Petr

Apparently the KB918547 updates DO care what version of IE is installed. I've tested the KB918547 updates under Win98/ME. They will NOT work unless IE 5.5 SP2 or higher is installed. Looked at the contents of the KB918547 Win98/ME updates in Wordpad and they check the version of SHDOCVW.DLL file installed. It has to be version 5.50.4807.2300 or better. Otherwise the KB918547 patches refuse to install the files. Can we now agree that the SP should optionally include updates to IE? Apparently limiting the choices to either IE55SP2 or IE60 [or IE60 SP1]?It would appear the hand is now forced, else new updates have to be withheld! cjl BTW, there seems to be more IE 5.0 browsers than IE 5.5 browsers: http://history.toplist.cz/stat/?a=graph&type=1 At least in the Czech Republic. Do you know any similar graph for the whole world (or USA)? Petr

It is not completely true. You don't have your Windows XP setup properly if that is what you are experieicning. Windows XP is so much faster on any halfway robust system with the bloat stripped out. Windows 98 may only be fast at first because of such a lite resource consumption, but it will slow to a crawl pretty darn fast because it is a low end, low quality, cheap, low performance OS that can utilize reltaively modern hardware efficiently!! Windows 2000/XP PWNed the crap that is WIN98/ME by far!! Linux PWNed the crap that is Windows 98/ME even more so than 2K/XP. Linux is a great OS. OS/2 WARP is also a realy good OS. Windows 2K/XP/2K3 are solid. Windows 95/98/ME are pieces of junk. This is just propaganda what you write, not the truth. :-) You do not have to cite what Seve Ballmer said, we all know all these false claims. :-) You must be blind if you don't see so obvious facts - Windows XP has much more instruction to execute to do the same task in comparison with Windows 98. Very simple example - if you want to open the file in Windows XP, the system has to check the complex system of rights. In Windows 98 is no such system and therefore the execution is much quicker. I admit that there may be some computer programs that are quicker on Windows XP, although I know none. But the the Windows XP system itself and its user interface is definitely much slower. I have at home two computers: 1. Pentium III 1 GHz, 512 MB PC133 SDRAM, Windows 98 SE, 60 GB ATA-100 disk, ATI RAge Xpert 2000 with 16 MB RAM 2. Pentium M 1,86 GHz, 1024 MB DDR2-533 RAM, Windows XP SP2, 250 GB RAID SATA-II disks on Adaptec controllers, ATI X300SE with 128 MB RAM Just one click to KVM switch and I can use any of them or both together. The work on the first one is much more comfortable than on the second one. Both computers are equally secure from remote attack - secured by hardware firewall. Both computers never experienced any blue screen during the normal work. I use the second one just when I need to run a program that requires NT based operating system. Are you able to understand how dumb are your posts where you just repeat your mantra again and again, with no relevant and true agruments? Petr

It is not true - Windows 98 SE is much more responsive even on relatively faster systems - I have dual boot 98SE / XP on 2.4 GHz P4 with 512 MB RAM and it is big difference - in Windows 98 SE everything is quick, in Windows XP (optimized for speed) is everything sooo slooow.... Windows 98 SE is less complex and therefore has less possible backdoors. The result is that Windows 98 SE is much more secure than Windows XP in terms of remote exploitability. More functions + more remote access services + more code => less secure system. Windows Vista takes about 8 GB on the hard disk. It means 8 GB of potential security holes. In real life, there are always both simple, cheap and easy to use tools available as well as very complex and expensive tools for professionals. As of computers, most people need just very simple tool - to be able to write letters, send messages, browse the web, listen to the music. In days of "real programmers", the whole comfort system would fit in maybe 100 kilobytes of memory and would be satisfied with 4 MHz processor. Now, there are 1000 times bigger systems with many unneeded functions that pose big security risks. It's all about the marketing - to force the people to buy things they don't need in fact. Petr

The correct syntax is file,,,4 and not file,4, this is the problem. The explanation what this "4" means is here: http://old.winpack.org/petr/INF_web/copyfile.htm Petr

Here is the list of possible new or modified hardware drivers for Windows 98/SE/Me - if there will be any skilled system programmer to create new ones or more probably modify the current ones. What could be done: IDE disk driver (ESDI_506.PDR) - support of 48-bit LBA (there is a paid version made by Mr. Loew) - support of SATA disks - display of the real name of the disk, not only TYPE47 or so Resources: http://www.t13.org/ http://www.t13.org/docs2002/d1410r3b.pdf http://www.t13.org/docs2004/d1532v1r4b-ATA-ATAPI-7.pdf http://www.t13.org/docs2004/d1532v2r4b-ATA-ATAPI-7.pdf http://www.t13.org/docs2004/d1532v3r4b-ATA-ATAPI-7.pdf http://www.sata-io..org/ http://www.sata-io.org/docs/serialata10a.pdf http://www.sata-io..org/docs/S2Ext_1_2_Gold.pdf http://www.sata-io.org/docs/SATA%20Transfer%20Test.ZIP USB 2.0 (EHCI) driver The nature of all USB 2.0 controllers is the same, all are EHCI compliant and therefore there is just one standard EHCI driver in Windows 2000 and XP. Unfortunately all EHCI drivers for Windows 98/Me have built-in restrictions to work on specific hardware only. There are many cases when there is no Windows 98/Me support at all - some SiS chipsets, newer Intel, Nvida and ATI chipsets etc. It should be possible to create the universal driver for Windows 98/Me too, in fact, it exists but expires and is not publicly available: http://www.orangeware.com/updateusb2oemtrial.html Resources: http://www.intel.com/technology/usb/ http://www.intel.com/technology/usb/download/ehci-r10.pdf http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/usb_20_02212005.zip http://www.beyondlogic.org/usb/usbdevdrvs.htm HDA (High Definition Audio) driver Scitech has developed the driver for Windows NT 4.0: http://www.scitechsoft.com/products/ent/snap_audio.htm and states that "can be ported to support virtually any operating system". Unfortunately it would not be free of charge. Resources: http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/hdaudio.htm http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/product...?lineid=2004052 Intel Pentium microcode driver (UPDATE.SYS) This driver is used in all Windows versions from Windows 98 to Windows Vista, the versions for Windows 98/SE/Me have several limitations: - small space for the microcode - not able to work with new microcodes with size different than 4 KB - not able to work with new microcodes that support more than one platform Resources: ftp://download.intel.com/design/Pentium4/...ls/25366819.pdf - section 9.11 http://www.kernel.org/ - arch/i386/kernel/microcode.c http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/ Video driver with bad support of "Restart in MS-DOS mode" It is known that some drivers of some video adapters does not allow Windows to restart in MS-DOS mode, the computer just hangs. It would be nice to find the root cause and if possible to find any wrokaround. Windows 98SE + nUSB support for Mitsumi USB floppy drive For unknown reason, Mitsumi USB floppy drive causes blues screen with Windows 98 SE + nUSB. It works well with manufacturer supplied driver and with general driver in Windows Me. and of course Windows 98 Driver Development kit (DDK), symbols for Windows 98, Windows 98 debug version etc. Sometimes also Linux source code can help. Maybe some of the above mentioned drivers are available somewhere? Petr

I think the future releases of the service pack could have improved international support. Wha is country and/or language dependent? In Windows: - Dialing rules - Time zone settings - Regional Settings like currency, date/time format, decimal character, sorting rules etc. - keyboard layout - Character set In DOS: - COUNTRY.SYS contains regional Settings like currency, date/time format, decimal character, sorting rules etc. - KEYBOARD.SYS contains keyboard layouts - EGA.CPI contains various character sets I was able to edit all of these DOS files but manually only and I don't suppose to do it now. Does anybody know any tool for editing or creating of these files? Now back to Windows 98/Me. Many things have changed during the past 8 years. Numbering plans have changed, there are no longer area codes in many countries - but Windows 98 requires them. Rules for changing of the daylight time has changed in several countries Several new countries were establised. Some countries got renamed. The currency in some countries has changed. These settings are useful even in English version of Windows 98/Me because it may be used in various countries. The general description is here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/w...t7/wrkappa.mspx The changes should be possible to apply both to already installed operating system and to the install media (slipstreaming). Dialing rules Changes in the Czech Republic are described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327517 and the new registry entry is: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Telephony\Country List\420] "LongDistanceRule"="G" Here it is described also for Greece: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/750109 The meaning of used codes is explained here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/820937 Here is a note for German Windows Me: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;de;509645 Windows 98 SE: "CountryListVersion"=dword:0000000c Windows XP SP2: "CountryListVersion"=dword:00000114 (can be used with small modifications) Questions: 1. Is there any location on the Internet where to find the current rules for all countries? 2. Where is the information stored on the installation media? Time zone settings There is a utility TZEDIT.EXE located in tools\reskit\config folder on the installation CD. Its use is decribed here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158195/ Here is an example how to modify the timezone in the registry: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305575 Here is another example of adding/changing the time zone information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/886775 The information is stored in the following registry branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Time Zones\ The information used during the install is stored in TIMEZONE.INF file. Questions: 1. Is there any location on the Internet where to find the current time zones for all countries? Regional Settings They seems to be in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LOCALE.NLS file. Is there any decription of its structure or an editor for it? Or additonal locales can be put in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\AddLocales ? HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Nls\LocaleMapIDs Keyboard Layout The information about availabe layouts is stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\keyboard layouts and the leyouts themselvers are contained in .KBD files. The only keyboard editor I tried is Janko's Keyboard Generator, the registered version can create the layouts with dead keys. It cannot edit existing kbd files, just add new ones. The information used during the install is stored in MULTILNG.INF file. Here is one new layout - Spanish with Euro support: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312586 Character sets Some information is stored in FONTS.INF. Various languages require different font substitutions. General [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Locale] contains the list of all locales with localized names. I have no idea about the purpose of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\AddLocales key - I found no description. Does anybody know about good resources describing the possible modifications, registry entries and the right tools? I don't want to invent wheel again, maybe something is solved already. Petr

No. Petr

What do you mean by "full pack"? Petr

You mean probably OrangeWare USB 2.0 driver for ICH4 and ICH5 southbridges. Intel offers versions: 1.0.0.0 - ICH4 support http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support...0/eng/USB20.exe 1.0.3.0 - ICH4 support http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support...3/eng/setup.exe 1.1.0.2 - ICH4 and ICH5 support http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support...g/usb2098me.exe The latest release (1.1.0.2) can be downloaded also (for example) here: ftp://ftp.abitshop.com/pub/driver2/intel_usb/1102.exe ICH4 and ICH5 southbridges are used in the following Intel motherboards: D845, D850, D865, D875. D915 and D925 motherboards use ICH6 southbridge and D955 and D975 motherboards use ICH7 southbridge. The Orangeware driver itself supports all EHCI compatible USB2 controllers (i.e. all I know) but just controllers produced by manufacturers that pay fees are enabled. Intel does not support Windows 98 on chipsets with ICH6 and ICH7 southbridges and therefore it is blocked in the driver. Petr

You can download it here: http://old.winpack.org/nsp_petr/fesp201en-alpha1.exe Petr

This is the result of installing this client? http://download.microsoft.com/download/win...N-US/msl2tp.exe Entering mk:@MSITStore:C:\Program%20files\Microsoft%20IPSec%20VPN\MSSECLNT.chm::msseclnt_topnode.htmto IE 6.0 SP1 displays the content correctly. I have MSXML 3.0 SP3 installed as part of IE6SP1 but I don't know if the error is related to it. Petr

I had never any problem with any driver, even the latest driver version 81.98 works with the oldest GeForce2 graphics cards. In the Release Notes for every version you can see what bugs were corrected. And the 81.98 version has bug fixes even for older cards: • GeForce FX 5200: Textures disappear in CrimeLife v105. • GeForce4 Ti 4200, Windows 98: Java applications crash when calling OpenGL. So I think it is not easy to say what driver is the best - apparently it depends on the application too. http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/81.98/8...lease_Notes.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/77.72/7...lease_Notes.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/71.84/N...0Notes_7184.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/67.02/6...lease_Notes.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/66.93/6...lease_Notes.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/61.76/6...2000-9x-NT4.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/56.64/F...otes_v56.64.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/53.04/F...9x_53.04.v3.pdf http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/45.23/N...otes_v45.23.pdf Petr

Yes, the original message is here: http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2006/06/09/434300.aspx It is strange - at first Microsoft promissed to fix all critical security flaws, then it failed to do it. Petr

Yes, some older Award BIOSes had a stupid bug causing divide overflow during the disk detection but it can be easily corrected. From the above mentioned boards, for GA-586HX and GA-586T2 I have corrected the bug myself: http://www.ryston.cz/petr/bios/ , for GA-686LX Gigabyte released new BIOS version with 32GB+ support: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherb...?ProductID=1460 Petr

For completeness: Official download from Microsoft - version 1.50.1085.5 Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) CORE 1.5 (Windows 95/98) Software Requirements: 1. Microsoft® Internet Explorer version 5 or later 2. Operating System: Windows 95, 98, 98SE File Size: 3,101,672 bytes File Date: 1-Feb-2000 File Version: 1.50.1085.5 Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) CORE 1.5 (Windows 95/98/NT 4.0) Software Requirements: 1. Microsoft® Internet Explorer version 5 or later 2. Operating System – Windows 95, 98, 98SE, NT4 (SP4 or greater) File Size: 6,710,736 bytes File Date: 12-May-2000 File Version: 1.50.1085.5 Files from Windows Me uploaded by PROBLEMCHYLD: Files Date: 8-Jun-2000 Files Version: 1.50.1164.0 CIMWIN.DLL from Q285895 File Date: 26-Jan-2001 File Version: 1.50.1085.0048 WBEMPROX.DLL from Q282949 File Date: 9-Jan-2001 File Version: 1.50.1085.0045 I.e. the files from Q282949 and Q285895 are newer than files in Windows Me, but with lower version number. Petr

No, it doesn't. The data packets have equal speed, the TCP stack is not much different if you don't need anything special, and if you mean by "internet" browsing the web - it may be even slower on XP because of some of the computer power is consumed by the operating system itself. You can compare yourself that W98 systems are much more responsive than WXP systems with the same hardware. The web site rendering will not be quicker on WXP than on W98. Yes, it may be that some websites are very slow, it depends. Petr

Just a note - our 9 years old computers (built in 1997 and mostly never changed) have - GA-586HX motherboard + AMD K6-2/400 processor + 128 MB EDO RAM - GA-586T2 motherboard + AMD K6-2/450 processor + max. 256 MB PC75 SDRAM, UDMA33 HDD, USB - GA-686LX motherboard + Pentium II 266 processor + 128 MB PC66 SDRAM, UDMA33 HDD, USB VGA board mostly S3 Virge 2MB RAM, HDD WD-AC33200 (3,2 GB) All of these boards support disks up to 137 GB. All of these computers were built in era of Windows 95 and still are able to run Windows XP, althouth not very quickly - but they are usable. And what we were buying five years ago (spring 2001) as standard computers? - GA-686BX7+ (with UDMA66 support, max. memory 1024MB PC100 SDRAM) - Celeron 900 MHz, 100 MHz FSB - WDC WD200BB 20 GB UDMA100 HDDs - ATI Radeon VE, Nvidia GeForce2 with 32 MB video RAM These computers can ran even Windows Vista, although without Aero Glass (who needs it?). Everything mentioned above were low cost compoters for office use, not high end gamer's computers. So I think the lifespan of average computer, not used for gaming, can be much more than 5 years. Petr

I strongly recommend against ALi/Uli USB 2.0 boards. I have tested two of them (both with M5273-A1 chip) and both failed both with Orangeware driver and with ALi/Uli driver. The first was no-name China brand, the second was Kouwell brand. Both boards immediately after connecting the USB 2.0 device (I have tried 2 GB Kingston DataTraveler Elite, 512 MB Phison Pen Drive and Western Digital Passport USB drive) switched from USB 2.0 to USB 1.1 protocol. Then I have tried these boadrds under Windows XP, Ali/ULi driver caused the same behavior, with default Microsoft EHCI driver one board worked fine but the second switced again to 1.1 protocol. I tried this second board under Windows Vista Beta 2, it did not switch to 1.1 protocol, but had too many errors and failed finally. At present I have the best experience with VIA based add-on boards, these ones with old VT6202 chip were supported by both Orangeware and VIA driver, new ones with VT6212 chip are supported by the VIA driver only. I have achieved twice higher transfer speed with boards with VT6212 chip than with boards with VT6202 chip so VT6212 is definitely better solution. Another possibility are board with NEC chip, now it is uPD720101, older boards had uPD720100A. The speed of board with uPD720101 chip is somewhere between VT6202 and VT6212. The price of these boards may range somewhere between $5 and $10 so if there is free PCI slot it should be no problem to use it. There are rumors that some add-on boards work in PCI 2.2 slots only, I cannot confirm this. Maybe other people have other experiences, maybe there are devices better compatible with some boards, I don't know. The latest USB drivers are here: Ali/Uli Integrated driver package v2.20, contains USB 2.0 controller driver ver. 1.76 for Win98SE/WinME/Win2K/2003/WinXP. DriverVer = 09/07/2005,5.1.2600.0176 ftp://www.uli.com.tw/driver/Integrated220.rar Orangeware driver ver. 2.4.2, supports all boards with VIA VT6202, Ali/Uli, uPD720100A/720101, some ATI, some Nvidia, specific boards with SiS and Intel ICH4 southbridge. DriverVer=3/1/2006,2.04.0002.0 (the latest) http://home.tiscali.cz/~cz053010/usb2/U2v242.exe DriverVer=1/15/2005,2.04.0000.0 (the latest from Kouwell) http://www.kouwell.com.tw/driver/USB/2580N.zip VIA USB 2.0 driver DriverVer=09/26/2003,4.90.3000.10 http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/VIA_USB2_V270p1-L-M.zip Here are modified INF files to show exact chip used. http://home.tiscali.cz/~cz053010/usb2/viausb2.zip Petr

I'v noticed the following problem. After completeing the report, the File Transfer Manager (FTM) tries to send it to Microsoft, but it fails with error message Incorrect handle state was reported by network. Error Code = 12019 Unfortunately I was not able to find any explanation what this could mean. Maybe some problem with proxy? I use squid 2.4.STABLE6. Petr

Does anybody know what this error message means? I've received it on all of my computers, even on the newest one with i955X/D820/1GB RAM/250GB RAID - what could be the reason? I have tried it to run both under Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista, and again - always the same error message: System Compatibility Status Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor could not run Winsat. System compatibility status could not be evaluated. Petr

It is no problem to download them from Microsoft, the links are in the knowledge base: http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/e...5d8/q816506.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/c...5a9/q818506.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/4...705/q818857.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/f...7e8/q827667.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/2...ded/Q837251.exe http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/0...sp6-x86-ENU.exe (not sure if installs on 98, but it contains both NT and 98 INF files) http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/d...-ME-x86-ENU.exe Hotfixes are here: (temporary location) http://home.tiscali.cz/~cz053010/60SP1/IE6...-ME-x86-ENU.exe http://home.tiscali.cz/~cz053010/60SP1/q323061.exe I have not tested if all updates install correctly and update Help/About. Petr

I know but I think 90% of updates listed by CLASYS are replaced too so I supposed he wants to have complete list. There are even two additional IE6SP1 hotfixes: Q893371 Q323061 - ieak Petr

And what about the following IE updates - if you want to have all of them? Q816506 Q818506 Q818857 Q827667 Q837251 Q841873 Q888092 Petr

Yes, diskmaint.dll is used if you right click the disk in explorer and select Format. It is fact that the occasions when you format bootable hdd in Windows environment will be rare but it may happen. Petr

I've just noticed that not all programs in Windows 98/SE/ME put the same boot sectors to the formatted disk. There are 2 variants, both for FAT12(16) and for FAT32. The first variant is used by FORMAT.COM (FAT12+FAT32), SYS.COM (FAT12+FAT32), SETUPX.DLL (FAT12), CVT.EXE (FAT32) This type of FAT12/16 boot record is analyzed here: http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/asm/mbr/WIN98FDB.htm This type of FAT32 boot record is analyzed here http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/asm/mbr/MSWIN41.htm http://home.att.net/~rayknights/pc_boot/w95bboot.htm The second variant is used in DSKMAINT.DLL only (both FAT12 and FAT32) This type of FAT12/16 boot record is analyzed here: http://home.att.net/~rayknights/pc_boot/w95aboot.htm This type of FAT32 boot record is probably analyzed nowhere. What is the difference of FAT12 boot sectors? The first variant: 1. Looks for JO.SYS, then for IO.SYS if the boot device is not hard drive. (This feature is used on the install boot disk and in the boot image of the bootable CD-ROM) 2. Does not look for WINBOOT.SYS 3. Uses INT13 Extensions if the boot device is harddrive and if the active primary partition is type 0C or 0E. The second variant: 1. Looks for WINBOOT.SYS and, if not found, for IO.SYS 2. Never looks for JO.SYS 3. Never uses INT13 extensions => cannot be used for booting from bigger disks (>512MB) What variant is better? What should be used? Should't we relpace the boot records in DSKMAINT.DLL by boot records in FORMAT.COM or vice versa? They are stored as resources in DSKMAINT.DLL. Another problem is the localization (translation) of the boot record. There are error messages: $0D$0AInvalid system disk$FF $0D$0ADisk I/O error$FF $0D$0AReplace the disk, and then press any key$0D$0A CVT.EXE and SETUPX.DLL contain no translation. FORMAT.COM and SYS.COM have error messages translated, but in many languages incorrectly - there are missing some important bytes, for example there is used FF twice as a flag for the program to jump to other place. DSKMAINT.DLL have similar problem, and I even noticed that the translation is not used at all. If we decide to change the boot record it should be discovered how the program determines the location where to put the translated string. The localization problem is not very important but for perfectness could be done. The main question remains - what format is better? Command line FORMAT.COM or Windows one using DSKMAINT.DLL? Petr