pcalvert

Out of curiosity, I recently performed a simple experiment on a Windows 98 SE system (266 MHz Pentium II, 64 MB of RAM). I tried three different shells and measured the amount of free RAM available right after booting. I ran no other programs other than the one to measure the free RAM. Results: Shell __________ Free RAM explorer.exe - 19,973,461 bytes blackbox.exe - 24,462,677 bytes liteshell.exe -- 25,888,085 bytes progman.exe - 33,464,320 bytes Note: The program blackbox.exe is from an installation of bblean that I had on the computer. Based on those results, I think that using progman.exe as the shell could be useful for situations in which one needs to install Windows on older computers that don't have much RAM. I am also thinking about using it myself for when I need to run Windows inside QEMU or VirtualBox to access a few Windows-specific programs. Although Progman is rather spartan compared to Explorer, I don't see that as a big problem if I normally only need to use a few Windows programs. Phil EDIT: Added liteshell.exe and updated all results to an average of three readings rather than just a single reading.

Thanks for the tip, though it didn't work. Apparently it requires some component from windows that I already removed in Nlite. I don't think it's a completely standalone program. Oh, that's too bad. I just had another idea. If you don't mind a retro, Windows 3.x look, you could try using progman.exe instead of explorer.exe. Be aware, though, that you have to get the file from a pre-SP2 version of Windows XP (according to what I read). The version of progman.exe from SP2 won't work (probably by design). To find the program, look in the i386 directory on the installation CD. Phil

Explorer - Emerge Desktop

I don't know if it would help you, but have you tried Emerge Desktop? Phil

I think you may find that the information on this page is helpful: http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/sitemap Phil

Hi eidenk. Are you also aware of any reliable 'cloaking' method(s) that would foil any such malicious attempts to identify a system (specifically 9x systems in this context)? What about Proxomitron? In addition to filtering web content, you can use Proxomitron to make it appear that you are using IE7 and Windows Vista (just one example), even though you're actually using Opera and Windows 98 SE. Phil

Hi twig123, Thanks for the link. Looks like a useful site. Phil

Hi twig123, Unfortunately, there is no jumper on the motherboard that is similar to your description. There is the jumper I mentioned previously, and a pair of pins with no jumper that are close to the middle of the motherboard. There is no jumper near the CMOS battery, nor anywhere else for that matter (other than those I've already mentioned). Phil

This sounds similar to advice I got from a friend for a different computer, but which I haven't yet had a chance to try. Where would I find this jumper that you referred to? I could only find one jumper on the motherboard, which has "266 MHz" written next to it. There are six pairs of pins in that area, and only that pair has a jumper on it. Phil

Okay, I'll check the cables as soon as I get a chance. As for the BIOS defaults, I am a little reluctant to do so after reading this on the BIOS manufacturer's web site: Since that seems to imply that the computer could become inoperable after restoring the default values, I figured that I'd try that as a last resort. Phil

Hi, I had a CMOS battery in an old Dell desktop die recently. The battery was replaced, and now the floppy drive and CD-ROM drive no longer work. I went into and system set up and noticed that those drives weren't listed, so I went ahead and tried entering the correct setting for the floppy drive since the correct setting was self-evident. That did not work. When I rebooted the computer, there was an error message on the screen for a few seconds: The Dell is an OptiPlex GXa 266M, and it has a Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS ver. 1.10 A09. Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this? Phil

Instead of SpamCop (or in addition to it), you could use Complainterator. I've heard that it does a good job of getting the domain registrars to revoke the domains that are being used by spammers. Phil

Don't bounce spam, report it with SpamCop (http://spamcop.net/). I haven't used Mailwasher in a long time, but it may have a feature that will let you submit spam to SpamCop fairly easily. Phil