Molecule

You'll know I'm clueless from my question ... what is the "Semprom effect?" Also, I was looking at some of the "last of the best" mobos (-- the "MACH SPEED Viper939AGP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail" mentioned by krick, looks interesting for example--) some call for a "24-pin" powersupply -- Q>Will my existing Enermax 460w "EG465P-VE FC" PS drive a mobo with a 24-pin powerconnector? I installed my Enermax in a "standard" 4-half bay ATX case-and it's a great power supply (--and it made my computer run twice as fast --lol-- at least, it seemed that way because the old powersupply was so underpowered on the +12v side that I lost stability--I found out that sometimes, the dreated bsod can mean inadequate powersupply) --- also, the following is a comment taken from a newegg comment ... any chance anyone might be able to explain an interupt table ... I understand IRQs, from my old dos days, but I've never had a handle on the four Int-A,B,C and D channels (I'll be closing down one moboUART, using agp (?int-A&B), onboard sound(?int-B), onboard lan(int-?), and adding a scsi-2940) This is a very helpful thread for old foggies like me, as 98 will definitely be my last MS system. Also, as a lowend video, I was looking at a "MSI Geforce MX4000 MX4000-T64 Low Profile Video Card - Retail" -- any thougnts? It looked like it might be simpler and have lower power demands (and temps) than some of the gamer cards. (I'm not a gamer, so lowend power, w98 generic, and stability are more important to me than ... getting sexed by bill gates' latest effect.)

What's the best way to manage file associations? The w98se method of File Explorer>Tools>Folder Options>File Types> etc. is so obfuscatatory and clutzie it has to be intentional -grrr If I could (??) I'd like to setup the few file associations I know I want, to just handle a few proggies, and remove all the remaining MIMEs ... My main proggies are File Management (zips, cabs, rars, etc.) Office (wordprocessing, spreadsheet, etc.) Internet (browser and email) Graphics (image editors) Audio (recorders, players, editors) OCR (images to text) On my recent reinstall, there are a lot of MIME types listed which I've never even heard of, let alone use (that I know of). If it's possible, I'd just as soon not have strange file types associated with any executables. (If I want to get at a file type which is not "associated" then I'll just have to open that file from inside a program which I launch ...) Just out of curiosity, here is the [Hkey_Classes_Root] key, which is apparently where associations are stored (just the first and second associations shown, for [*] and for [.386]). Anyone have an idea of what this [*] MIME-type file association does? Thanks ... REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\{3EA48300-8CF6-101B-84FB-666CCB9BCD32}] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\CryptoSignMenu] @="{7444C719-39BF-11D1-8CD9-00C04FC29D45}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\BriefcasePage] @="{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\{B95057E0-44DB-11CE-A5D1-00608C83BD3F}] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\BriefcaseMenu] @="{85BBD920-42A0-1069-A2E4-08002B30309D}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\7-Zip] @="{23170F69-40C1-278A-1000-000100020000}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\QuickViewPlusMenu] @="{F0F08737-0C36-101B-B086-0020AF07D0F4}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PowerDesk Menu] @="{26E7F081-EB97-11d3-9239-006008D2D00F}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\WinZip] @="{E0D79304-84BE-11CE-9641-444553540000}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Norton WipeInfo] @="{30424D42-5946-11D2-B8E5-006097C9C6FF}" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{B95057E0-44DB-11CE-A5D1-00608C83BD3F}] @="" REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.386] @="vxdfile"

IMHO this mindows idea is an interesting and important project ... My most recent crash to wit, I now regret not "sticking it out" to build a small bootdisk (zip, usb, cd, etc.) with a meaningful set of LFN-vfat utilities, to save files on a good hdd lying behing a frozen gui In the hope that it may help someone, who will already be way ahead of me in finding out exactly which files are needed ... I'm posting a rather long dirprint, listing the files on an old "rescue disk" (quote unquote) which was created by Norton System Works 2001. (Norton's SW 2003 downgraded the option to build a zip disk...) Since I can't upload a 23k zip here for those who want it, so I'll try a cut and paste into a '"code" box, but the text length is roughly 130k. For those who don't need it, sorry for the long scroll. ==== >this is a directory listing of an old bootable w98se Iomega Zip100 > it was first created as a "Rescue Disk" when I installed Norton Utilities from System Works 2001 ---- >in this example the zip100 is a std scsizip device on an adaptec 2940 >it is assigned to the letter "X:" >a zip100 is bootable (recognized as HDD-0) if mobo bios is set to boot from scsi device >in scsi bios setup, tag zip drive as bootdrive and set "treat removable media as fixed" ---- >I'm sure there's *alot* of fat in build which could be trimmed out, like the ancient antivirus etc. >if this might help "find that one file" they need, then great ... if not, please ignore ... >eventually, I hope to build a w98se zip100 disk installed with a basic set of management utils: > disk & memory editor, hex editor, partitionmagic, defragger, file manager w/ viewers + pdf, text editor >every system should have one! ---- autoexec.bat, msdos.sys etc, below. config.sys = nul ==== Directory of: X:\*.* 12/11/2005 12:18am Sorted by Long Name Levels: All Date: Modified X:\ {D0A57~1 {D0A57965-B71A-4A35-8D1E-E2EB75B7E7A2} 0 12/10/2005 10:38pm HA AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAT 5,850 12/10/2005 10:28pm A AUTOEXEC.SAV AUTOEXEC.SAV 0 12/07/2005 10:37pm A BOOTINFO.DAT BOOTINFO.DAT 223,232 12/10/2005 10:28pm A CATALOG.DAT catalog.dat 966 07/13/2000 1:00am CHOICE.COM CHOICE.COM 12,193 08/28/2000 7:15pm A CONFIG.SAV CONFIG.SAV 0 12/07/2005 10:37pm A DIRPRINT.TXT DirPrint.txt 0 12/11/2005 12:18am A EXCLUDE.LST EXCLUDE.LST 215 12/10/2005 10:28pm A IO.SYS IO.SYS 222,670 12/01/2001 9:37am RHS LOGO.SYS LOGO.SYS 129,078 08/28/2000 7:14pm A MSDOS.SAV MSDOS.SAV 1,676 12/07/2005 9:07pm RHSA MSDOS.SYS MSDOS.SYS 1,111 12/10/2005 10:37pm A N32DLIST.DLL N32DList.dll 126,976 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Drive List - 14.00.0.28 N32USERL.DLL N32USERL.DLL 40,960 12/10/2005 9:33pm A Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28 NAVDEF32.DLL NAVDEF32.DLL 78,336 08/28/2000 7:15pm A Symantec Corporation - Norton AntiVirus SDK Technology - 3.1.0.8 NAVENG32.DLL NAVENG32.DLL 142,336 07/13/2000 1:00am NAVEX32A.DLL NAVEX32A.DLL 560,128 07/13/2000 1:00am NAVSDK.VXD NAVSDK.VXD 6,894 08/28/2000 7:15pm A NAVSDR32.DLL NAVSDR32.DLL 288,256 08/28/2000 7:15pm A Symantec Corporation - Norton AntiVirus SDK Technology - 3.1.0.8 NCSACERT.TXT ncsacert.txt 6,479 07/13/2000 1:00am NDD32.HLP NDD32.hlp 66,227 08/27/2000 5:00am A NDDENG.DLL NDDEng.dll 487,424 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Disk Doctor - 14.00.0.28 NU.CNT NU.CNT 56,899 12/10/2005 9:34pm A NUABOUT.DLL NUAbout.dll 110,592 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28 NUGLOSS.HLP NUGLOSS.HLP 153,612 08/27/2000 5:00am A NUINTRO.DLL NUIntro.dll 798,720 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28 NUMISC.DLL NUMisc.dll 45,056 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28 NURESC.DLL NUResc.DLL 122,880 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Plugin - 14.10.0.84 NUSPLASH.DLL NUSplash.dll 135,168 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28 NZRNDD32.EXE NZRNDD32.EXE 389,120 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Shared Component - 14.00.0.28 NZRUE32.EXE NZRUE32.EXE 507,904 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton Unerase Wizard - 14.00.0.28 PARTINFO.DAT PARTINFO.DAT 10,240 12/10/2005 10:28pm A RESCUE.DLL Rescue.DLL 663,552 08/28/2000 7:42pm A Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Core Engine - 14.20.0.88 RESCUE32.GID RESCUE32.GID 16,826 12/10/2005 10:53pm HA RESCUE32.HLP Rescue32.hlp 58,647 08/28/2000 7:15pm A RNAVOEM.DLL RNavOem.DLL 102,490 08/28/2000 7:41pm A Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Virus Scanning Library - 14.20.0.88 S32DMAPL.DLL S32DMapL.dll 40,960 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Drive Map Library - 14.00.0.28 S32FATL.DLL S32FatL.dll 99,840 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Utility API Library - 20.0.0.181 S32GUIL.DLL S32GUIL.dll 397,312 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Custom Control Library - 20.0.0.181 S32KRNLL.DLL S32KrnlL.dll 207,360 08/28/2000 7:14pm A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel API Library - 20.0.0.181 S32MAILL.DLL S32MailL.dll 11,264 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Mail API Module - 20.0.0.181 S32NPTL.DLL S32NPTL.dll 43,520 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Print Library - 20.0.0.181 S32UTILL.DLL S32UtilL.dll 107,520 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Utility API Library - 20.0.0.181 SYMKRNLL.DLL SymKrnlL.dll 146,448 08/28/2000 7:14pm A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel API Library - 20.0.0.181 SYMKRNLL.VXD SymKrnlL.VxD 14,738 08/28/2000 7:14pm A SYSINI.SAV SYSINI.SAV 1,878 12/10/2005 9:37pm A TECHNOTE.TXT technote.txt 5,232 07/13/2000 1:00am TKKE16L.DLL TKKE16L.dll 5,664 08/28/2000 7:14pm A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel Thunk Library - 20.0.0.181 TKKE32L.DLL TKKE32L.dll 26,112 08/28/2000 7:14pm A Symantec Corporation - Symantec Kernel Thunk Library - 20.0.0.181 TROUBLE.TXT TROUBLE.TXT 18,779 08/28/2000 7:15pm A UE32.HLP UE32.hlp 51,429 08/27/2000 5:00am A UEBMP32.DLL UEBMP32.DLL 200,704 08/27/2000 5:00am A Symantec Corporation - Norton UnErase Wizard Bitmaps - 14.00.0.28 VIEW.COM VIEW.COM 174 08/28/2000 7:15pm A VIRSCAN.INF virscan.inf 354,612 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN1.DAT virscan1.dat 515,130 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN2.DAT virscan2.dat 163,996 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN3.DAT virscan3.dat 117,500 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN4.DAT virscan4.dat 284,785 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN5.DAT virscan5.dat 70,122 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN6.DAT virscan6.dat 239,395 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN7.DAT virscan7.dat 142,407 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN8.DAT virscan8.dat 332,480 07/13/2000 1:00am VIRSCAN9.DAT virscan9.dat 148,343 07/13/2000 1:00am VXDPATHS.LST VXDPATHS.LST 92 12/10/2005 10:28pm A ZDONE.DAT zdone.dat 224 07/13/2000 1:00am ZIPRECVR.EXE ZIPRECVR.EXE 532,480 08/28/2000 7:44pm A Symantec Corporation - Rescue Disk Recovery Wizard - 14.20.0.88 67 files; 9,853,213 bytes X:\WINDOWS $1948B7C.WPX $1948b7c.wpx 7,668 12/10/2005 5:01pm A ASPI2HLP.SYS ASPI2HLP.SYS 1,105 04/23/1999 10:22pm A BOOTGOOD.TXT BOOTGOOD.TXT 1 12/10/2005 10:47pm A CLEANMGR.EXE cleanmgr.exe 131,072 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Disk Space Cleanup Manager for Windows - 4.10.1693 CMD640X.SYS CMD640X.SYS 24,626 04/23/1999 10:22pm A CMD640X2.SYS CMD640X2.SYS 20,901 04/23/1999 10:22pm A COMMAND.COM COMMAND.COM 93,890 04/23/1999 10:22pm A CONTROL.INI CONTROL.INI 892 12/10/2005 9:33pm A CPUID.EXE CPUID.EXE 11,483 08/28/2000 7:15pm A DBLBUFF.SYS DBLBUFF.SYS 2,614 04/23/1999 10:22pm A EXPLORER.EXE EXPLORER.EXE 171,280 08/20/1999 12:58am A Microsoft Corporation - Windows Explorer - 4.72.3612.1700 EXTRAC32.EXE EXTRAC32.EXE 45,568 04/18/2005 5:41pm A Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft® CAB File Extract Utility - 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) HH.EXE HH.EXE 10,752 04/13/2005 5:06pm A Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft® HTML Help Executable - 5.2.3790.309 (srv03_gdr.050413-1540) HIMEM.SYS HIMEM.SYS 33,191 04/23/1999 10:22pm A HTMLHELP.INI HTMLHELP.INI 3,598 04/23/1999 10:22pm A IFSHLP.SYS IFSHLP.SYS 3,708 04/23/1999 10:22pm A IOS.INI IOS.INI 12,633 12/10/2005 10:28pm A IPCONFIG.EXE ipconfig.exe 53,248 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - TCP/IP Configuration Utility - 4.10.1998 ISUNINST.EXE isuninst.exe 306,688 10/29/1998 4:45pm A InstallShield Software Corporation - InstallShield® unInstaller - 5, 51, 138, 0 JVIEW.EXE JVIEW.EXE 180,224 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft® VM Command Line Interpreter - 5.00.3167 LOGOS.SYS LOGOS.SYS 129,078 08/28/2000 7:14pm A LOGOW.SYS LOGOW.SYS 129,076 08/28/2000 7:14pm A MORICONS.DLL MORICONS.DLL 84,416 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Icons for application shortcuts - 4.10.1998 NDDEAPI.DLL NDDEAPI.DLL 14,032 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Windows for Workgroups DDE Share Interface - 4.10.1998 NDDENB.DLL NDDENB.DLL 10,976 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Windows Network DDE Netbios interface - 4.10.1998 NDISHLP.SYS ndishlp.sys 6,140 04/23/1999 10:22pm A NDISLOG.TXT NDISLOG.TXT 0 12/10/2005 10:45pm A NETDDE.EXE NETDDE.EXE 56,880 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Microsoft Windows Network DDE - 4.10.1998 NETDET.INI NETDET.INI 7,885 04/23/1999 10:22pm A NETSTAT.EXE netstat.exe 32,768 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - TCP/IP Netstat Command - 5.00.1515.1 NOTEPAD.EXE NOTEPAD.EXE 95,744 05/12/2002 10:50pm A NZRBUILD.VXD NZRBUILD.VXD 115,935 08/28/2000 7:44pm A POWERPNT.INI powerpnt.ini 60 12/10/2005 10:46pm A PROTOCOL.INI PROTOCOL.INI 264 12/10/2005 12:49am A QTW.INI QTW.INI 28 12/07/2005 9:06pm A QVPHOOK.DLL QVPHOOK.DLL 45,056 05/26/2000 6:01am A Inso Corporation - QVPHOOK.DLL Shell Execute Hook - 6.0.1.1 [May.26.2000] ROUTE.EXE route.exe 32,768 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - TCP/IP Route Command - 5.00.1553.1 RSCW16.BMP RscW16.bmp 43,818 08/28/2000 7:15pm A RSCW256.BMP RscW256.bmp 86,388 08/28/2000 7:15pm A RSCWALL.BMP RSCWALL.BMP 86,388 08/28/2000 7:15pm A RUNDLL.EXE RUNDLL.EXE 4,960 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Run a DLL as an App - 4.10.1998 RUNDLL32.EXE RUNDLL32.EXE 24,576 04/23/1999 10:22pm A Microsoft Corporation - Run a DLL as an App - 4.10.1998 SETVER.EXE setver.exe 18,939 12/07/2005 9:06pm A SHELLI~1 ShellIconCache 500,000 12/10/2005 10:55pm H SYSTEM.CB SYSTEM.CB 174 12/08/2005 5:12pm A SYSTEM.DAT System.Dat 3,924,000 12/10/2005 10:55pm RH SYSTEM.INI SYSTEM.INI

Notepad2 does search-and-replace with regular expressions ... an *indespensible* requirement for a text editor IMHO (in fact, for any editor ... )

MDGx ... I was getting ready to try your No.1 option (err...no.2 option, just basics) and I was wondering if I need to retain directory structure of the ME cabs, or can I just dump them all into one flat dir ... (quote display drops tabs ... so use code ... ) Directory of: MEupgrade>Z:\*.cab Z:\add-ons\Tsclient\icaclnt\ica32 _sys1.cab _user1.cab data1.cab data2.cab 4 files; 2,324,413 bytes Z:\drivers\Modem\IBM\Disk1 manager.cab win.cab winsys.cab winsys32.cab 4 files; 633,547 bytes Z:\drivers\Modem\IBM\Disk2 modem.cab 1 file; 1,143,570 bytes Z:\win9x BASE2.CAB CATALOG.CAB DRIVER5.CAB DRIVER6.CAB DRIVER7.CAB mini.cab NET3.CAB NET4.CAB PRECOPY1.CAB WIN_10.CAB WIN_11.CAB WIN_12.CAB WIN_13.CAB WIN_14.CAB WIN_15.CAB WIN_16.CAB WIN_17.CAB WIN_18.CAB WIN_19.CAB WIN_20.CAB WIN_21.CAB WIN_22.CAB WIN_8.CAB WIN_9.CAB WIN_OL.CAB 25 files; 147,135,456 bytes Total: 4 directories; 34 files; 151,236,992 bytes thanks,

Any chance anyone might know ... after a fresh install of w98se on a new LBA hdd (formatted with only 1 partition, an 8G primary in the front for the system), and, after the unofficial SP2 has been installed, then (a) how much of a large LBA HDD can I open up behind the primary partition, after the 98se system has been updated by SP2? (B) within the LBA boundary, is there any limit to the interior partition sizes--would 20G data partitions be ok with w98seSP2? of course, that assumes I can fresh install to an LBA HDD in the first place ... my Asus 2001 bios seems to recognize a new 120G Maxtor PATA correctly as LBA, so can I use that HDD for a fresh install of w98se onto an 8G primary in anticipation of update to SP2? (The rest of the HDD would be temporarily blank during the install, or would be filled with temporarily hidden 20G extended partitions)? I seem to remember a confusing array of HDD boundary problems for 98se, at 64G, at 80G, and at 137G ... --for example, t the original Scandisk that Setup automatically runs, didn't it have an ?-80G boundary-? I'm pretty sure it doesn't work with Int13h HDDs, and it tries to work with the old CHS. Worse, if you run the 98 setup without the turnoff switch, (/im? /ie?) Setup's scandisk.ini launches scandisk with about the meanest set of parameters I could imagine--it's set to automatically "fix-everything-now; ask-no-questions and give-no-reprieve"--which then screws up any existing data on the back partitions of an LBA HDD, if they are left exposed and you forget to set the off switch. (use setup /?) --Then, I was looking at the SPupdate.inf, and I see that fdisk is one of the first things fixed. The original 98fdisk reportedly screwed things up at a 64G boundary. Of course it probably isn't used to format a new LBA HDD, but it may indicate other internal io.sys parameters for 98se and large HDDs??? Thanks

Awesome - thanks eidenk! Problem solved ... turned off the fast shutdown key in registry. The threads seemed to suggest a hardware conflict, and so at first that frightened me. I thought maybe my mobo bios was not IDing a 120G swappable hdd I just added, or that maybe the scsi bios (adaptec 2940 for zip100 when booting from it, scsi cds controlled from w98se) had a memory conflict with something deep like that ( ... I gave up playing around with trying to install w98 with 98lite (v47pro) on a zip ... I had somehow done it long ago, just by pure clueless hacking and hacking ... but now I can't remember how I did it - and naturally, I had left the scsi bios loading but with no disk in drive) or that I had forgotten to turn off native version of scandisk during a w98 setup, since I have large drives in the system, or that I had used dos16 file utilities on lfn vfats, all of which were things that I had done recently, which MS apparently identified can cause this problem ?? -- so I was getting pretty scared there ... but it turns out the registry key fixed the *symptom just fine ... now let's hope everything else works. Any chance you might know if the rundll32 link in my registry "Run" folder looks fishy? REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] "TaskMonitor"="C:\\WINDOWS\\taskmon.exe" "SystemTray"="SysTray.Exe" "Microsoft IntelliType Pro"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Hardware\\Keyboard\\speedkey.exe\"" "Adaptec DirectCD"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\ADAPTEC\\DIRECTCD\\DIRECTCD.EXE" "TotalRecorderScheduler"="\"C:\\Program Files\\HighCriteria\\TotalRecorder\\TotRecSched.exe\"" "LoadPowerProfile"="Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme" "ScanRegistry"="C:\\WINDOWS\\scanregw.exe /autorun" "WRBICON"="C:\\Program Files\\Datapol\\WinRollBack\\WRBIcon.EXE" "AVG7_CC"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\GRISOFT\\AVGFRE~1\\AVGCC.EXE /STARTUP" "AVG7_AMSVR"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\GRISOFT\\AVGFRE~1\\AVGAMSVR.EXE" "AVG7_EMC"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\GRISOFT\\AVGFRE~1\\AVGEMC.EXE" ;c:\windows\system\ ;POWER.DRV 1,920 04/23/1999 ;POWERCFG.CPL 51,984 04/26/1999 ;POWEROLD.DLL 57,344 04/26/1999 ;POWRPROF.DLL 24,576 04/26/1999 <-does this one look right: it uses rundll32?

I must have clicked in something from somewhere ... from slowness of modem and from lag in keyboard, it was obvious I had a spyware or DOS virus or something, but I can't seem to get rid of it ... (spybot latest and avg latest don't pick it up) ... so to circumvent it on my own, I shutdown, booted to a 144-dos and did a scanreg /restore to ring in an old registry. Runtime and keyboard response and display of desktop icons were almost back to normal, but now, when I try to shutdown, my box just reboots itself perpetually ... shutdown == auto-reboot again. I have to pull the plug in the middle of the bios post routine to shutdown. Anyone have an idea how I might search my registry to find the command that is rerouting my shutdown? (Or, if this isn't the right forum, please advise...)

this has probably been thought of before, but can't hurt to jump in to reduce the hit on your bandwidth allowance, why not submit a download list of files which can be downloaded from their origination points (MS, and etc.), prior to install. This places bandwidth demand for "outside files" on their source originator (no reason for you to take a bandwidth hit for retransfers of MS's files) ... give instructions for setting up the local directory for the install program. Prior to running, your install would do run through the "if exists" or whatever, and let her rip ...

would there be even a minor security advantage to having a dual boot setup, using (a) an "out of date" 98se-FAT32 partition for browsing (which inherently, e.g. without modification, cannot anticipate let alone read or write on a NTFS partition), and (B) a w2k-NTFS partition for personal work? the 98se-FAT partition would have only a browser installed, with no or deceptive personal information, and even if "uncle bill" grabs the "root" he is limited to the 98-FAT partition you voluntarily give up to him -- OTOH, when the w2k user logs on, he could see the FAT partition, so he or she could access any downloaded files etc (but not vice versa, absent hassles by an attacker) then again, *if* a hacker figured out that there was a silent NTFS partition lurking behind the FAT, he might find it easier to attack a NTFS partition from the 98 platform, because the w2k system which would normally protect it, wouldn't be running ... ??

I'm asocial and a computer newbie, so please overlook any equiticual flaws ... does anyone know if I use 98se2Me -- I might also be able to try out the newer MS device drivers, for newer devices, found in ME? here's my planned re-install sequence <reformat> HDD <backup> current drives and disconnect swappable HDDs (2) <flash> upgrade bios (new bios is supposed to fix unnecessary chunking at an empty A-drive) <turn off> power mgmt options in new bios <check> bios is ok <unplug> "non-core" devices (nic, scsi card, scsi zip, scsi scanner, modem, soundcard, printer) <retain> "core" devices (mobo, kb, vid, mon, scsi card, scsi cdrom) <install> new HDD as primary master <install> Win98se from upgrade (retail) CD < ?? > for the first part of the re-install phase, select generic w98 drivers for generic "core" devices -- Is this ok? Can I hold off on final installation of devices and selection of drivers until the ME drivers might be available, if they ever are? <install>98reskit, ie6sp1, ieak6sp1 <then>directx90c and wmp9 <then>core utilities <then>98seSP202 and 98se2me <plugin> "non-core" devices, selecting newest drivers -- including Me drivers if accessible < ?? > is there any way I can load the Me device drivers (running on the 98 core)? <then>setup policies <then>install progs, etc. Any thoughts? Thanks.