soporific

I don't know how to access and change the code, but I tried to run autopatcher again. This time, when I "pressed any key to continue", as instructed by the first error message, I actually got a second window which appeared as follows: http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6769/en...nt2finalun2.jpg Following the instructions on this second window, I ran SYSEDIT. A whole bunch of windows appeared on the screen. Here are the two which mentioned the SHELL variable: http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/9866/shell1finalwt9.jpg http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2079/shell2finalke2.jpg 1) OK, with SYSEDIT, this brings up all your configuration files --- the one you want is CONFIG.SYS --- it probably doesn't have much inside it. The ones you posted sshots of isn't the one you want. If you can, please post the text or the sshots of the contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS -- they both should come up with SYSEDIT. 3) here's a custom version with breakpoints all the way thru the code. You will have to press the spacebar a few times and watch a few messages go by but at least we will know the exact point it goes dead. Please let me know the order of the messages as well as the last one you saw. changes from v1.96.51 to v1.96.52: * the ES test is slightly easier to pass - i was testing on a system with not much installed, and i would expect a few more bytes used up with a few apps installed as well. * there are breakpoints all over the place which you have to press a key to get thru each time. So you aren't going to like installing this UNLESS you haven't been able to get AP to work or want to help out. grab it here: http://soporific.dsleague.com/downloads/Au...6.52_update.exe file size: 227kb you MUST have v1.96.50 already installed. If you have v1.96.51 installed, its fine to simply install the newer version over the old one.

nathanson1947, this is good news in one respect -- i expected the people who were having problems running AP to fail the environment space (ES) test. If you DIDN'T fail, then i am completely at a loss of how to help --- at least i have something to work with now. I am working on v1.96.52 to see if i can't extend the function. Can someone else who ISN'T having problems with AP install v1.96.51 and see if you trip the ES limit? Thanks in advance... For those who really want this to work and its not, you can also do the following: * we need to know exactly where the code is branching off to places we don't want it to go. The Debug mode wasn't designed to be this precise in finding out where the code goes awry. So a trial and error method would be to do the following: The problem resides inside AutoPach.bat --- it seems people are not getting past the processing inside this file. So we need to find out where its breaking down ... a very basic way of doing this is to insert break points with messages. ie (code) (code) (code) echo. echo. You are here! (no 1) PAUSE (code) (code) (code) echo. echo. You are here! (no 2) PAUSE So what you can do is insert the above code anywhere inside the AutoPach.bat file -- its best to insert it right after a label (a label is any line that starts with a single colon) -- and see where the code gets to before exiting out ungracefully. The best places to put the above message code, is right after the RESTARTx labels (there are 8 labels that start with RESTART ie RESTART1, RESTART2 etc). A good one to do first is to insert one right before RESTART8 which is the last label before the code launches the next file. If you don't get to that message, then we know the problem is inside AutoPach.bat -- if you do get to it, then the problem is inside FULLUP.bat which is in the \modules directory. Do the same for that file (ie insert the break point messages). This will help find the problem, so get to it! If i wasn't clear enough, please say something. PS - nathanson1947, when you saw the above message, what happened after that? If its not clear, try adding the break points above and then try again. Be sure to tell me everything you see.

1) like the title of the homepage thread sticky says, unfortunately it is only for English systems. And ... 2) there isn't a dutch version available. But ... 3) you can help create a version that is compatible for Dutch local systems by downloading the full version of Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se (English) and trying to install each update manually, and see what happens!! All updates are inside the \FILES folder. IF you want to help, when you do this, please take as many notes as possible. I think you will find lots of the updates are international, but some will turn your system into half English / half Dutch. If this is not a problem, then do it. The best thing is to try on a newly formatted system. Best NOT to try on your main computer.

OK, v1.96.51 is out now!! ...... don't get too excited, all this is for is for people who are experiencing problems with Auto-Patcher even starting. Everyone can install it, but you won't notice much if everything is OK. I have included a newer version of START_DEBUG.bat but that was only because i forgot to update it for the earlier release. Doh. The release is an installer that does all the work for you, just run it and choose the install directory for AP. WHAT is in the update? The change is that the very first thing the program does after locating the program directory and running AutoPach.bat, is an environment space test to check that enough space is available and that all the code-checking variables will be able to be set properly. I'm not actually that confident that this addition to the program is going to solve most problems, but its good to have in there to rule out the possibility. Technically speaking, lots of text is assigned to each of the module choice variables, which mimics what the program is going to do but is designed to catch any errors (unlike the previous method which was a "wait for error to appear and not handle it at all" method). It is possible to trip the space warning and for it to be a false alarm but i've coded for this situation so its still fine to use. grab it here: http://soporific.dsleague.com/downloads/Au...6.51_update.exe file size: 226kb you MUST have v1.96.50 already installed.

Fair enough, i'll re-investigate. Everyone: for the latest news, please see the first post. RE: those having problems even getting AP to run under normal conditions... i'm going to improve the environment space functioning by adding a test at the very start that will warn about systems that don't provide enough for the program to work properly. It's not good enough (it seems) to wait for users to see 'Out of environment space' (OES) warnings - i suspect that the messages aren't always appearing when OES is the problem. So the code will at least rule this out. I will release a new version of Autopach.bat based upon the 1.96.50 upgrade that was released.

Basically.

Driverpacks for Windows 98 What's this project? This project was inspired by Bâshrat the Sneaky who started the Driverpacks project which, if you didn't already know, is absolutely fantastic. When you include them in your unattended Boot & OS re-installation DVD they will install the drivers for your standard hardware components that you normally have to do yourself after the OS has installed. This means a computer is completely ready to go after using a DVD with these driverpacks on them to install your OS. Well, since i'm about to release probably the last version of the Unattended Boot CD (UBCD) for Windows 98/98se i thought i'd make it extra special and in order for it to all work (especially for newer computers) the new UBCD needs to be able to function properly after the OS has finished installing, ie chipset drivers that tell the OS what all the new fangled hardware does is essential to be able to continue installing all of the other goodies contained in the new UBCD. Without a comparable project to Bâshrat's driverpacks, the UBCD won't work for everyone and the majority of these people will be the ones with better hardware (which they could still be using in 5 years). So, this only became obvious a few days ago when i was testing out on a K7 AMD AthlonXP 2600+ and it turned out i needed to install the chipset drivers for everything to work. So, if you intend on making your own UBCD, then you'll want to send me your chipset drivers, especially if they aren't natively supported in Windows 98. Windows 98 only: I was originally going to make this for Win95 and WinME as well but then i looked at the amount of extra work it would involve and decided it was impossible. Sorry to get your hopes up. I will, however, include drivers on an individual basis, ie, you send me the drivers (or provide a link) and i'll add them to a special pack you'll be able to use. Latest News Feb 18, 2008: I'm releasing a new version of the UBCD and i want to include updated driver packs. Please post your suggestions for inclusion. Sept 28, 2007: The video driverpacks have been tested with 3 cards (see below) so far and all work fine with an unattended installation of all drivers. Yippee. cards tested: SiS530 Radeon 9800 series GeForce3 Ti 200 Sept 26: After some help from fellow MSFN members (especially SubMix8c) i have cracked the driver packs for Win98/ME method! It wasn't hard in the end, just a matter of adding a line to msbatch.inf and writing some code to extract the packs, and then delete them after. The main goal is to have the USERs video card properly installed before desktop loads. No other driver (IMHO) is as important due to the fact these can always be installed after setup finishes, whereas the some post-installation tasks like the post-installation wizard (WPI) needs more than 16 colors at 800 x 600 resolution. Please post the details of the cards you'd like supported in the driver packs, and provide links where you can. Index for the Driver Packs for Windows 98se v1.20 __________________________________ DP_w98_1.01.exe is 12.4 MB and extracts to 45.9 MB DP_w98_2.01.exe is 8.88 MB and extracts to 40.5 MB DP_w98_3.01.exe is 14.5 MB and extracts to 49.5 MB DP_w98_4.02.exe is 1.08 MB and extracts to 3.62 MB DP_w98_5.01.exe is 2.34 MB and extracts to 5.32 MB DP_w98_6.01.exe is 523 KB and extracts to 1.89 MB DP_w98_7.01.exe is 105 KB and extracts to 36.4 KB total: 39.8 MB extracting to 147 MB uncompressed __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 1 ** ATI Radeon 9800 series ATI Radeon 9700 series ATI Radeon 9600 series ATI Radeon 9500 series ATI Radeon 9200 series ATI Radeon 9100 series ATI Radeon 9000 series ATI Radeon 8500 series ATI Radeon 7500 series ATI Radeon 7200 series ATI Radeon 7000 series ATI Radeon Xpress 200 series ** and all "All-In-Wonder" variants of the every ATI Radeon series family above. SiS 315 SiS 530 SiS 6326 SiS 635 SiS 645 SiS 733 SiS 735 Trident Blade XP-T64 S3 ProSavageDDR ASUS VANTA2000 ASUS V3800 Series ASUS V6600 Series ASUS V6800 Series ASUS V7100 Series ASUS V7700 Series ASUS V8200 Series ASUS V8170 Series ASUS V8420 Series ASUS V8440 Series ASUS V8460 Series ASUS V9180 Series ASUS V9280 Series ASUS CUA Series __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 2 ** SiS 650 VIA-S3 UniChrome VIA VT8361 VIA VT8601 VIA VT850 ATi Rage 128 ATi Rage 128 Pro Voodoo3 Voodoo4 Voodoo5 Voodoo Banshee __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 3 ** NVIDIA GeForce2 Integrated GPU NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200 NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce3 NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200 NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 with AGP8X NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440SE NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440SE with AGP8X NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 460 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4400 NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800 NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE NVIDIA GeForce FX 5100 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200LE NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600XT NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700VE NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900ZT NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300 NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750 NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5900 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 400 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 420 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 430 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE NVIDIA GeForce 6200 NVIDIA GeForce 6200 A-LE NVIDIA GeForce 6200 LE NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboCache(tm) NVIDIA GeForce 6200SE TurboCache(tm) NVIDIA GeForce 6500 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT NVIDIA GeForce 6600 LE NVIDIA GeForce 6600 VE NVIDIA GeForce 6610 XL NVIDIA GeForce 6700 XL NVIDIA GeForce 6800 NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS/XT NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT NVIDIA GeForce 6800 LE NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Series GPU NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XE NVIDIA GeForce 6800 XT NVIDIA GeForce 7025 NVIDIA GeForce 7050 PV NVIDIA GeForce 7100 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE NVIDIA GeForce 7500 LE NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7600 LE NVIDIA GeForce 7650 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX v2 NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT/GTO NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT AGP NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 v2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra NVIDIA Quadro2 MXR/EX NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro NVIDIA Quadro4 380 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 550 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 580 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 700 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 750 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 780 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 900 XGL NVIDIA Quadro4 980 XGL NVIDIA Quadro DCC NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000 NVIDIA Quadro FX 1100 NVIDIA Quadro FX 1300 NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500 NVIDIA Quadro FX 2000 NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400/4400 NVIDIA Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI NVIDIA Quadro FX 350 NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 X2 NVIDIA Quadro FX 500/FX 600 NVIDIA Quadro FX 540 NVIDIA Quadro FX 550 NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 NVIDIA Quadro FX 560 NVIDIA Quadro FX 700 NVIDIA Quadro NVS NVIDIA Quadro NVS 210S NVIDIA Quadro NVS 285 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 440 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 50 PCI NVIDIA Quadro NVS 55/280 PCI NVIDIA Quadro NVS with AGP8X NVIDIA Quadro PCI-E Series SiS 661FX __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 4 ** (Chipset drivers) ALi1621 nForce2 nForce3 nForce4 VIA USB 2.0 (usb) VIA HyperionPro 5.12a VIA IDE VT82C580 __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 5 ** (audio drivers) VIA AC97 ESS 1869 Sound Blaster Live SoundMAX AD1885 __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 6 ** (network drivers) AcerLAN ALN 201 AcerLAN ALN 325 Realtek 10/100/1000 NIC Family ADMtek AN983B Realtek RTL8139 LanKom LB-1200U VIA VT8233 __________________________________ ** Driver Packs 7 ** (Virtual Machine drivers) VMWare mouse driver VMWare Virtual SVGA video driver Download links: Pack 1 Pack 2 Pack 3 Pack 4 Pack 5 Pack 6 Pack 7

ta muchly, and thanks for the other reply as well.

MDGx: I'm stuck on what to do ... i've read all the recent posts and it seems that its better to have the ANI fixed USER.EXE & USER32.DLL (4.10.0.2223) files as opposed to the 4.90.3001 ones ... so should i use those files inside my Core of Win98 to Me update? This is because the Core of Win98 to ME comes after the Q891711 update, and so the ANI fixed files get overwritten if the user chooses to install both. I could simply swap the order around if that is the bes fix. Or is it possible to still use U891711 and thus keep the usual 4.90.3001 files inside my core Win98 to ME thingy? It seems my options are: 1) for the Core Win98 to ME update, replace the 4.90.3001 USER* files with the files inside Q891711 2) swap the order so the Core Win98 to ME update is installed before Q891711 (not preferable) 3) Use the 4.90.3001 USER* files inside the Core Win98 to ME update as normal, and use U891711 (easiest option for me) I'm testing out the options above but any info much appreciated...

go with your logic, seems ok. If you don't select the IE module, everything will still install perfectly fine.

Auto-Patcher for Windows 98 SE (English) (hopefully the) very last preview is now available, get it here: upgrade 1.95 PR2 to 1.96.50 16.7MB If nothing is wrong with this release, it will simply be re-branded to Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se May 2007 and released as full & lite versions. The full version will also include Net Framework 1.1. So if there are no major bugs reported, you can think of this as the proper release described above. The only thing is you will have some obsolete files inside the program directory - so if you don't have access to broadband, just stick with 1.95 PR2 and this upgrade to 1.96.

feed me back... v1.96 ... is it ... is it not ... only a short post away ... go to it!

thanks man, i was looking at the wrong key, and in the wrong place. Cheers. Please find attached the fix for the flash problem. and due to some information from this post, the official version of 1.96 is going to be a bit different. flash_fix.zip

<text snipped> does the Flash update work for anybody at all or is it just me?

I entirely agree with you, it sounds like crazy stuff ... ! OK, i think the warning to not use 2226 if you have a standard desktop is a theoretical warning - ie its possible something could go wrong, not that it will always go wrong. So just because you are using it without a meltdown of some sort doesn't mean its safe. I wish I knew more precisely but that is how i currently understand it. I remember people reporting that 2226 worked on their machines without a fuss. Why go to the bother of re-installing if this is your only issue currently? It seems like you know how to boot into command prompt safe mode. Put the 2225 file somewhere easy ( eg c:\ ) and copy 2225 to %windir%\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS\ eg c:\windows\system\iosubsys overwriting the 2222 file. All done. Am i missing something here? OTHER NEWS I have had a report of a problem in the Essential 3rd Party Apps module with the latest Flash update (i said i wouldn't include, i lied!) ... has anybody else downloaded the 1.96 preview and tried to run the above module? Did you by-pass Flash? If not, did you get the result below? Thanks in advance for any help tracking this down... This update DOES use a new routine i dreamed up just recently ... it uses the registry to determine the program version. Lots of programs actually have a registry key that is used for advising on the program version --- Flash 9.0.45.0 installs a key called "FlashPlayerVersion" in HKCU\software\Macromedia\FlashPlayer and so the code simply uses that as the comparison version and the normal file version routine is then called to make the decision about whether Flash needs to be installed or not. The strategy is a bit iffy, especially if during a program's historical development a different method is used to store the program version - but it should work for Flash AFAIK ... so please report if you have seen something like the above ...

the most useful of useful posts!!! MDGx comes to the rescue again ... cheers man.

Hmmm, i dunno how you missed it ... maybe i've misread the situation, but in all your post text explaining more about which update is installed there's no mention of the determining factor about which update to install: :48BITLBA :: this is the version for ALL PCs/portables EXCEPT IBM portables with removable disks SET CHEC2=4.10.0.2225 :48BITLB2 :: this is the version for IBM portables with removable disks SET CHEC2=4.10.0.2226 Now, either you have an IBM laptop with a removable disk and as such should have installed the 4.10.0.2226 version, or you don't and thus should have 4.10.0.2225 installed. My guess is you've somehow missed this extremely important piece of info and have assumed that the latest file version is the one to install. Or you actually have a laptop and just have neglected to tell us... I just re-read your posts and i think this is all to do with the fact you have inserted the wrong file into your CAB files. Unless you actually have an IBM laptop, you should have inserted 2225. This totally explains why AP is giving you the messages you are seeing. I dearly hope you aren't using that on a computer with hard disks over 137 gb! Stop using immediately! And i did include a little bit of text that explained which one was which in the module options... i think you've had a Homer moment, my friend! D'OH! about the sneak preview of v1.96: this is not in anyway an official release, a sneak preview in my language is a Beta where the code changes are finished but there still may be update additions to come. What i'm trying to say is there will be an actual v1.96 upgrade official release that you should download and install to replace the sneak preview version, so don't go and think you have v1.96 cuz you don't!

Yay, there's a sneak preview of the super duper and shiny new version 1.96 available! grab it here: http://soporific.dsleague.com/downloads/ size: 12.8 MBs instructions: just run the file, further instructions inside the installer.

just doing final tests now ... one of the tests is comparing the results of a full patch of a clean windows 98 re-installation using v1.95, and v1.96 and let me tell you, i already hate (or at least greatly dislike) v1.95 !! it's so slow !!! all the bloomin' reboots, how did you ever put up with it ?? I've been working and testing 1.96 for quite a while now and i've gotten used to the changes i've made. I wasn't joking that it's about 33% faster. It could be more ... i'll be uploading any second now ... and i'll post the benchmark results of the 2 versions ... i reckon the figures will be interesting ... oh, and the next full version of this project will be called Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se (May 2007) and future versions will be known by the month they are released in. It is simply a coincidence that this is exactly how the other Auto-Patchers for Windows OSes are named. Really, it is - there will still be a version number to designate code changes. Benchmarks: (using Win98 inside MS Virtual PC 2007 on a PentiumD 940 system) AP version -- 1.95 ... 1.96 Test A ------- 3:02 .... 1:40 ... a 45% reduction Test B ------- 43:07 ... 30:58 ... a 28% reduction - test figures in minutes and seconds. i reckon that averages out at about 33% --- like i predicted in the first post! the number of reboots for 1.95 for test B was 21 the number of reboots for 1.96 for test B was 15 Test A: running thru default module options on a fully patched computer. Nothing is installed, so this mainly tests code optimization improvements, however, there is some distortion via the differences in the additions (mainly tweaks) and omissions (mainly hotfixes), but there are more additions than omissions, so 1.96 should probably take longer to run if the code was the same. Test B: running thru the default module options on a just-installed Win98se system. This means everything selected gets installed. i'll comment on all the results at the end. It looks good so far though, doesn't it ...

Yo Briton, can you tell me more about this ... which version of ESDI_506.PDR do you have installed?? (to find out, put a copy of the file you have installed into the \bin directory in the AP program directory, open up a DOS box at that location, and type GETVER ESDI_506.PDR and it will tell you the file version) ... i can't find any newer version of this update

ahem ... there's a thread for this project and its only just around the corner ... if you'd like to follow me please ... no straying at the back! Come on, keep up ... Ok, are we ready? Let's go...

oh goody, it looks like i may be able to cull some deadwood from the Internet Explorer module in auto-patcher (AP). Or may be not... that's what i want to find out. MD, MDGx, or anyone else: i have the following updates included in the IE module and they aren't listed as being in Component Update 1.4, so can we move any or all these to the obsolete list? Or are they not included for reasons of irrelevance, non-importance, size, [insert reason] ... thanks in advance for any info. * q322656 - Msinfo32.exe causes an Access Denied error in Internet Explorer - (AP does the install as MDGx suggests and replaces IEINFO5.OCX with an older version) * q329115 - Hotfix for Certificate Validation Flaw Vulnerability * kb824220 - Hotfix for Images Not Appearing in Web Pages in Internet Explorer * kb870669 - Hotfix for vulnerability in ADOB Stream in Internet Explorer 6 * kb886677 - Unofficial Hotfix for DBCS Corruption in MLANG.DLL * kb896156 - Hotfix for bug when removing an HTML element from a Web page * HTMLHelp - Unofficial HTML Help Update (HHCTRL.OCX 5.2.3790.620) * DX_Media - Unofficial DirectX Media Update for IE 6 sp1 (May '07) * HTMLCert - Unofficial HTML Help Expired Security Certificate Update Thanks for the quick update MD, your stuff is all good man. except NUSB .... which is not only good its utterly fantastic!

It will work the same way as when you choose to visit this project's homepage (ie here) --i just code START <download location> -- the OS recognises an internet location and tries to 'go there' --- since you are actually connecting to a file that is normally downloaded, what should happen is that the download starts, or it is grabbed by FlashGet and you know the rest ... Regarding the networking tool, think of it like this: If you easily had the option of doing so, would you un-install that component from Windows XP?? Why would you bother? It's certainly useful if your XP machine seems to have 'forgotten' its network settings, or if something else changed them, or something terrible happened yada yada yada. So what AP is doing is 'restoring' this very useful feature to your Windows OS as it should have been there in the first place. Install it and hide the shortcut in the system utilities folder hidden away in Siberia with all the other useful windows utilities, while all of Microsoft's less useful programs are more prominently profiled, and just forget about it. And thank me when you need to use it once in a blue moon! And the size of the thing certainly is significant - i'm sure we can afford the 385k of space - maybe less if i get of my butt and make a proper inf for it... [edit: well, i nicked the inf from another update and adapted it so we now have a properly iexpressed hotfix, saving a massive 35k of space] oh, and QFECHECK is already on your computer, this makes sure its the latest version, and chucks an icon in front of it. not even worth the effort it takes to unselect it in AP.

i want to announce on my complete updates list that q313829 has been made obsolete by this Explorer lockups fix. I'm hoping the fix was performed on the shell32.dll patched with q313829. Can anyone confirm if this is the case? If a user installs SHELL98 before q313829, they will not be able to install q313829 and Windows update can't install it either. This is the reason i want to make it obsolete, especially if it actually is! Then i can get rid of it from Auto-Patcher and just use this one. The q313829 hotfix does add 2 registry entries which can easily be added to SHELL98 if they are needed. Can anyone shed some light?

re: flash, shockwave -- I'm convinced that they aren't ideal candidates for inclusion in the next version of AP - but i'm reminded of an idea by MDGx where we just include the URL (for which they have permanent ones to the latest version) and the user grabs it from the net themselves (by this i mean AP will direct their computer to do this automatically -- the user doesn't want to have to do all the mundane stuff like downloading) -- so AP will still serve its purpose and without the overhead of the extra MB (which is an issue for lots) --- so really, i could have thought this all through before posting the idea, but thanks for the feedback nonetheless, you are all of the genus type of human being commonly known to all and sundry as "utterly fantastic". Now if i could only get some of this type of feedback on the UBCD thread ...