms with keywords like: audio, video, movie, podcast, etc. Multimedia files can be downloaded without JavaScript functionality. VLC player v0.8.6 is pretty good. IIRC it had issues playing ogg video. Sound stutters during CPU intensive tasks, which doesn't happen with the same hardware on other OS' using either VLC or mplayer. May try a different multimedia player later, just used to this VLC on old Windows. == internet_archive.src file == # Internet Archive plug-in <search name="Internet_Archive" description="Internet_Archive" method="GET" action="https://archive.org/search.php" > <input name="query" user> </search> == duckduckgo.src file == # DuckDuckGo HTML plugin <search name="DuckDuckGo" description="DuckDuckGo" method="GET" action="https://duckduckgo.com/html" > <input name="q" user> </search> == yahoo.src file == # Yahoo no JavaScript plugin <search name="Yahoo" description="Yahoo" method="GET" action="https://search.yahoo.com/search" > <input name="p" user> <input name="ei" value="UTF-8"> <input name="nojs" value="1"> </search>

Thanks jumper. The keysrc file posted earlier was fixed. Hopefully cut/paste works properly for others.

The keysrc file pasted above does not appear to display properly in this forum. Important key tags are missing, such as for the Ctrl key. Link to a sample keysrc file: https://www.dillo.org/keysrc Note, the linked page does not display properly in vanilla Windows 98 using Dillo. It does, however, format properly in old SeaMonkey v1.1.19. Edit: Fixed the keysrc file pasted in post above.

Noticed the Yahoo for Dillo 'search engine' mentioned two posts up also caches many web pages. As with Google's cached links, this allows Dillo to view the links that would otherwise not be accessible due to JavaScript or security protocol limitations. Copied over a Dillo keysrc file from a Linux install that allows modifying default key bindings. Seems to work well. This is the stock file other than my preference added for Ctrl-right and Ctrl-left arrows to move between tabs. Just place it in the Dillo config directory, on my system C:\WINDOWS\.dillo. The file is simply named 'keysrc'. # keysrc # Sample dillo key bindings file. # # The format is: "key = action" or "<modifier>key = action". # Lines that begin with a '#' are comments. # The commented-out bindings below show the defaults built into Dillo. # # Modifiers recognized: "Shift", "Ctrl", "Alt", "Meta". # (OS X: Use "Meta" for Command) # # Key names recognized: "Backspace", "Delete", "Down", "End", "Esc", # "F1" through "F12", "Home", "Insert", "Left", "Menu", "PageDown", "PageUp", # "Print", "Return", "Right", "Space", "Tab", "Up". # # Multimedia keys: "Back", "Favorites", "Forward", "HomePage", "Mail", # "MediaNext", "MediaPlay", "MediaPrev", "MediaStop", "Refresh", "Search", # "Sleep", "Stop", "VolumeDown", "VolumeMute", VolumeUp". # # If Dillo is running under X11, keys whose names are not recognized can # be specified using their keysym value in hexadecimal. Use xev to get # the keysym. Example rule: "0x1008ff27 = forward". # # The action "nop" (no operation) can be used to remove a binding. # "open" lets you browse your local files for one to open. #<ctrl>o = open <ctrl>o = open # "new-window" opens a new browser window. #<ctrl>n = new-window # "new-tab" opens a new tab in the current browser window. #<ctrl>t = new-tab # "close-tab" closes the current tab. # Note that this closes the browser window if there is only one tab. #<ctrl>w = close-tab # "close-all" closes all tabs/windows and exits. #<ctrl>q = close-all # "left-tab" and "right-tab" switch to the left/right of the current tab. # <ctrl><shift>tab = left-tab # <ctrl>PageUp = left-tab # <ctrl>tab = right-tab # <ctrl>PageDown = right-tab <ctrl>Right = right-tab <ctrl>Left = left-tab # "back" and "forward" move back/forward through the browser history. #backspace = back #<shift>backspace = forward #, = back #. = forward # "reload" the current page. #<ctrl>r = reload # "home" goes to the homepage that you set in your dillorc. #<ctrl>h = home # "find" lets you search for a text string on the current page. #<ctrl>f = find # "hide-panels" hides the findbar if present, control panels if not. #esc = hide-panels # "websearch" lets you send a text string to the search engine that you # set in your dillorc. #<ctrl>s = websearch # go to your "bookmarks". #<ctrl>b = bookmarks # "file-menu" pops up the file menu. #<alt>f = file-menu # "view-source" displays the page source. #<ctrl>u = view-source # "goto" goes to the location bar at the top of the window. #<ctrl>l = goto # "stop" loading the page. #(stop has no default binding) # "save" the current page. #(save has no default binding) #-------------------------------------------------------------------- # MOTION COMMANDS #-------------------------------------------------------------------- #pageup = screen-up #b = screen-up #pagedown = screen-down #space = screen-down #(screen-left has no default binding) #(screen-right has no default binding) #up = line-up #down = line-down #left = left #right = right #home = top #end = bottom

Shutdown problems, maybe Windows 98's biggest oops. After applying patches, including disable fast shutdown, still a problem. Only when shutting down with the internet router turned off, hint. No issue when the network adapter was disabled in device manager, bigger hint. Since starting to use the system online, sometimes ethernet is on, sometimes off. When off the system hangs on a black screen after selecting Shut Down, need to use the power switch. After checking and trying the usual, found something: http://www.aumha.org/win4/a/shtdwnse.php Unfortunately my system was using a Realtek 8029AS chipset. Tediously tested 6 driver releases from 1998-2000, working ethernet but no shutdown success. Had 7 old ethernet cards in the basement collecting dust. Installed probably the oldest, a 3Com Fast Etherlink XL 10/100Mb TX (3C905-TX) from about 1996, success on every shutdown even with router off. Amazing how old hardware can suddenly become useful. Spending this much time getting a computer to reliably shut down is inhumane. Bill Gates retired from MS and spends his time trying to better the world, so won't hold the shutdown issue against his crew. Still would have been nice to get a proper fix. Starting and stopping, pretty basic features. Maybe should blame Realtek, seems like the hardware is awaiting a connection and doesn't release with the shutdown command. If building a retro machine, do not use this Realtek chipset. The 3Com ethernet card was recognized by Windows 98 without having to hunt for drivers. Only some vendor and 3rd party sites are accessible by SeaMonkey and Dillo on vanilla Windows 98 SE. Probably best to use another OS to get the required drivers beforehand. If restarting an old machine and don't have the Windows 98 CD, avoid hardware, driver or major configuration changes. The CD is often requested to install helper software. Due to security concerns some may not want the system online. Just disable the network adapter in Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager to avoid having to use a firewall or unplugging cables. Another alternative is a little used feature, Control Panel -> System -> Hardware Profiles. This allows setting up different hardware profiles, such as with/without a network adapater, with a menu prompt at every boot.

Playing, my current search engines. Most sites that use a query search box without a log-in can be converted into a Dillo 'search engine'. Just perform a search and review the returned URL, replace your query with %s. Results vary. For example, i got a good Bing search string in SeaMonkey but it wouldn't work consistently in Dillo. It may be user agent related but i can't be bothered to figure it out. If the site doesn't make it easy, forget about it. search_url="Bing_Images https://bing.com/images/search?FORM=FDNF&q=%s" search_url="Free_Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/%s" search_url="Google http://www.google.com/search?q=%s" search_url="IMDB http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=%s" search_url="Urban_Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%s" search_url="Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=%s&go=Go" search_url="Wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%s" search_url="Yahoo https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%s" search_url="YouTube http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s&search=Search" Regarding YouTube, it's just a search string, Dillo ain't gonna stream an HTML5 video :) Other Dillo related. Many sites don't render well, keep your hand close to the page down key or you'll get tendonitis from scrolling. Middle clicking the scroll bar warps to that part of the page. Ctrl-s opens up the search box and, of course, Ctrl-f to find on page. Sometimes toggling Tools -> Use remote CSS or Tools -> Use embedded CSS makes the page more readable. Downloads can be tricky. In the download dialogue popup, if the file name looks wonky just rename it what you think it should be, eg my_file.zip, and it often works. Also if the download doesn't work with the usual left-click, try right-click -> Save link as. For me Dillo thus far has been the most functional browser in vanilla Windows 98, why i'm spending extra time on it. Although only a secondary system for legacy applications, it's nice to get online for research without dual-booting for every little thing. For people used to a full-featured modern browser Dillo won't impress, but still pretty cool what this 20+ year old OS and a simple browser can accomplish.

Hi deomsh. The search engine works but result links route the data through a secure proxy. Don't think its a Dillo issue, rather Windows 98 can't handle the newer security protocols, my vanilla Windows 98 anyway. Two search engine strings that don't work in dillorc: search_url="http://duckduckgo.com/lite/?kp=-1&q=%s" search_url="http://duckduckgo.com/html/?kp=-1&q=%s" Adding a bookmark for below works, just keep it at the top of the bookmark dropdown for quick access: https://duckduckgo.com/ Startpage doesn't work either. Another working config for dillorc, although it appears to affect cut/paste , nice scroll option though: # Mouse middle click by default drives drag-scrolling. # To paste an URL into the window instead of scrolling, set it to NO. # Note: You could always paste the URL onto the URL box clear button. middle_click_drags_page=YES

The config file in my Windows version of Dillo is watered down. Some options copied from a Linux install work. Additional items that may be relevant for C:\Windows\.dillo\dillorc below. Note: - Geometry height ~30 pixels less than screen resolution opens full screen. - The duckduckgo proxy engine doesn't work in Windows 98, commented out. - Usually not too hard to add additional search engines. - Didn't test languages or user agent. #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # FIRST SECTION :) #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Set the desired initial browser size # geometry=650x545+0+20 #geometry=780x580 #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # RENDERING SECTION #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Show tooltip popups for UI and for HTML title attributes show_tooltip=NO #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # NETWORK SECTION #------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Set the URLs used by the web search dialog. # "%s" is replaced with the search keywords separated by '+'. # Format: search_url="[ ]" # You can enable multiple search_url strings at once and select from among # them at runtime, with the first being the default. #search_url="http://duckduckgo.com/lite/?kp=-1&q=%s" #search_url="http://duckduckgo.com/html/?kp=-1&q=%s" search_url="Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=%s&go=Go" search_url="Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/%s" search_url="Google http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%s" # If set, dillo will ask web servers to send pages in this language. # This setting does NOT change dillo's user interface. # Format explained: www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.4 # Language-REGION values: www.iana.org/assignments/language-subtag-registry # (by default, no Accept-Language header is sent) # http_language="de" # http_language="pt-BR" # http_language="vi,de-CH,de;q=0.5,th;q=0.3" # Set the HTTP User-Agent header. # This can be useful for privacy and for working around servers who think # Dillo is less capable than it really is. However, if you pretend to use a # different browser, servers may send you pages that work with the features # and bugs of that other browser -- or even disallow access in cases like # wget or googlebot. Remember this before submitting bug reports. # # See http://zytrax.com/tech/web/browser_ids.htm for a compilation of strings. # # http_user_agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:18.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0" # http_user_agent="Wget/1.12 (linux-gnu)" #The default is "Dillo/"+current_version_number

Wunderbar98 wrote: If anyone knows of a DOS command to start graphic Safe Mode please tell. Continue self conversation :) Got it, DOS command to start safe mode is 'win /d:m', that's intuitive. So the perfect solution will be to add this to the custom DOS menu outlined above, never get locked out of system options.

Modified the dual-boot PupWin98 system outlined a few posts above. The Puppy desktop link is no longer needed and either Windows or Puppy can be launched from a custom DOS boot menu. The drive's MBR remains untouched. This also allows booting various DOS applications, which have different requirements, and the menu will be easy to modify for future custom initializations. The C:\WINDOWS\MSDOS.SYS file is set as follows. Ensure the file manager shows hidden files, right-click -> Properties on MSDOS.SYS and uncheck Hidden and Read-only. Use these settings to ensure the custom DOS menu displays at boot: BootGUI=0 BootMenu=1 BootMenuDelay=3 Logo=0 Important: Disabling BootGUI disables graphic Safe Mode. In an emergency, selecting Safe Mode will only boot to a DOS prompt, user will need to run 'edit c:\msdos.sys' in DOS to temporarily change it back to 'BootGUI=1'. If anyone knows of a DOS command to start graphic Safe Mode please tell. The custom DOS boot menu below immediately displays after the F8 Safe Mode boot menu times out. There is no cookie cutter configuration, as each user will have different needs. Below allows access to a variety of options, which defaults to regular Windows 98 graphic mode in 5 seconds without intervention. C:\CONFIG.SYS below: [MENU] MENUITEM=DOS0,MS-DOS MENUITEM=DOS1,MS-DOS MOUSE SOUND MENUITEM=DOS2,MS-DOS MOUSE SOUND CD-ROM MENUITEM=WIN,WINDOWS 98 (DEFAULT) MENUITEM=LINUX,PUPPY LINUX MENUDEFAULT=WIN,5 [DOS0] DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE [DOS1] INCLUDE=DOS0 [DOS2] INCLUDE=DOS0 DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL [WIN] INCLUDE=DOS0 [LINUX] [COMMON] FILES=40 LASTDRIVE=E C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT below: @ECHO OFF GOTO %CONFIG% :DOS0 GOTO QUIT :DOS1 LH C:\DOS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2 SET CTSYN=C:\LIVEDOS C:\LIVEDOS\SBEINIT.COM GOTO QUIT :DOS2 LH C:\DOS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2 SET CTSYN=C:\LIVEDOS C:\LIVEDOS\SBEINIT.COM LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:OPTICAL /M:10 GOTO QUIT :LINUX C:\PUPPY\GRUB.EXE --config-file=(hd0,0)/puppy/menu.lst GOTO QUIT :WIN WIN :QUIT Forgive if this is old hat to long term users, never had time to properly learn during earlier working years. Based on DOS with a graphic shell, Windows 98 remains flexible and fun. This link was very helpful, amazed so much good knowledge remains available: http://www.math.utah.edu/~gustafso/menu95.txt

Regarding Dillo and the built-in Google search engine, most results will display a 'cached' link. Cached links will allow Dillo to view the intended page, which may otherwise be inaccessible due to lack of JavaScript functionality or outdated security protocols. So if a search result link does not load the regular way, view the cached document and thank Google. After all this if a site still does not work i just move on to the next site. Even in GNU/Linux i rarely run JavaScript, there's plenty of information available to read and learn. A HOSTS file can make browsing more pleasant and safer. Without JavaScript running it's not as big an issue, but it will prevent a lot of gargbage coming through. Windows 98 has a C:\Windows\HOSTS.SAM file, this is a SAMple file. To activate a custom HOSTS file, copy HOSTS.SAM to C:\Windows\HOSTS and apply relevant entries. Blocked entries should point to 0.0.0.0. I got my list from MVPS, there are alternatives. If manually updating the HOSTS file, use Wordpad to handle the large file. Not sure if a modified HOSTS file works in real time, reboot. Try to load a few entries in a browser for testing, the site should immediately be inaccessible. Using the same hardware and other OS, including GNU/Linux, a large host file like MVPS will almost cripple internet usage. With Windows 98 there is no obvious slowdown. Is the internet safe in Windows 98? Is anything safe? Running a firewall, no JavaScript, enabling safer browser settings, using a HOSTS file, maybe not so bad. Although limited, Dillo is probably one of the safest browsers around. As the code base is small and simpler, there's less room for bugs and problems. By default it doesn't even keep cookies. If running a newer version of Firefox, for example, entering 'about:config' and reviewing built-in 'http' entries doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy.

Still on a Windows 98 in 2019 internet kick. Tried several bonus browsers, fondly remember Netscape Navigator and finally tried the DOS Arachne browser. This site has an outdated certificate as far as SeaMonkey v1.1.19 is concerned (expired earlier 2019). On SeaMonkey log in and use of this site is pretty good with JavaScript disabled. Changing View -> User Style to 'None' is required for the login information to properly display. Then change back to 'Default style' for the rest of the forum session until sign-out. As most of the built-in SeaMonkey certificates are now outdated, this will blank all trust settings. Go to Preferences -> Certificates -> Manage Certificates -> Authorities tab. Select all entries (click top, hold shift, click bottom) and click 'Delete'. When this popup is re-opened the default entries remain, but if you click an object token and select 'Edit', all trust settings have been cleared. So to SeaMonkey these certificates are no longer 'active'. Alternatively view each certificate individually and delete/reset outdated ones. Then when browsing you need to manually update individual certificates based on the pop-ups, which get added for management under the 'Web Sites' tab. Also in SeaMonkey there are a lot of popups to clear if the system does not have the required security protocols. Due to these hassles, SeaMonkey might be okay for visiting a few select workable sites, otherwise i stick with Dillo. This old SeaMonkey does not have an easy way to quick clear cache and cookies (multiple preference menu entries) so i run this script after exit. Still learning DOS, forgive if primitive: :: CLEANUP.BAT :: SeaMonkey DELTREE /Y "C:\WINDOWS\Mozilla\Profiles\default\Cache\*" DEL "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\kchn3v5h.slt\cookies.txt" DEL "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\kchn3v5h.slt\downloads.rdf" DEL "C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\kchn3v5h.slt\history.dat" :: Other DELTREE "C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\*"

Hi jaclaz. Thanks for your post, nice meeting you. Agreed. As with all dual or multi-boot systems, there's a lot of booting going on. In addition to the advantages posted earlier, there is NO need to alter the MBR. For a tech savvy user like yourself, this may be a non-issue. From the perspective of a non-technical user who owns an old Windows 98 system collecting dust, it's a great way to increase functionality of the machine. Messing with PUPPY.BAT or even AUTOEXEC.BAT isn't going to lock out a user, as these files are processed after the F8 key safe mode boot, so little can go wrong. Most inexperienced users won't want to mess with MBR, for good reason, as it can result in a non-bootable system. Modifying a few *.bat files is easier than repairng MBR. If the MBR is not repairable and the user no longer owns the Windows 98 install CD or key, they are stuck.

Retrozilla v2.2 is pretty nice, spent some time with it. Read the long development thread too, hopefully if the developers have energy they will resume the effort. I have several coding projects on the go and know the feeling. Usually when a project is ~75% done, hit a wall, don't feel much like keeping on as most of the original challenge and joy is gone, now it's just work. RZ appears to run best with JavaScript disabled, probably the only reasonably safe way to browse in Windows 98 now anyway. The cert8.db file was same byte count as stock SeaMonkey v1.1.19 and appear outdated. Running both browsers, now my SeaMonkey system tray icon is the same as RZ, maybe some strange profile crossover. Tiny Personal Firewall notified of 'System' incoming and outgoing packets and incoming alert for 'TCPIP' kernel driver. Haven't pinpointed the issue but appears to be related to running these browsers. Cleared all about:config http entries that might call home, deleted all bookmarks, started new profile, disabled JavaScript, etc. Hmmm... Can't figure out if it's possible to install extensions, NoScript would be nice. The Get Extensions menu item loads a blank page. Thanks for the efforts developers. It will be interesting to see if there is any more action. Addendum. Now reviewing the certs, they are all REALLY updated, like 2036-2039. Maybe that's normal when they are up to date, no expert. Sorry if i jumped the gun. Will need to either uninstall RZ or SM, it seems there may be some sort of crossover issue. It would be interesting to get feedback from others. Myself, will probably stick with Dillo and SeaMonkey with JavaScript disabled.