soporific

We have already. With regards to the internals of the autopatcher, i can help by providing all the info I've collected since I started this project (i.e lots of info about checking the registry for which updates have already been applied, etc) but I'm not so useful in terms of hardcore software coding. But i'm sure our combined skills plus everyone else who visits these forums will get it done in the end. I'd suggest trying to build my project as it is, and running it in VMware to see how it runs. The code files as they are have a couple of bugs but nothing that will stop you from seeing what we have so far. I could also make up a logic tree that outlines the processes that make up how the project runs itself. Because I only use batch files, and nothing else, there's a lot of rebooting that needs to happen and I'm not sure how to go about upgrading this aspect. At one stage I had the critical updates installing in 4 sections, but I got this down to just the one run. Anyway, my question is: where do we start?

Hi there, 5.3 already? But I haven't finished creating my Boot DVD! I started when it was version 5.1... but the changelog for 5.3 looks really good, can't wait to check out the new 1024 x 768 screen space. Yummy! I've seen an old version of WPI (don't know version, how can you tell which version?) that has the normal post-install applications screen but when you've chosen all your programs you want to install, WPI uses the RunOnceEx style to show the user which programs are installing. Can the latest versions do this? Am i off my rocker and it never could? Thanks!!

Auto-Patcher for Windows 98 SE (English) Hi there, those that are new to this project, please skip down to the What is Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se? section. Latest News: Aug 13, 2009: There is no zip file currently available of the program files. In order to 'get' at the files inside the installer, simply run the installer, choose a place to put the files and then start the 'installation'. Once all the files are copied over, copy the program files to another location, and then uninstall the program as normal. No registry entries are created apart from the uninstall keys (which are deleted after you uninstall. Please have a look at the shortcuts created for the program BEFORE uninstalling to find out which files start the program. Dec 17, 2008: The Upgrade to December 2008 is now available. You will need the December 2007 final files already installed. Downloads: Edited by MDGx: added mirrors: here + here. Latest Upgrade version: December 2007 Final to December 2008 UPGRADE: download link [old link = now invalid ;-(] Size: 45.36 MB MD5: 326313710CED36DEB721A72325E142BA Latest full version: December 2007 Final FULL: download link [old link = now invalid ;-(] Size: 286.46 MB MD5: 10107332C30837B2837BF90513A22CD0 Edited by MDGx: FYI: For those who would like to extract the files without installing, please use Innounp (free GPL). Auto-Patcher installer executables were compiled using Inno Setup (freeware). shameless plug: if you liked the program (or even if you disliked it) please give it a rating on Softpedia by going here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enh...dows-98SE.shtml Note: if the SoftPedia site seems to be down, go to the Download.com site instead and vote for it there! What is Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se? Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) was released in 1999, and since then many component updates and critical security hotfixes have also been released. Also, in July of 2006 Microsoft stopped support for Windows 98, and vulnerabilities discovered since then have not been officially patched. So, whatever state your computer is currently in, you can use this program to do all the patching for you. Auto-Patcher includes every update that has been released by Microsoft and every unofficial update posted on the Microsoft Software Forum Network. This program will work on any existing Windows 98 SE (English) system and will still only install updates if your computer is missing them. If you want to know what Auto-Patcher thinks is missing, there is a report function available that will compile a list of all missing updates. Please note: this is an MS-DOS based program that uses batch file scripting to perform all the updates. Auto-Patcher features: * one-click to start the program, and one-button to fully auto-patch your system, or * updates and hotfixes are grouped into selectable modules with further options available within each. * only install updates you are missing (default setting) * report function: search for missing updates and send to text file for viewing. Also tells you what is already installed. * every Auto-Patcher process is logged with timestamps & hotfix version information. Verbose (or debug) mode also available that logs more. * option to force re-installation of updates already installed (NOT the default setting) * to fully patch a freshly installed Window 98 machine, many reboots are required. If the process is interrupted, recovery is available as a menu option Auto-Patcher contents: see link above AutoPatcher98_December2007_Final.zip AutoPatcher98_December2008.zip

That project seems to have died.It's been resurrected! I'd be interested if any progress is made integrating any additional drivers into a clean unattended Win98 setup, in particular the best thing would be to set a path (say: %CDROM%\drivers\) and any drivers that get dumped in that folder are included in the drivers that Windows looks for when installing all the hardware. This is the last hurdle before making the absolute ultimate unattended boot cd edition of Windows 98. But apart from that, the Windows 98 seven years later project will do everything else on the Windows 98 3rd edition wish list. No point duplicating effort, a lot went into mine! The project is being updated as we speak ...

this is mine from a Win98 install (the install routines are very similar): ; MSBATCH.INF ; Windows 98 Seven Years Later Edition ; By soporific ~ October 2005 ; Ver 3.5.01 [BatchSetup] Version=3.0 (32-bit) SaveDate=06/14/05 [Version] Signature = "$CHICAGO$" AdvancedINF=2.5 LayoutFile=layout.inf [Setup] Express=1 InstallDir="c:\windows" InstallType=3 ProductKey="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" EBD=0 ShowEula=0 ChangeDir=0 OptionalComponents=1 Network=1 System=0 CCP=0 CleanBoot=0 Display=0 DevicePath=0 NoDirWarn=1 TimeZone="E. Australia" Uninstall=0 NoPrompt2Boot=1 [System] Locale=L0C09 SelectedKeyboard=KEYBOARD_00000409 DisplChar=16,800,600 [NameAndOrg] Name="User" Org="none" Display=0 [Network] ComputerName="Win98 User" Workgroup="MSHOME" Description="Windows 98 seven years later ed." Display=0 PrimaryLogon=Windows Clients=VREDIR Protocols=MSTCP Services=VSERVER Security=SHARE [MSTCP] LMHOSTS=0 DHCP=1 DNS=0 WINS=D [VREDIR] LogonDomain="Work" ValidatedLogon=0 [VSERVER] LMAnnounce=0 MaintainServerList=2 [OptionalComponents] "Accessibility Options"=0 "Briefcase"=0 <<<< snip -- not important >>>> "Web TV for Windows"=0 [Printers] [InstallLocationsMRU] "C:\Win98\" "D:\win98\" "E:\win98\" "F:\win98\" "G:\win98\" [Install] AddReg=OPKInstall,RunOnce.BatchDelay,Run.Installed.Components,Skip.PCMCIA.Wizard,Registry.WinUpdate, ExtraApps,IE6 [RunOnce.BatchDelay] HKLM,%KEY_RUNONCE%,BatchRun2,,"%25%\rundll.exe setupx.dll,InstallHinfSection Delete.Welcome 4 %10%\msbatch.inf" HKLM,%KEY_RUNONCE%,BatchRun3,,"%25%\rundll.exe setupx.dll,InstallHinfSection Delete.Regwiz 4 %10%\msbatch.inf" [Run.Installed.Components] HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchSetupx,,,">Batch 98 - General Settings" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchSetupx,IsInstalled,1,01,00,00,00 HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchSetupx,Version,,"3,0,0,0" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchSetupx,StubPath,,"%25%\rundll.exe setupx.dll,InstallHinfSection Installed.Components.General 4 %10%\msbatch.inf" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\BatchSetupx,,,"ICW" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\BatchSetupx,IsInstalled,1,01,00,00,00 HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\BatchSetupx,Version,,"3,0,0,0" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\BatchSetupx,StubPath,,"%24%\progra~1\intern~1\connec~1\icwconn1 /restoredesktop HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchAdvpack,,,">Batch 98 - Advanced Settings" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchAdvpack,IsInstalled,1,01,00,00,00 HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchAdvpack,Version,,"3,0,0,0" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>BatchAdvpack,StubPath,,"%25%\rundll32.exe advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %10%\msbatch.inf,Installed.Components.Advanced" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>Batchwu,,,">Batch 98 - Windows Update" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>Batchwu,IsInstalled,1,01,00,00,00 HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>Batchwu,Version,,"3,0,0,0" HKLM,%KEY_INSTCOMP%\>Batchwu,StubPath,,"wupdmgr.exe -shortcut" [Installed.Components.General] AddReg=Browser.Settings, Shell.Prep BitReg=Shell.Settings [DelOEdesktop] setup.ini, progman.groups,, "groupOE=..\..\desktop" setup.ini, groupOE,, """Outlook Express""" [Installed.Components.Advanced] DelFiles=OLS.Icons, QuickLaunch.Icons CustomDestination=Custom.Dest RunPostSetupCommands=DirCleanup [Custom.Dest] 49070=DesktopLDIDSection,5 49050=QuickLinksLDIDSection,5 [DesktopLDIDSection] HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders",Desktop,OLSFolder,"%25%\Desktop" [OLS.Icons] americ~1.lnk at&two~1.lnk compus~1.lnk prodig~1.lnk themic~1.lnk aboutt~1.lnk abouto~1.txt services.txt [DirCleanup] rundll32.exe advpack.dll,DelNodeRunDLL32 %49070%\%OnlineLong% [Delete.Welcome] DelReg=Registry.Welcome [Registry.Welcome] HKLM,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run,Welcome,, [Delete.Regwiz] AddReg=Registry.Regwiz [Registry.Regwiz] HKLM,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Welcome\Regwiz,@,1,01,00,00,00 HKLM,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion,RegDone,1,01,00,00,00 [Registry.WinUpdate] HKLM,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer,NoDevMgrUpdate,0x10001,0 HKLM,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer,NoWindowsUpdate,0x10001,0 [Browser.Settings] HKCU,%KEY_IE_MAIN%,"Start Page",,"about:blank" HKCU,%KEY_IE_MAIN%,"First Home Page",,"about:blank" HKCU,%KEY_IE_MAIN%,"Search Page",,"http://www.google.com.au/ie/" HKCU,%KEY_IE_MAIN%,"Search Bar",,"http://www.google.com.au/ie/" HKCU,%KEY_IE_HELP%,,"Online_Support",,"http://support.microsoft.com/support" [Shell.Prep] HKCU,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer,ShellState,1,1C,00,00,00,20,08,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,0 A,00,00,00 HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\Components\0",Flags,01,00,00,00 HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\main",Show_ChannelBand,0,"no" [Shell.Settings] HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\Components\0",Flags,0,20,1 HKCU,Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer,ShellState,1,40,4 [QuickLinksLDIDSection] HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders",AppData,QuickLaunch,"%25%\Application Data" [QuickLaunch.Icons] viewch~1.scf [Skip.PCMCIA.Wizard] HKLM,System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\PCMCIA,SkipWizardForBatchSetup,,1 [DestinationDirs] OLS.Icons=49070,Online~1 QuickLaunch.Icons=49050,Micros~1\Intern~1\QuickL~1 [Strings] Key_RUN="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" KEY_RUNONCE="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce" KEY_RUNONCESETUP="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Setup" KEY_INSTCOMP="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components" KEY_IE_MAIN="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main" KEY_IE_HELP="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Help_Menu_URLs" KEY_CURR_VER="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" KEY_EXPLORE="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" OnlineLong="Online Services" [OPKInstall] ; This gets you past the EULA stage HKLM,%KEY_CURR_VER%,"ProductId",,"16305-OEM-0088921-12491" HKLM,%KEY_CURR_VER%,"ProductKey",,"XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" HKLM,%KEY_CURR_VER%,"RegisteredOwner",,"User" HKLM,%KEY_CURR_VER%,"RegisteredOrganization",,"none" ; This gets you past the password stage HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Network\Real Mode Net","autologon",1,00000000 [ExtraApps] HKLM,%KEY_RUNONCESETUP%,"Applications from this millenium",,"C:\win98\@Launch.bat @DoMenu.bat" [IE6] ; Installs IE 6 sp1 at the end of saving config settings HKLM,%KEY_RUNONCE%,"Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1",,"C:\Win98\@Launch.bat @DoMenu.bat" ; Always make sure your .inf, .bat and .reg files have at least one carriage return ; at the end or the file may just not work at all. For Reg files, none of it will work. ; No wonder NASA space missions fail with just one wrong hyphen.

thanks for that, i've gone with 36% (that's precision for you)

Hi, i just noticed my category heading underlines stick way out further than the actual heading itself. Its only a cosmetic thing, but the manual did say it could be adjusted in boxes.js - i can't for the life of me find the appropriate line to change. Any ideas? Cheers.

Hey all, Just wanted a thread entirely for "impressions" using 5.2 over 5.1 which may lead to more improvements, suggestions, etc. The big difference for me is no more mouse pointer lag. I have no idea why this was a problem for 5.1 and not 5.2 --- maybe someone can say. In 5.1, when using a virtual pc - even if your CPU wasn't maxing out, it was really hard to use the mouse to select anything. It felt like a lot of 'processing' was going on behind the scenes just to move my mouse. This problem has completely disappeared. Maybe it will still show up on slower computers, but my Athlon64 3500 handles it fine. The bugs were a bit annoying -- i also was running WPI.hta from my CD and that "line 43" error showed up but all the fixes worked like a charm. Thanks for being so quick !! And it looks much sleeker. Obviously some tweaking has occurred to smooth those crooked lines out so can I say it shows. I can't really tell easily exactly what is different, but I've noticed something. That, or maybe I shouldn't smoke so many spliffs... Bring on 5.3 !!!

1400 x 900 !! It rocks ... i was telling everyone "no! wait another year before going LCD" and not 2 weeks later, i purchase a 16:10 screen (for under A$600) I do have to report that it is impossible to be happy trying to configure anything using 1024 x 768. It does mention that 1280 x 1024 is the recommended size, but some just don't have that. Otherwise this is the best thing!!! 5.2 looks much sleeker than 5.1 and is much much much faster, especially the lag when using the mouse. The lag is no more.

... Right now I'm having to use my spreadsheet file that i use to organise what's on my boot DVD. I saw that the Config Lister existed and my heart leaped! (well only a little but it did move). What a great idea. But alas, its no use to me. This is why: 1) my output file lists the Apps with no Order number assigned first, and in reverse alphabetical order, which is strange because it installs the other way. After the apps with no Order number, then come the ones that do have it. 2) The list isn't formatted very usefully. Yes we can see the big list, but if we didn't want all the extra space and the X before each title, we have to get rid of it ourselves which means other solutions are better. The answer is to create 3 or 4 versions of the list within the same file. Leave whatever code is already in place, and just add more routines that offer different formatting with gaps in between each list. The user can just delete the lists they don't need.

Nope, they are both enabled. I wasn't changing settings - so this wasn't really a theoretical solution but I really really appreciate the help so thanks anyway !! I'm going to try to force firefox to create an entire new profile and see if that's where the problem lies. I can't right now but i'll report how I go .. this still doesn't help me avoid this problem in the future so if anyone has any further info they think may help, please post away. Thanks ... EDIT: I have fixed the problem by forcing a new profile for Firefox. Does this give any more clues? I'd prefer not to rebuild my existing profile if I can help it. Thanks in advance!

Hi there, I'm NOT a n00b but i feel like one right now. I have been installing and uninstalling stuff on my WinXP work computer all day and now i realise I can't view certain webpages properly in Mozilla Firefox. I noticed the problem when I tried to visit the Unattended guide ... i can't navigate on the site because the Menu link section on the left is completely missing. I can view it on other computers and also in IE but nothing i do --- un-install & re-install firefox or Java seems to get it back working in Firefox (my preferred browser). I'm not even sure its a problem with JAVA as i'm not a web developer but the source code suggests it is ... What the hell is going on? Any info will result in millions of karma points ... billions ... thanks in advance

I can confirm this method works for itunes 6.05 ... Kudos to the method creator!!

i don't know how i stuffed that up, but thanks for the exact steps - yes a miracle did happen and it works. thanks again.

hi there, great app this is ... kudos to all who've worked on it. In the config section, there's a drop down list of all the categories you can assign, and you can choose 'other' to create a new one. When I choose this a new box appears next to the list where you can enter the new category name. But after that, there doesn't seem to be a way to save that new category. Everytime I go to another record and return, my new category can't be found. I had a quick look at some of the script files in the WPIScripts directory and it appears that the standard directories are hard-wired into the code, meaning its not going ot be possible to add a new category as easily as it appears. Can anyone shed more light on this? Cheers.

Wow, I didn't think this thread would get anymore posts considering the project evolved - to answer your question, all you have to do is make sure msbatch.inf is in the installation directory when you run setup.exe ie if you have all your installation files in c:\win98 ready to install as normal into c:\windows then make sure msbatch.inf is in c:\Win98 - you may have to use the following command line: c:\win98\setup.exe c:\win98\msbatch.inf but you shouldn't have to, as setup should find the inf file.

Trouble-shooting: 1) can you install your copy of Win98 on another machine? Did it work? 2) have you checked the install CD can read all the data perfectly? 3) have you checked the hardware for errors? ie the hard disk for surface errors. Even though WinXP installs perfectly, this could still be the problem. 4) have you tried copying the install files to the hard drive and starting setup from there?

or 56,666 to be more precise. I have a thread I maintain - it's the Windows 98 Seven Years Later project - and it's been snipped severely because I've somehow gone over the limit. The exact details of the problem are as follows: 1) the post previews perfectly fine in three browsers: firefox, opera and IE. That suggests to me that all the data i want to send is being received by the server hosting msfn.org 2) when I try to save the post, that's when it fails to save (with all three browsers), snips the post at around the 57,000 mark and it then screws up how the page looks when it reloads, with the edit and PM controls off to the side in their own column. Not pretty. This is quite frustrating, especially if I use the 'Check Post Length' function which teasingly tells me I have a million characters to play with. This is not the case and I'd like the message changed to 56,000 which would be closer to the truth. 3) if I try to send the exact same post with only 56,666 characters in it by snipping the bottom myself, the post appears exactly as it is supposed to which suggests to me that the problem is not related to some weird syntax error in my post code that is stuffing things up. I could, however, be wrong. I really need those other 900,000 odd characters for all the reference info I'd like to include. Well, maybe not all of it, but I'm already leaving out large chunks and it's just not tenable. Has anyone else actually tried to post more than 60,000 characters? Did it work? Can one of the moderators do some dummy posts to check this problem out? and while I'm asking so many questions, could Elvis still be alive? Thanks in advance for any help. Cheers.

why is a re-install out of the question? You mentioned you performed a re-install over the old one ... are you saying that the Win98se install files are on the hard drive somwhere? Because if they are you *can* re-install. Rename win.com to win.bak and then run setup ...

re: avoiding using the delay: guys, guys (or gals, gals), you've missed the opportunity to add more gloss to that shiny halo that sits a few cm above your heads ... you just gotta use START /W REGEDIT blah blah it was the link that jaclaz gave that helped the penny drop for me. So kudos (which is the currency of the future, BTW) to him (her).

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw If it wasn't for people like eidenk, we wouldn't get ANYWHERE. As I have found out recently. About the lack of 'class' of Tithiy's response, he wasn't dealt a very good hand to reply to. If there was NO warning about the danger of installing the RP, and about backups, etc it would be reasonable to expect anger. What really happened is that plugs7 through 'sheer bloodymind' ed slackness did the wrong thing. He didn't acknowledge the warning about installing RP - he would have fail-safe backed up if he did. The scale of the disaster was enormous (in his eyes) and this produced heaps and heaps of emotion - mainly anger would be my guess. And in my experience, given a choice between blaming yourself or blaming someone else, if you have a valid reason, you'll blame the other person and absolve yourself. And so we get a post that expresses just this. Miko made the point that Tithiy's belated explanation should have been first but again, in the context of the original post its not hard to see why Tithiy didn't bend over backwards to help plugs7 absolve himself of any wrong doing. The reason for this post is to point out that there's a lot to be said about pursuing a higher quality of communication. Thank Che for the edit function ...

wow, more good info ... don't stop now guys !! I have another for you ... for the above-mentioned check for IE6 sp1 you'll notice that I've had to add a delay after REGEDIT writes to the text file. If you don't include it, the next line of code tries to find the text file that REGEDIT is still writing to ... either you get a false result about a missing file (if it was supposed to be true) or the system reports a sharing violation and things go to poo. Before I added all these 'checks' into the project, the menu system was able to search for all possible extras in about 5 seconds flat. Now that I'm adding the checks like the one above, all these delays have to be sat thru ... and so the process is not as fun ... or more precisely, the 'progress meter' runs much more slowly because of all the two second delays. I've tried one second but that's too short, and even two seconds might not be long enough for some systems - which means a 3 second wait for everything and now we're running into trouble. My question: is there a way to confirm the text file that REGEDIT is writing (or may not be writing) without using the delay method? I thought that maybe all these new apps that have been suggested might be able to help but the problem lies with the extraction from the registry and so they won't solve the problem. Or so it appears. Please tell me I'm wrong. [EDIT] - actually, reg.com looks promising - but where do you get it?

OK, now I've got another problem ... the registry key to disable the DCOM security vunerability has these objects: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE] "EnableDCOM"="Y" "EnableRemoteConnect"="N" The method I'm using the check the registry doesn't actually use TFIND, I use a combination of regedit, type and find as follows (this is the check for Internet Explorer 6 sp1:) @echo off SET TITLE=Internet Explorer 6 sp1 echo. Now searching to see if %TITLE% is already installed ... regedit /e get.txt "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{0fde1f56-0d59-4fd7-9624-e3df6b419d0f}" :: a short delay is needed to avoid sharing conflicts rem|choice>nul /c:d /n /t:d,2 :: we want to find the correct version number of IE TYPE Get.txt | FIND /i "6,0,2800,1106" >nul :: if we can't find the text, app is not installed IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NOcode goto YEScode :NOcode echo. No it's not installed GOTO END :YEScode echo. Yes it is installed GOTO END :END PAUSE del *.txt cls SO I have a problem with quotes trying to apply this method to the DCOM vunerability. The only difference between a computer with the vunerability and one without is one of the objects of the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE] key has "EnableDCOM"="Y" and the other "EnableDCOM"="N" ... how am I going to be able to check for that? There's two problems: the quotes themselves separate the one paramater into two, and then the equal sign does the same thing if somehow you manage to do something tricky with the quotes ... what is one to do? Anyone, anyone?

great info. you must be one of those wunderful people I was talkin 'bout

I'm stumped ... the only way to reliably confirm if someone has certain hotfixes applied is to see if the registry contains the key that every hotfix writes when it is installed. There's 5 or 6 giving me problems and it will be so much easier if I can just somehow ask the registry if a certain key is there. I am hoping to do this programatically, not by hand ... I just have no idea if this can be done or how to do it so I'm throwing it out there ... can it be done? should it be done? Should it be well-done, or medium-rare? All these questions and more, I have ... t'anks in advance, you'rall wunderful people ...