Wunderbar98

Thanks for all responses, checked it works in Windows 2000 too. Spent time at ReactOS site and forum. Seems they aim to replicate functionality and UI of Windows Server 2003. Unfortunately seems they are stuck with browsers like Firefox 48 and MyPal. One recent reviewer indicated something like 'ReactOS is slipping off the internet like Windows XP'. I've never tried ReactOS but check their updates on occasion. Still hoping to someday see a big change announcement in this regard, since internet facing software is often the final blow to an aging 'modern OS'. Came across an interesting discussion on Stack Exchange titled 'Why did Windows 95 crash the whole system but newer Windows only crashed program'. A good summary was already provided by @Mr.Scienceman2000 on this thread earlier. He said, she said, whatever i find it interesting. https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/11878/why-did-windows-95-crash-the-whole-system-but-newer-windows-only-crashed-program Since Windows 98 SE is so rock solid stable [1], no big, but yes once things go South with error messages or a blue screen it's time to voluntarily or forcibly reboot. Anyone wondering what the BSoD codes reference, other Windows OS shown too. Interesting how detailed 'The original BSoD from Windows NT' was compared to modern releases. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death#Windows_9x [1] Joke, you know humour

Thanks @D.Draker but now i'm older, moved on to Rune Warrior! Stuck on Eloni, hordes and hordes of Orcs. Decided i should read the manual. Will try a daytime attack. Definitely need to refine my tactics, i'm obviously not using resources efficiently.

A word of encouragement to a known gamer and even well-meaning humour gets misinterpreted. To clarify, don't use a few sick days off work to stay up half the night and play video games. The first few hours after infection are the most critical. You're relatively young and apparently healthy @UCyborg, everything will hopefully be okay. COVID is an unpredictable virus and many cases of severe illness, prolonged illness (long COVID) and death have been reported amongst 'healthy' individuals. Take it seriously and focus on getting better. I once had pneumonia as a young healthy man. Sick for 6 weeks including totally wiped for 2 weeks and bedridden for 1 week. When the fever broke and i got out again even a walk around the block was difficult. Medically this was mild pneumonia, only one lung, no intravenous or hospitalization. If i wasn't so stubborn and took a couple sick days off work early in the illness it likely wouldn't have become severe. I did a lot of intensive mountain biking until age 35, my lung capacity was never the same, not bad but not peak.

Hang in there @UCyborg. Drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest to help your body fight the infection. If your lungs become problematic, minimize sleeping on your back and stay reasonably active (gaming don't count). With a little luck you'll be feeling good in no time. Healthy as a horse is a misnomer, humanoids are incredibly fragile. A friend had an uncle who went to the doctor for routine exam. The doctor told him he was good and healthy. Well he died before leaving the office, heart attack. Make every day count :)

Keylog on this forum to me is a non-issue, strokes are intended to be posted publicly anyway. If concerned about a typo or changing the tone of a post, use a text editor beforehand. If experiencing hothead or altered judgement wait a day before posting. It's doubtful anyone here, even administrators, care about what was keylogged before posting. No special tools needed to stop keylogging, even RetroZilla with JavaScript disabled is adequate., that simple. For large reply box toggle between View -> Use Style -> None/Default. Not sure about Chrome-based but this works in RetroZilla and modern SeaMonkey, probably mainstream Firefox too.

Local ad here, someone seeking specific AGP cards to get his father's 'old computer' running games. The ATI cards listed start at 256 MB graphic memory - oh kids. Another ad is selling an old ATI Wonder TV Tuner card for $20, free giveaways a couple years ago. Recently someone selling a US Robotics 56k external modem for $20. I purchased the same model used more than 15 years ago for $10 and ran it all day (office hours), every day for years as a fax server, bulletproof hardware. Haven't even used this OS for 25 years, new discovery. Hold Ctrl key, select multiple applications from the taskbar, right-click and close them all at once (or minimize/maximize). This i knew before but never found it practical, when more than one application is open, right-click on the taskbar to cascade or tile all open windows (horizontally or vertically). With two Windows Explorer windows open, seems a reasonable 'dual-pane' file manager. To me it never worked that well, maybe with a larger monitor. The cascade feature overlaps windows as a cascaded stack starting at the top left. To me this isn't practical since the stacked windows hide content underneath. Instead of cascade a nice option would have been to warp two open windows to opposite corners of the monitor or, as with Openbox, open new windows directly under mouse pointer.

That's the correct registry key @UCyborg, thanks for clarifying. I keep meaning to seek 'registry diff' software, this would be handy for software installs and tweaks. My systems are set to 0 (zero), works well. Here my deepest sub-menu is VLC quick settings, four levels deeper than main Start menu, still doesn't span monitor width. The blog post was good, default needs to be set somewhere. Thanks for all the information @Mr.Scienceman2000. Feared missing out but it's already hoarded and installed here as 'q269601_WindowsDriverModelAudioUpdateForWindows98SE_kb242937.exe' (renamed by me): https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/#comment-1145149 This update can help with several audio issues: https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_KB_Archive/242937 Control Panel keyboard shortcut: - Open My Computer - Right-click and drag Control Panel to desktop, select 'Create shortcut here' - Right-click on new shortcut -> Properties - Left-click into 'Shortcut key' -> None field - Press Ctrl-Alt-C (for example) - Click Apply, reboot seems needed Unfortunately for me the keyboard shortcut fails if it's dragged or created directly in the Quick Launch toolbar, no idea why, and keeping this shortcut on the desktop creates clutter. Discovered the Control Panel executable is C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE. AutoHotkey, discussed earlier, made light work of creating a keyboard shortcut (# is Windows key). Windows+c is already used here to close the CD/DVD tray, so Control Panel opens with Windows+p. My current config: #Up::SoundSet +1 #Down::SoundSet -1 #Left::SoundSet, +1, , mute #Right::Soundplay, %A_WinDir%\Media\notify.wav #o::Drive, Eject #c::Drive, Eject,, 1 #p::Run C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.EXE

I can relate @UCyborg. Can't remember the system, long time ago i had a large hosts file that made browsing non-functional. Now, whether improvements in hardware or software, the hosts file linked above does not perceivably slow down browsing on my 800 MHz system (Windows 98 or Devuan). Personally i want this stuff out - no foot in the door. There are lots of hosts file compilations available, some are smaller and some longer. The MVPS list, maybe gold standard, is about 425 KB vs 299 KB from someonewhocares. This monster list didn't noticeably slow down this system either. The list linked above is categorized and editable. Only keep what you want to trim it down, example known advertisement, hijack and spyware sites. A '0.0.0.0' hosts file may provide a slight performance benefit. In Windows 98 and Devuan (maybe all systems don't know) hosts file updates take effect in real time. To check if it's working clear cache and close browser, append '0.0.0.0 msfn.org' to the hosts file, save file and attempt to access the site. If a site suddenly stops working temporarily disable the hosts file entries and retest. Search the file's comments, quite a few entries note potential breakage.

Updated Arachne released last month, didn't test. http://www.glennmcc.org/ Changelog: http://glennmcc.org/arachne/changelog.txt It was noted to be a minor update but means the developer still has his head-in-the-game! Still nothing that would allow proper access to HTTPS sites without the clunky and painstaking TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 hacks documented earlier. For modern DOS browsing Lynx and Links are still the best goto browsers (think i created member projects for them all).

Thanks for the information @Mr.Scienceman2000. Just curious since it's a Windows Me driver, did it install normally into Windows 98 or require modification? Since my slower dual-boot Windows 98 now has a small monitor (max 1024x768), the AGP graphic card will likely be switched from NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200 to an ATI. Reason being, the legacy ATI driver in GNU/Linux is poor with no resolution above 1024 x 768. Since this is no longer relevant on this system, may as well get some life out of my old ATI hardware. A 32 MB ATI card previously worked well in Windows 98 so i'm looking forward to the swap. This is what's in storage here for ATI, probably use the 32 MB card again. - ATI 3D Rage (1998, Rage IIC ATI 3D chip, 4 MB) - ATI Rage 128 Pro (2000, query 8 MB, query 'All in Wonder', TV outs, Rage Theatre chip) - ATI Rage 128 (1998, query 16 MB) - ATI Xpert 2000 Pro 32 MB (no date) For whatever reason, my original 3dfx Voodoo Banshee AGP 16 MB died within three years of purchase. Someone gave me a 6600-DV128 (query 128 MB) graphic card a long time ago. It's never been tested. From what i can tell it uses a PCI Express slot. Don't think i have a motherboard that supports this interface or whether they work in Windows 98, will eventually investigate further. Still tweaking and learning. Came across this ShellIconCache article, relates to newer Windows too. Probably won't make much difference unless the system has icon issues or churns a lot of software. https://www.computing.net/howtos/show/icon-cache-how-it-works-and-fixing-it/822.html Make your Windows 98 super-snappy-fast with Tweak UI -> Mouse tab -> Menu Speed to fast. Now Start button sub-menus and dropdown menus from Windows Explorer, for example, open instantaneously when hovered.

A hosts zero file is also available for those who prefer 0.0.0.0. Detailed install instructions near top of the file, for Windows OS too. Over 20 Windows 10 specific entries at the bottom - eww. https://someonewhocares.org/hosts/zero/

== Basic Firewall == UFW (uncomplicated FireWall) - a front-end for iptables to make managing a Netfilter firewall easier. Example is Debian-based using 'sudo', may vary by distribution. If 'sudo' is not installed or desired use 'su' (root). By default Devuan GNU/Linux does not enable a firewall, user required to configure. Install (or 'gufw' for a GUI): sudo apt-get install ufw Manual (or search online): man ufw Enable, persistent on reboots: sudo ufw enable Check status: sudo ufw status verbose Default status indicates: Status: active Logging: off Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing), disabled (routed) New profiles: skip For typical home use this default configuration is adequate. It blocks anything from coming in, unless the network request was initiated by something going out (ie. user action). Of course outgoing network requests can still be made by backdoors and malicious software. Full-featured web browsers will still 'phone home', for example, unless modified. A firewall can't protect from all evil, recommend: - Remove or disable any networking software not utilized - Use trusted software sources, preferably default repositories - Minimize exposure to potentially harmful code (eg. browser JavaScript) - Consider a web browser add-on that by default blocks most JavaScript - Consider appending /etc/hosts with a block list, example https://someonewhocares.org/hosts/ Additional configuration example below, to block EVERYTHING (in and out): sudo ufw default deny outgoing UFW status now shows full lockout, all connection attempts will fail (eg. ping, internet, SSH, Samba). Status: active Logging: off Default: deny (incoming), deny (outgoing), disabled (routed) New profiles: skip Now selectively open only the ports your system needs, basic internet example (HTTP, HTTPS, DNS): sudo ufw allow out http sudo ufw allow out https sudo ufw allow out 53 Now 'sudo ufw status verbose' should show: Status: active Logging: off Default: deny (incoming), deny (outgoing), disabled (routed) New profiles: skip To Action From -- ------ ---- 80/tcp ALLOW OUT Anywhere 443/tcp ALLOW OUT Anywhere 53 ALLOW OUT Anywhere 80/tcp (v6) ALLOW OUT Anywhere (v6) 443/tcp (v6) ALLOW OUT Anywhere (v6) 53 (v6) ALLOW OUT Anywhere (v6) Ports for special needs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers To reset default configuration: sudo ufw reset sudo ufw enable sudo ufw default allow outgoing Edit: Cleaned up configuration.

Hi @cov3rt. I like Windows 2000 but don't use it much. In Windows 98 SE, TCPMP is light but buggy, VLC v0.8.6d is heavy and doesn't play all video types. For me the best is SMPlayer's -> MPlayer (don't confuse with Windows Media Player). In Windows 98, the SMPlayer release is v0.6.7. I'm sure vanilla Windows 2000 supports a newer release. It's a very light video player and when configured properly works very well. The actual configuration file is named simply 'config'. There's no GUI, lots of information online. In Windows 98, for example, just point the video to C:\Program Files\SMPlayer\mplayer\mplayer.exe This MPlayer hasn't failed to play YT videos for me here in Windows 98, typically MP4 format. Basic controls: f - toggle fullscreen o - toggle onscreen display q - quit left arrow - back few seconds right arrow - forward few seconds up arrow - forward one minute down arrow - back one minute spacebar - toggle pause If you want, paste a YT URL in question (at least the 'watch?v=-???' snippet).

Hi @UCyborg, we compute similarly but different, strikes me every time :) Ha, ha 'nope, nope, nope'. The plugins and extras you listed aren't used here, removal is welcome. If developers could stop adding new fluff that would be welcome too. To me they don't belong in a browser, i use separate applications for specific items. Thanks for pointing it out, some probably want these items. Thankfully Mozilla and SeaMonkey project don't hide old releases. Firefox: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/ SeaMonkey (scroll to bottom): https://www.seamonkey-project.org/releases/ Just personal preference, sound doesn't belong in a browser either, HTML server vs 'content delivery platform'. It's been years since i used Flash or HTML5 video aside from setting up systems for others. If you don't want PulseAudio a confirmed working alternative is 'apulse'. The last 64-bit system i set up running latest SeaMonkey, configuring the keyboard shortcut and launcher with 'apulse seamonkey' plays sound in YT HTML5 video. https://packages.debian.org/sid/apulse

Well turns out more than 384 MB RAM is still wasteful. Adjusted 'swappiness' on my old 800 MHz system (default 60 down to 50). Running Devuan Beowulf with graphics (Xorg, Openbox, Conky), logged into my old Hotmail account (SeaMonkey v2.49.4) while reading a PDF file (MUPDF) without accessing swap. This wouldn't be possible without something like NoScript in a full featured browser. Here only 4 JavaScript domains are actually needed to run Hotmail: - live.com - msauth.net - office.net - office365.com GMail still allows HTML-only login and usage, so running GMail on this old hardware is quite light. Seems on old non-SSE2 capable or non-64-bit hardware full featured web browsers will be maxed out with the following. BTW it's still possible to get most everything done with these old browsers for now. This forum (MSFN) renders and works well with this old SeaMonkey blocking all JavaScript, including log in/out and posting messages (sorry Admins). - SeaMonkey v2.49.4 - Firefox v52 (last proper release) - Firefox v78.15.0 ESR [1] [1] Buggy due to some SSE2-required code causing occasional tab crashes. If someone finds a work-around please notify. My newer 64-bit hardware, which dual boots 32-bit Windows XP nicely, recent routine update bumped Firefox v78 ESR to Firefox v91 ESR.

Hi @Mr.Scienceman2000. Remember when 1024x768 was an upgrade. Having spent the better part of the day going back and forth between VGA and LCD, to me VGA is much crisper, even with Windows 98's old fonts. No eye fatigue here even with 60 MHz but yes higher frequency is easier on the eyes. Glad to see your video project is progressing. Hi @RainyShadow. Thanks for the link, READTHIS.TXT was funny, pasted below. I wasn't in Windows 98 at the time so this post was read with Dillo, written in 'vi' and posted via old SeaMonkey - hope that counts as someone who prefers command line and basic tools. --- ! The fact that you are reading this in the first place demonstrates that ! you are a "hard-core" super-power-user who believes that fancy GUI help ! files are for "namby-pamby" mouse-addicted beginners who think you need ! exact change to get onto a PCI bus. Plain ASCII text files, that's what ! real hackers use for documentation. --- Thanks for the generous offer @Dixel. A similar offer was received from @D.Draker already too but i will graciously decline since i already have dozens of unfinished games here at home. Enjoying SpellForce: Order of Dawn, getting more familiar with the game. Just finished the first tutorial mission vs Orcs, now running my own avatar and prepping for the big Goblin battle, lots of fun. Thanks again.

John Madden passed away last month (Dec 2021, age 85). As a casual American football fan i still managed to purchase three of his games (92 Sega Genesis, 2000 PC, 2002 GBA). With so many annual releases it wasn't hard to find them cheap. Spent an enjoyable evening re-exploring the game and i'm no better at Madden 30 years later! BTW Pat Summerall provides most of the gameplay commentary, he passed away already too. My PC release is 'EA SPORTS Madden NFL 2000 Classic' with cumulative Patch 3. This old Madden looks and plays okay. For it's time decent graphics but this is mostly what dates the game. Newer releases look much better and also appear to have better gameplay and player control. HOT TIP: If you're going to play old Madden, avoid exposure to recent releases so you don't get spoiled. What strikes me most is how feature rich computer games were already by the early 2000s. Graphically this old Madden already had player sizing, skin tone, eye black, named and numbered jerseys, custom uniforms and stadiums, player portraits, first down line (cable television style), day/night games, weather effects, on field referee, sideline activity (chain crew, cheerleaders, player bench, banners), play celebrations, etc. EA Sports' old motto 'If it's in the Game, it's in the Game' was always accurate to me. Of course the game covered all major NFL rules and plays with franchise support and licensing. So many features to add realism: coin toss, receiver in motion, audibles, crowd control, fakes, hurry up offence, substitutions, trade deadlines, salary cap, scouting report, injuries, bullet pass, throw the ball away, spike the ball, take a knee, time outs, commentary, detailed stats. So many play modes: tutorial, practice, arcade, exhibition, season, tournament, coach, franchise (player drafts, up to 30 seasons), great games (classics), Madden Challenge. So many customizations: artificial intelligence, rosters and trades, play editor, camera view, coach's cam (route marking), instant replay, controller config, player (gamer) profile, penalty level, difficulty level, custom teams. Madden 2000 screens in Direct3D, 1024 x 768 due to my small monitor: https://i.postimg.cc/J0HKktZX/01-cointoss.png https://i.postimg.cc/dQCx3SBx/02-play-select.png https://i.postimg.cc/9f4BSrgn/03-line-of-scrimmage.png https://i.postimg.cc/T3BbKQQt/04-play-action.png https://i.postimg.cc/FKgKhx6d/05-running-play1.png https://i.postimg.cc/LhKdqcYH/06-running-play2.png https://i.postimg.cc/LswMKg9Y/07-replay.png

Hi @UCyborg. The Old New thing from Raymond Chen is quite a blog, since 2003. Some good old stuff there. Blog quote regarding the ubiquitous Windows 95 Start menu. https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030722-00/?p=43083 --- Why do you have to click the Start button to shut down? July 22nd, 2003 Short answer: The same reason you turn the ignition key to shut off your car. Long answer: Back in the early days, the taskbar didn’t have a Start button. (In a future history column, you’ll learn that back in the early days, the taskbar wasn’t called the taskbar.) Instead of the Start button, there were three buttons in the lower left corner. One was the 'System' button (icon: the Windows flag), one was the 'Find' button (icon: an eyeball), and the third was the 'Help' button (icon: a question mark). 'Find' and 'Help' are self-explanatory. The 'System' button gave you this menu: - Run - Task List - Arrange Desktop Icons - Arrange Windows - Shutdown Windows ('Arrange Windows' gave you options like 'Cascade', 'Tile Horizontally', that sort of thing.) Of course, over time, the 'Find' and 'Help' buttons eventually joined the 'System' button menu and the System button menu itself gradually turned into the Windows 95 Start menu. But one thing kept getting kicked up by usability tests: People booted up the computer and just sat there, unsure what to do next. That’s when we decided to label the System button 'Start'. It says, 'You dummy. Click here.' And it sent our usability numbers through the roof, because all of a sudden, people knew what to click when they wanted to do something. So why is 'Shut down' on the Start menu? When we asked people to shut down their computers, they clicked the Start button. Because, after all, when you want to shut down, you have to start somewhere. (Besides, if we also had a 'Shut down' button next to the Start button, everybody would be demanding that we get rid of it to save valuable screen real estate.) ---

Don't blame you for exploring MIDI tweaks @UCyborg, there's some bad sounding MIDI files. Not sure if you brought up 'Terminator: SkyNET' before but i remember watching a gameplay video, looks good. Hi @D.Draker, no problem, pretty sure it's the graphic drivers. So far i'm very happy with the gameplay and visuals, building my first encampment to prepare for Orc battle. I tweak but no longer overclock to preserve this old hardware as long as possible. My 19" ViewSonic CRT was briefly disconnected yesterday for solder repair. A newer LCD was trialed with same graphic glitches. In case you missed it, same glitches in Madden 2000 with same hardware and OS, not SpellForce specific. Hi @Mr.Scienceman2000, yes all in the name of security, sharing some files with your old Windows 98, sheeesh. Big thanks again to @MrMateczko. When testing NVIDIA drivers on my faster Windows 98 system it was noted that older drivers provided more Direct3D and OpenGL settings. So i trialed different drivers on my slower 800 MHz Windows 98 with NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200 (32 MB). Low and behold the older v8.05 drivers (2001) allow Madden 2000 in Direct3D. Beautiful, huge upgrade from forced non-accelerated mode (software rendering)! NVIDIA Geforce2 MX 100/200 drivers, Madden 2000 Direct3D: - v08.05 Perfect, beautiful players, full shadows, more detail - v71.84 Players don't render fully, blue football field - v81.98 Complete Windows 98 crash requiring hard reset Windows 98 actually makes it pretty easy to upgrade or 'downgrade' drivers. Just be careful what's selected when prompted to keep existing files, etc. Windows seems to assume the most recent driver is always best. My beloved 15+ year old PS2/VGA equipped KVM switch was given to someone with greater need. I didn't want to use a software alternative and have a spacious workspace. So my faster Windows 98 system still uses the same 19" ViewSonic CRT monitor and my slower Windows 98 system now uses a 15" Samsung CRT. This small Samsung has amazing clarity, brightness and colour. My adventures with this new-used monitor started last year, link below. https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020-and-beyond/page/39/#comment-1197910 This 15" CRT maxes out at 1024 x 768, appropriate for the smaller screen size. My eyes must still be okay as it hasn't been an issue, the monitor's less than 3 feet from my face, how spoiled we've become. Only thing, every pixel is precious. In Windows 98 it's not an issue as most non-JavaScript browsing renders webpage data in-line. Dual booting with GNU/Linux not a big issue either, most browsing on this system is with Dillo and Links2, my system monitor (conky) was reconfigured appropriately. Don't anyone be jealous, now my desk has two functional CRTs side by side (15" and 19"), beyond retro-cool.

Thanks for helping @MrMateczko. Phil's Computer Lab appears to confirm last Windows 98 driver for NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 400 (64 MB) is v81.98 (2005). In Windows 98 SpellForce (2003) is glitchy with all drivers tested and the oldest release (v8.05) caused the game to freeze. BIOS settings, advanced driver settings and in-game video settings no help. - v 8.05 2001 - v53.04 2003 - v71.84 2005 - v81.98 2005 Madden 2000 was installed for comparison. Earlier NVIDIA drivers appear to provide more Direct3D settings. In Direct3D mode the players and graphics look good yet the same graphic glitches as SpellForce. As before, SpellForce works great in Windows XP, the game supports and installs fine in Windows 98, so likely graphic driver. That's okay, my Madden 2000 release is documented as a Windows 95/98 game and doesn't even launch in Windows XP. So for me Madden 2000 in Windows 98, SpellForce in Windows XP. Hi @UCyborg, WildMidi v0.4.4 (wildmidi-0.4.4-win32.zip) was briefly tested in Windows 98 SE graphic mode (not DOS release). From a COMMAND.COM window it 'played' a MIDI file but there was no sound. The progress indicator and keyboard volume settings worked. I don't have the 'Gravis Ultrasound patch files', suspect reason for no sound. Seems hardcoded without fallback to system's own MIDI Synth (here Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth featuring Roland Sound Canvas digital samples). Finished the first 285 (of 32,000) unique FreeCell games over the last months. Going back to random games for the odd coffeebreak treat, not enough lifespan to finish them all.

Hi @D.Draker. Not installed from game as both my Windows 98 and XP already use DirectX v9.0c. As mentioned the game runs fine in Windows XP, which uses the same DirectX version. I suspect it's the graphic driver. Maybe vanilla Windows 98 SE can go higher than NVIDIA Forceware 81.98. My Windows XP has Forceware 90-something. Artifact screenshots in Windows 98 SE linked. The shots don't do the issue justice. It's random and frequent, makes the game unplayable. It's impossible to time the screenshots, random quick flashes, take a screenshot and paste into Paint, repeat. For anyone who hasn't seen the game, these are not spell effects, rather random artifact flashing across the screen while two characters are standing and chatting. Non-JavaScript users may need to click 'Download original image' to view. Streak: https://i.postimg.cc/L5LfMmj9/01-streak-artifact.png Strange rectangle: https://i.postimg.cc/tRW2bbqn/02-strange-rectangle.png Floating triangular block: https://i.postimg.cc/FsGbFs2z/03-triangular-block.png My Windows 98 otherwise works fine for other software and games. I'm okay playing in Windows XP, really it's not a problem. Others with better hardware will likely have more success, free low-end hardware here.

Recently discovered tools that may be useful for other Windows 9x users, especially gamers. In Windows 98 SE and Windows XP a virtual drive (DAEMON Tools v3.47.0, free for personal use) is useful to mount digital CD/DVD files (bin/cue or ISO format) rather than burn to plastic. By default it adds the next drive letter to the system (eg. E: drive) and makes it easy to swap a digital CD/DVD from the taskbar. If running Tweak UI ensure 'My Computer' tab allows an 'E: drive' (or whatever) to be available otherwise it won't show in Windows Explorer. Removing DAEMON Tools in Windows 98 may be problematic, similar to the issue reported in post #9 linked below. On this system Device Manager reported the virtual drive as CDROM -> Generic DVD-ROM, which re-appeared on reboot despite removal. https://forum.daemon-tools.cc/showthread.php?t=1204 Since some report borked systems after messing around, recommend a DOS boot to manually backup the registry beforehand (use SCANREG /RESTORE if needed): SCANREG /BACKUP /COMMENT="BeforeDriveRemoval" On this system it was only necessary to remove the SCSI Controller, then CDROM -> Generic DVD-ROM automagically disappeared and no longer persisted on reboot. Device Manager -> SCSI controllers -> D347PRT SCSI Controller -> Remove Dragon UnPACKer is useful to extract data files from large PAK files, for example, sometimes used in games. Quick testing, the last version that works in vanilla Windows 98 appears to be Dragon UnPACKer v5.4.0 "Degei". As the legality of this type of software is questionable a direct link is not provided. A quick DDG search for 'dragon unpacker history' should be fruitful. HxD Hexeditor v1.7.7.0 works well in vanilla Windows 98 to manipulate binary files, again no link intentionally provided.

Ha, ha @Mr.Scienceman2000, i'm most of the way there. My wireless is disabled. Only wired mouse, keyboard, speakers, printers and ethernet used here. My high speed is treated more like dial-up, unplugging or turning off router when no longer needed. Computers are also only turned on when needed. Nothing running 24/7 to minimize brute force exposure - need to be quick (and lucky). Firewall x 3 (two hardware, one software). And yes, partition backups where applicable. FTP is so useful, shame it's no longer used much. Page 31 and 32 of this thread also touched on numerous FTP clients including Windows 98's built-in 'FTP.EXE'. Thanks for the information @D.Draker. The international flavour is welcome and thus far the little Polish (menu, load screen) hasn't affected English gameplay (game interface, NPC interaction). I've now installed SpellForce: The Order of Dawn on both Windows 98 SE and XP, same hardware. Unfortunately there are graphic glitches in Windows 98. The NVIDIA drivers were upgraded from Forceware v71.84 to v81.98 and the issue persists. I've tried all manner of game and video card settings. The game will likely be played in Windows XP where it looks and runs beautiful, faster hard drive too. A fresh Spellforce install in Windows 98 clarified the install process @D.Draker, using the alternate ISO files. It was necessary to extract all PAK files but hex editing was not needed. It took quite a few steps to get this game running from ISOs, v1.38 patch to Polish patch. If anyone's interested i'll post compiled notes otherwise move on.

The comment to @Bruninho five posts up pertains to WineD3D compiling and old-school gaming, discussion split by administrator here: https://msfn.org/board/topic/183296-compiling-newer-wined3d-for-98se-andor-xp/#comments Thanks for sharing another Windows 9x experience @Mr.Scienceman2000, you're adventurous. Out of curiousity i searched Teamspeak in my GNU/Linux packages and only found reference to Hydra. --- Hydra is a parallelized login cracker which supports numerous protocols to attack. It is very fast and flexible, and new modules are easy to add. This tool makes it possible for researchers and security consultants to show how easy it would be to gain unauthorized access to a system remotely. It supports: Cisco AAA, Cisco auth, Cisco enable, CVS, FTP, HTTP(S)-FORM-GET, HTTP(S)-FORM-POST, HTTP(S)-GET, HTTP(S)-HEAD, HTTP-Proxy, ICQ, IMAP, IRC, LDAP, MS-SQL, MySQL, NNTP, Oracle Listener, Oracle SID, PC-Anywhere, PC-NFS, POP3, PostgreSQL, RDP, Rexec, Rlogin, Rsh, SIP, SMB(NT), SMTP, SMTP Enum, SNMP v1+v2+v3, SOCKS5, SSH (v1 and v2), SSHKEY, Subversion, Teamspeak (TS2), Telnet, VMware-Auth, VNC and XMPP. --- A PM was sent @D.Draker, got the game running beautifully using the v1.38 patch plus Polish patch. Thanks to @Dixel and especially @D.Draker for all the help getting SpellForce: The Order of Dawn running.

Hi @windows2. Dual booting Windows 95 and NT was common back in the day. Your Intel pentium 2 is a classic. For the most part this old hardware is solid. Probably the most common failures are hard drive and power supply. If you want to hang onto this system for a long time, recommend picking up these extras when you find them, not overly expensive. Another option if your BIOS and hardware supports booting from more than one drive. Consider purchasing a second drive for Windows NT. Physically remove the Windows 95 drive while installing Windows NT on the second drive. Re-install both drives after the NT install. If you don't want to install a boot loader and your BIOS allows, select which drive to boot using the BIOS boot screen. Main point, since the system and Windows 95 install is nostalgic from your father, first thing should be to make a full backup of the C: drive using your favourite backup software. Then muck around as much as you want, won't lose any data or important configurations.