HoppaLong

I've kept a customized version of 98SE on an old desktop for years. I purchased an IBM ThinkPad (laptop) in excellent condition, so I could copy that 98 system onto the laptop. Now, I can finally junk this enormous desktop while saving the system on the ThinkPad. I used GiPo@MoveOnBoot to delete all the driver files specific to the hardware on the desktop. I could have created my own script, but MoveOnBoot saved me several hours. It worked great! The image backup file was restored to the laptop. All I had to do was install the laptop drivers and the job was complete. I probably should have uninstalled MoveOnBoot before creating the image file, because its causing a problem on the ThinkPad. During bootup the following error message appears: C:\> C:\> C:\>rem ** This line will be processed by the GiPo@ MoveOnBoot tool. ** C:\>rem ** DO NOT EDIT ** C:\>C:\mboot.bat Bad command or filename C:\> I thought I could eliminate this erroneous message during bootup by deleting these lines from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Something is still causing the boot process to pause and display the following: C:\> C:\> What is going on here? Why is the system displaying these these two meaningless "C" prompts, when I deleted all the MoveOnBoot lines from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file? I thought the problem might go away if I uninstalled GiPo@FileUtilities, including all the registry entries. It didn't work. Is there anything I can do to completely eliminate this problem during the boot process?

I had to find a way to run resource intensive apps on an old Gateway running 98SE. I have an elderly parent who will not accept a new desktop with a more recent Windows system. (I've offered to buy a hundred times!) Anti-malware apps like Spybot or Avast are compatible with 98 or 98SE. Unfortunately, most desktops that were built to run 98 have slow processors and not enough RAM to load the huge definition databases for these apps. Running in Safe Mode may work. Spybot crashed (BSOD) in Safe Mode on my dad's Gateway. Even if you get it to run in Safe Mode, the full scan could take several hours, at best! Before you do anything, backup the entire system. I know backing up a slow computer can be tedious, but it must be done. This procedure is for advanced computer users only. Since every computer is a little different, I cannot promise the same results on your old desktop. If the worst happens, the system can be restored from the backup you just created. All I can say is, it worked like a charm on this old Gateway. Cleanup the system. Use an app that deletes the swap (paging) file during a reboot. Hopefully, the win386.swp file is on its own partition, or a secondary hard drive. If you want, you can set the maximum and minimum size to the same number. Make sure it's well above the amount of actual RAM on your system. Get a copy of MaxMem. This app is not a "memory manager." Most memory managers consume system resources and do very little to improve overall system performance. MaxMem does one thing very well. It frees up more RAM for the system. It's a tiny applet, so it won't be consuming memory faster than it can give it back. Get it here: http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/S...em/Freeware.htm Left-click the icon in the System Tray and select "Config." Choose "perform aggressive cleanup" from the menu. Move the "minimum" slider to 35% and the "aggressive" slider to 90%. These settings would be extreme under normal conditions. They are absolutely necessary when performing these resource gobbling scans. If you're running GoBack, it must be disabled. It won't appear on the list of system processes. Any process that is very disk intensive will cripple GoBack. Running a full backup, defrag, scandisk, or many anti-malware scanners will damage GoBack. When in doubt, disable GoBack! Use Process Explorer, or a similar app to view all running processes on your computer. You're going to kill a bunch of them. Do not try to terminate system processes by selecting the app from a list and clicking "kill process." It usually won't work. If it does, the process dies in slow motion, resulting in a system crash or freeze up. System processes must be killed quick, from the command line. NirCmd may be the best command line app. Get it here: www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html Terminate absolutely everything, except for these three: kernel32.dll explorer.exe maxmen.exe Don't worry, your desktop won't explode! In fact, "Power Options" will still turn off the monitor during a lengthy scan. Also, the System Tray will function normally. It's ok to kill systray.exe. Before trying this procedure Spybot took forever to load. After it did, the system failed quickly. The latest defintions file has over 800,000 items. My dad's system never made it past 30,000. If you watch the MaxMem icon, it will be very active freeing up memory while the database is loading. As the scans proceeds, you'll notice MaxMem responding to the constantly changing load. Eventually, the scan settles down. A nice, horizontal green line on the MaxMem icon indicates that you've won the battle! The scan will go to completion, without trashing the system. On my dad's Gateway, it took about three hours. The scan was smooth, with no noticeable glitches. When the scan completes don't reboot or shutdown in the normal way. Create a shortcut or use the Start > Run box with this command: C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL.EXE USER.EXE,ExitWindows The system will shutdown immediately, without the usual "goodbye" logos. You can hit the reset button, or use the on-off switch to restart. I'm sure you could apply this same procedure to any other anti- malware app that demands a lot of resources from an old desktop.

I apologize for not returning to MSFN sooner. I'm trying to run a business, and fix my dad's Gateway when I have some spare time. Not an easy thing to do! I found a way to run Spybot on this old desktop. The procedure I used is somewhat complicated, so I'll post it seperately. The results were much better than I expected. Spybot ran like a champ! If I understand correctly, SAS_v4.24.1004 can be updated manually if I remove the ticks from Automatic Updates. In other words, the definitions file will load on this 98 desktop, and that error box about the system being too old was erroneous. Is that what you are saying, lightning slinger? I freely admit guys, I'm don't like posting on any forum. When I do post, if there is no reply after a couple of hours I ususally don't return for weeks. The fact is, I'm a very shy person. I've been a partner in a small business for 15 years. Our clients almost never talk to me. I'm definitely not a good salesperson. When you reach a certain level of computer expertise, it's almost painful to post about any computer problem. After I've tried everything I can think of, I force myself to post a question. 98% of the time I get no reply. As an example, I posted a clean HJT log, along with the text from that firewall popup. About 150 views, no replies. I wouldn't reply either! When a solution is not easy or obvious, plugging away, sometimes for weeks, may be the only way to resolve a difficult problem. I'm convinced that this desktop clean. Avast, Trend Micro (part of SystemSuite) Spybot, and AVZ found nothing. Well, AVZ listed a script I created for my dad's desktop as a possible threat! I've been creating scripts for years to automate all sorts of processes that would be incredibly repititous and time consuming if done manually. This is the first time a script created by me has appeared on a list of possible malware. It's kind of depressing. If you ran fifty scans using different apps how many false positives would there be? A few hundred, I bet. From a full command prompt, I deleted the old copy of explorer.exe and replaced it with a fresh one. Before deleting the old copy, I removed Windows Explorer from the firewall list of apps. After the new copy was back in the Windows directory, I put explorer.exe back on the firewall list as a blocked entry. So far, my dad says that popup hasn't returned. Maybe the old copy of Windows Explorer was corrupt. I hope the problem is fixed. Only time will tell.

All your replies are really great! Thank you guys. I Googled for any app that would stilll run on 98SE. I installed SAS_v4.24.1004 and manually downloaded the latest definitions file. The definitions file will not load on a 98 system. An error box appears letting you know that your system is too old. I posted on the SAS forum about this. Big surprise, no replies. If the defintions file won't load on a 98 system, all the links to v4.24.1004 should be removed. What good is this older version of the app, if the latest definitions file is incompatible with 98? I purchased this desktop years ago when 98 was king. It's loaded with all sorts of system info and tweaker apps. Process Explorer shows nothing unusual. A tweaker app called WinBoost made backups of several critical system files when it was installed, including explorer.exe. This firewall popup about explorer started a few weeks ago. The backup of explorer.exe was made years ago, so I don't see how it could be the cause of this problem. Believe me, I've tried over and over with Spybot. In Safe Mode, the progress loading bar reaches the end and then you get the BSOD. A few times, I got it running in the normal Windows environment. After several minutes the system pops up another error box, or it locks up forcing a restart. I've read about that Russian app, AVZ. I'll definitely try this one. It may find some deeply buried or disguised file that's causing this problem. If you've been using computer for many years, like I have, you can almost "smell" malware. I became a "reg hacker" back in days of Windows 95, so I'm very comfortable with the registry. I've fixed a million problems that my friends and business partners thought were some kind of horrible virus. Obviously, millions of computers are infected with malware everyday. This desktop my dad is using may have a nasty virus. I'm going to do everything I can to track it down, if it exists. I've joined hundreds of forums over the years. I'm not sure why, but MSFN seems to attract more advanced and expert level computer users. Thanks again!

I want my elderly dad to move on to a newer Windows system. He won't, and I'm not going to argue with him at his age. He used 98SE mainly for email, so his system has always been relatively safe. My dad's firewall is practically screaming, MALWARE ALERT! Here's the popup from his firewall: "Windows Explorer has changed since the last time you opened it. This could be because you have updated it recently. Do you want to allow it access to the network?" Almost everything I could find about this repititious warning is negative. Some kind of file that shouldn't be on your computer is trying to access the web. Ironically, I found a post from Bob Proffitt at CNET that gives a few benign reasons for this firewall popup. His main antivirus app is Avast. It found nothing. Running the latest version of Spybot (1.6.2) is a nightmare. The progress loading bar gets to the end and almost freezes. If the app actually launches, the system crashes during the scan. Even in Safe Mode it won't run. He has SystemSuite_v6.0 which includes an antivirus and spyware scanner. The definition updates are always weeks or months old for SystemSuite. It wouldn't hurt to run it anyway. I thought I could install SuperAntiSpyware as a substitute for Spybot. Right on their website they list a version compatible with 98SE. Unfortunately, their definition files won't load on a 98 system. I was looking at the list of apps right here at MSFN. Some I've never heard of like ClamWin. Online scans are not a good idea for an old desktop with limited system resources. I need some help selecting one or two more anti-malware apps. After the system has been scanned several times, I'll run HijackThis. Since HijackThis can only create a list of everything good and bad on your system, I would rather run a bunch of scans first, then I'll let HijackThis do its thing. A little help picking a couple of apps that will run smoothly on 98SE is what I need. Thanks MSFN members!

(I apologize for the length of this post. This problem is complex. I didn't want to leave out anything that might lead to a resolution.) My dad is a Juno dial-up subscriber. It's cheap, but more importantly Juno provides an incredibly simple email client, which is perfect for my dad because he uses the internet for email only. He called me the other day because the backup file he creates to save his emails was expanding in size at an alarming rate. His email folders are approximately 10MB. The file mailbackup.jbk was 400MB! Each time he ran the backup wizard the file got bigger. All email folders are stored as frm text files. In an attempt to resolve this problem I came across this DOS application. It's called Juno5bdb. Here's the link: http://www.ephemeraleuphoria.com/media/juno5bdb.html The ReadMe file for this app explains that several email clients follow something called the "MBOX Format," using these frm files. FRM files are complex text files that store all the data about your email folders. Eudora, Netscape, Mozilla, and a few others use this MBOX Format. In Juno, all frm folders are stored in a file called mailbox.bdb. Juno5bdb extracts all the frm files into a folder called "mbox." All my dad's email folders were easy to recognize by name, except for one. Its called Juno.Internal.frm. This file is occupying almost all the space in the mailbox.bdb file. Its about 390MB! This Juno Internal file is suppose to be included in the mailbox.bdb, but it's obviously corrupt. The growth of this file is at an exponential rate. Even the largest capacity hard drives would eventually be filled by this one file, because it keeps doubling in size! The terrible thing is there appears to be no fix. He's using the latest version of Juno, 8.8. The older versions of Juno included an "import folder" option, which is missing from 8.8. Juno has two mailbox files, called mailbox.bdb and mailbox.atr. If they are deleted Juno automatically creates fresh copies. If the "import folder" option was available, I could delete these corrupt mailbox files. After Juno created fresh copies I could import all my dad's legitimate frm files back into Juno. This would recreate all his email folders without that corrupt Juno.Internal.frm file. Problem solved. Now, I don't know what to do. Do I uninstall 8.8 and reinstall an earlier version of Juno that has the "import folder" option? (Contacting Juno tech support is a complete waste of time.) Is it possible to recreate the mailbox.bdb file without Juno.Internal.frm included? My final thought is to figure a way to import these frm files into version 8.8, even though this option is no longer available. My brain is twisted into knots! Maybe I could send my dad's emails to an online account like gmail, and then return them to the Juno email client. I'm so angry with Juno I want my dad to change ISPs. He's reluntant to switch because he likes the simplicity of Juno. He knows almost nothing about computers, except how to use Juno and its email client.

Thank you Ponch. I've got to know for sure. HDCI Trading has a good reputation. A friend told me they reply to e-mails. I e-mailed them last week, before the holiday. So far, no reply. Supposedly, they test every laptop before its shipped. If that's true, they must know something about the BIOS in these computers. Downloading the Dell manual for this laptop may answer my question. I'm not sure about that, either.

I need to save a customized version of 98SE. The system is currently installed on an old Gateway desktop. I want to copy or clone the system onto a refurbished laptop. As long as you stay within the RAM limits for 98, it will run ok on a newer laptop like this Dell Latitude D600: http://www.hcditrading.com/Shop/Control/Pr...r_by/sell_price I've got a set of Acronis floppy boot disks. After the Acronis software is loaded I can use the CD burner in the Gateway desktop to backup the system. The whole thing fits onto three or four CDs. (If you're under 25 years old, you may not remember how limited booting options were in these early Pentium based desktops.) Like most newer laptops, the D600 doesn't have an internal floppy drive. eBay has hundreds of listings for external USB floppy drives like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/New-External-USB-1-44M...id=p3286.c0.m14 It comes with drivers, which I assume are needed only with Windows 98. Will the BIOS setup in a laptop like the Latitude D600 allow me to boot from the USB external floppy drive? Those same Acronis floppy boot disks are needed with the laptop, if I want to clone the system burned onto the CDs.

Funny thing, my first choice was to buy a refurbished Dell. Then I started reading blogs by guys who formally wrote for several major electronics and computer magazines. They all thought the IBM ThinkPad was the most durable laptop ever manufactured. The demand for ThinkPads in good condition is tremendous. Most of the time they are listed as sold out or backordered. In fact, even when they're listed as "in stock" you can't be sure it's true. I e-mailed several of these refurbished laptop dealers. Only one bothered to reply. I was concerned that DDR RAM may cause problems with 98. I'm glad to hear I can purchase a newer laptop with 512MB DDR RAM and not worry that 98 will start acting strange. Thanks dencorso and risk reversal.

I have my own version of 98SE that I must maintain. I assist a group of elderly folks who use the internet mainly for e-mail. They still use 98SE. The system is blissfully simple to use, compared to Windows 2K, XP, or Vista. Right now, I've got the system loaded onto an old Gateway desktop. I keep praying that this behemoth with explode or catch fire, but it never does! After reading several blogs about refurbished laptops, there seems to be almost universal agreement that the IBM ThinkPad series is the best bet. I'd like to get one that isn't horribly slow, at the same time you can't exceed that 768MB memory limit. Even a laptop with 512MB DDR RAM may be too much for 98SE, I'm not sure. I know many of you at this forum know as much or more than Microsoft about 98. For those of us without the big brains, here's the kb article clarifying those memory limitations: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184447 I'm sure one of the older ThinkPads like this T20 would be ok: http://www.laptopoutlet.com/ibmtht20lapi.html I've found several T30s and T40s that have faster processors which would be nice. The price is usually between two and three hundred, if you want a decent ThinkPad with a 3-to-6 month warranty. The T20 comes with a floppy and CD drive. From what I understand the newer models have a modular bay, so you can quicky remove the CD-DVD drive and replace it with a floppy drive. Frankly, I'm going a little bonkers! Should I buy a T20 which is the safe (and slow) choice, or move up the ladder to one of the newer ThinkPad models? Is 512MB DDR RAM too much for 98SE, or would it be better to stay in the 256MB range? I wish I had the expertise you guys have about 98. Any guidance about about a ThinkPad with reasonable processor speed and memory would be a real blessing to me. I have to make a choice, but I don't know which one would be best.

Thank you cluberti and submix8c! I'll definitely read the info you both recommended. If I understand you correctly cluberti, Microsoft's Virtual PC creates an environment in which 98 sees all that Vista hardware as a generic mouse, keyboard, etc. You may lose some of the advanced features provided by the software, but your hardware will function at some basic level within the virtual 98 partition. Am I on the right track here?

I found this thread about installing Windows 98 on a virtual partition: http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid...5174&page=5 My experience with virtual software is limited to mounting a virtual image using backup software, or creating a partition to simulate an optical drive on a hard drive. Exactly how can you run an old system like 98 on a computer that's only a few months old? Let's say you're running Vista Ultimate with a wireless keyboard and mouse. The drivers for this hardware are compatible with Vista, not Windows 98. The app recommended in this thread is Microsoft's Virtual PC. Is some kind of overlay created that allows your wireless mouse and keyboard to function within the 98 partition? I can't imagine anyone plugging in an older mouse and keyboard just for the virtual 98 partition. In effect, the virtual software would have to create a buffer between the two systems, so you can use the same hardware for both. 98 "sees" the new hardware and drivers as being compatible. If virtual software doesn't create this buffer, then all your Vista compatible hardware would be useless. Now that I've speculated about how virtual software works, tell how that old system can run harmoniously within a much newer Windows system.

Electronics was an all consuming hobby when I was kid, so computers were a natural transition for me when they took over the world. I'm know many incredibly smart people who use computers because they have no choice. My friend, who is a professional writer, earns enough to support his family. I don't know anyone, except this one person, who can write articles from his home office and support his wife and three children. The problem is he hates computers! He uses the web to send and receive emails. That's it. You guys are right, the only laptops that have internal floppy drives are likely to be older models, in very poor condition. My friend has a stack of bootable floppies, that's why I listed an internal floppy drive. I've offered to spend a few hours with my writer friend, so he wouldn't be so fearful of moving on to a newer system, like XP for example. Except for the XP logos when the system boots, he would hardly know the difference. I almost forgot that many MSFN members practically recreated 98 with your unofficial service packs. I'm not going to find what my friend is looking for. Besides, refurbed computer gear gives me the creeps! Several years ago I ordered a new vacuum cleaner. The company accidentally sent a refurbished model. We tried it for a couple of days until the motor sprayed a shower of sparks. It could have caused a serious fire in my home. I'll have to figure out something to make my friend happy. He's been a great neighbor for many years.

I'm running a leaned out version of Vista Ultimate_SP2 on a couple of desktops and a laptop. A close friend wants to clone his 98SE system onto a refurbished laptop. My friend has good and logical reasons for using this old system. Not everyone lives at the bleeding edge of computer technology, like a lot of us "geek" types do. I've never purchased used or refurbished computer gear, so I need help finding something reliable. I found a Dell refurb that seemed perfect for under $300.00. The problem is it doesn't have a floppy disc drive, which is important because my friend will not give up his floppy discs! I'd like to recommend a laptop that has the following specs: 512 MB memory - (Do a quick Google search and you'll see why this amount of RAM is close to the maximum for 98.) 20-to-40 GB hard drive CD player and/or burner Floppy Disc Drive 56K Dial-Up Modem At least two USB ports The processor type or speed really doesn't matter. I'm only guessing, but a processor that runs too fast may have compatibility problems with these older Windows systems. My biggest fear is that I'll point my friend to a refurb that will be a dud right out the box, or malfunction after a few weeks. I'd feel better if I knew the laptop had been tested by the retailer, before selling it to the public. It seems like anything can be labeled "factory refurbished" but that doesn't mean you won't regret buying the darn thing. Are there online retailers that have a good track record with refurbished laptops?

Operating System: XP Pro_SP3 Pioneer Model: DVR-2920Q No one believes me, but I've never had any problems with optical drives, going back to the early days of Windows 98. I selected this model because a couple of my "geek" friends liked it a lot. It comes with software that scans whatever disc you load in the tray, and controls the write speed so you get an error free burn. These days, this is very important. Almost all DVDs max out at 16x. I've seen several burners that claim write speeds up 24x. As the the drive attempts to spin-up to these ridiculous speeds, it often produces horrendous disc jitter. The BIOS on my Gigabyte mobo recognized this internal SATA burner immediately. In fact, it is now listed on the monitor screen during bootup, along with my RAID 0 internal drives, and my two eSATA (external) drives. I flashed the mobo BIOS a few months ago, and the chipset drivers are up to date. It is not listed in Windows Explorer, My Computer, or Device Manager. I tried the "add hardware" wizard. XP found no new hardware. I contacted Pioneer and received a one sentence reply. Try a different mobo port for the SATA cable, or return the burner for a refund. I purchased it directly from their website. There is a fix that is listed on numerous sites. It removes leftover junk in the XP registry after you've uninstalled burning software. This is not a problem with my system. The odds are very good that there is nothing wrong with cables or burner, since the BIOS sees it very clearly. If I install another SATA burner I'm very likely to have the same problem with XP. Is there anything I can try within XP to resolve this problem?

You said the magic words, DigeratiPrime. A PE app that greatly simplifies driver integration would be a huge relief to me! Picking out nonexistent errors in inf files is enough to drive anyone crazy. I'm going to check out WinPE 2 immediately. Thank you!

I know The CD Forum is the place to go for info on all "PE" related matters. I posted about this almost two days ago. No reply. I thought this would be easy to answer for someone already using Reatogo. Before I abandon the original BartPE, I'd like to know if Reatogo offers a wider range of driver support. BartPE natively supports network and storage drivers. I found this list of supported drivers on the Reatogo site: 300 Drivers Audio 310 Drivers Disk 320 Drivers Display 330 Drivers Modem 340 Drivers Network 350 Drivers Other Are there individual folders for each driver category, like in BartPE? If there are seperate folders and I wanted to add chipset drivers, would I add them to the "Other" folder? With Bart, you can create complex plugins to get around its driver limitations. I'm hoping Reatogo would make it a little easier to add drivers.

I'm not a newbie at all when it comes to hardware problems. I've been building these boxes for decades. I'm a partner is a small business. This problem happened with a desktop in my home office. We have a dozen desktops in our offices. I tested these eSATA drives with the best quality 3ft. cables on six of the twelve desktops. The same problem reared its ugly head with two of the six. You may be familiar with CNET's resident computer genius, Bob Proffitt. I emailed him about this problem. He said that several of the desktops in his offices that ran XP had the same "delayed write failed" with eSATA drives. He could never come up with a workable solution! Believe me, I was feeling really bad about this problem until Mr. Proffitt let me know I wasn't alone. Yes, g-force and strel, there certainly are inf files! If the package contained inf's and a bunch of drivers I wouldn't need an app like nLite. The drivers are mixed in with hundreds of other files, several folders deep. There is a folder named "drivers" but it's not the only folder that contains drivers, unfortunately. Gigabyte just dumped a bunch of files and folders into a package without explaining anything. Each folder has one or more setup files. Enough to make you a little crazy! If I can use nLite's driver integration or DrvComp to create an ISO with all the XP files integrated with the Gigabyte drivers that should do the job. DrvComp may be just what I need. I felt lucky that I was able to get these drives to work with my home desktop. Until I came across nLite, I didn't think there was any chance of getting this update onto a Bart CD. I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks guys!

Like a lot of apps, you see them listed while you're Googling, they look interesting but you never stop to investigate. I'm a newbie to nLite, but maybe it can do a job I can't do myself. For months I was having a problem with several new eSATA drives and XP Pro_SP3. Xp could not write to these drives for more than a few seconds without a "delayed write failed." Microsoft published several kb articles about the problem. Their solutions didn't work. Gigabyte added a large mobo update to their site which finally resolved all the problems I was having. It includes files for the chipset, vga, and sata raid. The package is a confusing mix of files and folders. Name a type of file, it's in this package! Cabs, dlls, several executables, etc. I'm a big fan of BartPE. If I could, I would extract the critical files from this package and add them as drivers or a plugin. Most Bart users copy all the files from the XP install CD into a folder so PEbuilder can quickly create the ISO needed to burn the Bart CD. Selecting the correct files from this massive package is not possible for ordinary mortals like me! Is nLite smart enough to integrate this package into the XP files, without having to indivdually select each file? If I could get this update from Gigabyte onto a Bart CD I would finally be able to use my eSATA drives from outside of the "real" Windows environment. There is no better way to make backups that are 100% reliable. I hope I'm not barking up the wrong tree. Thanks nLite folks!

Operating System: XP Pro_SP3 I purchased Rollback Rx 9.0 from Horizon DataSys. The install fails because during the first reboot after the install this weird "magic data transfer" error appears in the boot list. The boot cannot continue. I always create a fresh image before I install any app that might be problematic, so I had no trouble restoring the system. Horizon responds quickly when you have a problem. They created a "fixed" copy of this app for me, but it didn't resolve the problem. Their latest suggestion is to trash the entire system and do a fresh install! I have no idea whether this is a software or hardware conflict. I do know the system is otherwise healthy, so I'm not going to start from zero just to see if a fresh install of XP will fix Rollback. If you search for this "magic data transfer" the results are a surprise, to say the least! It's a cell phone app. Here's a Google link: http://www.gamesandmusicweb.com/category/music/ Scroll down to "cell phone magic - download files to your cell phone." There are many listings about this app if you keep searching. The question is, what could I possibly have installed on my desktop that would list this "magic data transfer" during a reboot, and why is it appearing only when I try to install Rollback?

That name, TotalCommander, sounded familiar. Back in the days of 95 and 98 there were freeware sites that specialized in shell replacements or overlays. The overlay left Windows alone, but gave you the option of using a different shell. Several of these shell replacements got great reviews in the computer mags. I never could convince myself to try one. I was reading the TotalCommander features and their endless list of FAQs. I don't see anything about controlling data transfer speed. Maybe they call it something else. Can you show me where in ghisler.com this topic is mentioned?

Who would want their external drives to slow down. Me, that's who! Besides apps like BurstCopy that attempt to maximize data transfer speed, are there any apps that can set the speed, usually in Mbps, to any number you want? XP and eSATA drives are like oil and water. They don't mix! You can tweak the hell out of the system, it doesn't matter. XP was developed before these super fast drives. Vista fixed the problem by using dynamic virtual memory management. If you want to read about how XP uses static paged pool and paged table entries (PTEs) just Google the topic. Compare XP to Vista in this area and you'll begin to understand the problem. Please, no more tweaks or registry hacks. If there is an app that allows you to set the data transfer speed, direct me to the link or site. Thank guys.

Thank you jaclaz and DigeratiPrime. I think the answer I was looking for is no, a virtual partition cannot be accessed outside of the Windows environment. When apps like Unlocker or CopyLock came along I was very skeptical, to say the least! These apps forcefully kill system processes so you copy, move, or delete files that are normally locked. I've seen people crash their systems almost beyond repair with these dangerous apps. The only safe way to access locked or system files is from a DOS boot disk or the Recovery Console which emulates a DOS like environment. Obviously, if you're not comfortable at the command line you can do a lot of damage. If you're careful, you can replace or copy damaged system files easily, since all of these command line utilities run before Windows starts. Before I thought about virtual software, I was going to use an old desktop that I've kept for no reason I can think of. It has 98SE installed. I was going to backup the system, delete the partitions and install XP for a couple of hours just so I could copy a few freshly installed system files. Since a virtual copy of XP won't help me, I'll use this old desktop to get the files I need.

Years ago I used an app that mounted a "virtual" drive letter or partition. It listed itself as an additional optical drive in My Computer. That's my one and only experience with virtual software. I'd like to try VMware Player so I can create a virtual copy of XP Pro. If I wanted to access this virtual XP from the Recovery Console or another boot disk would it be possible? There is something I need to try which requires copying some freshly installed system files. The limited command prompt that runs from within Windows cannot touch any file that is in use. If VMware creates a virtual partition would it be accessible outside of the Windows environment, like a "real" partition would be?

Thank you cluberti. There are two internal drives in a RAID 0 configuration. They're plugged into SATAII connectors 0 and 1. When I installed the pass-thru bracket I plugged their cables into 2 and 3. If the chipset or mobo is bad, why do the two internal drives function normally? Is each SATAII connector completely isolated from others? If so, I suppose it's possible to have a localized failure in one part of the mobo, while the rest of the board functions normally. To me, this looks like a classic system freezeup. Remember the endless crashes and system lockups with 95 and 98? Before the error message appears, the animated icons showing your files being copied from one folder to another freezes solid. Doesn't this seem like a typical Windows behavior when there is a system conflict? In the Device Manager I tried disabling write caching for each drive. You select the policies tab and remove the tick on the property sheet. Didn't work, of course. I was thinking, is there any software that can manage these basic functions like copying, moving, etc., better than Windows? If so, point my browser to their website.