Drugwash

I wonder if you'd be interested in the DM2 project features...

Which version did you test? There's 0.7.3 stable release, 0.7.4 Release Candidate and 0.8.x alpha (development) series. Then, the behavior on incoming messages can be tweaked more or less, depending on the active messaging plug-in (SRMM, Scriver, tabSRMM, nConvers++). If you want the message window to automatically pop up when receiving a message, you'll have to go to Options > Message sessions (name may vary) > Messaging and mark 'Automatically pop up the window when' and the respective status modes (your status) when it should do that. This works for SRMM and Scriver. The other two have different GUIs, but options should be pretty much similar. If you join the forums and read/search around a bit, you'll find much more than you'll ever need to know.

One may use Syslog to track down system file changes.

Miranda works on Win95 to Vista. Most likely, your network configuration is special and Miranda needs to be manually configured to match it. Please go to Options > Network and set any proxy details if needed, then go to Options > Network > ICQ and make sure login server and port settings are correct. If for some reason the default port is blocked (by LAN admin, ISP or similar), try setting it to port 80. Also there's a Miranda plug-in for the meBeam video networking, which may fill in the gap in video conferencing (I'm not sure if it can do conferencing, but you may try it). There's also the MirandaComm2 plug-in that can do 1-on-1 audio-video chat with another Miranda user that also has that plug-in installed. Unfortunately, the Addons page is down currently, as well as the Wiki. For more details, you're welcome to join the Miranda forums, which are operational currently. (apologies for going slightly off-topic) May I suggest FastStone Image Viewer for image viewing/editing? Works just fine here. And FlashGet as download manager, Screamer Radio for on-line radio (although there's a Miranda plug-in for that too ).

Fastest and best is common-sense. You may run an on-demand antivirus scanner whenever you think there might be a risk, otherwise just 'watch your step'.

The only thing that puzzles me while passing by this thread is why would this release be called 'December' when we're already almost one week into February... Oh and another question that just popped in my mind: approximately how many reboots would AP perform on a vanilla 98SE? Attached to my testing machine (166MHz CPU, 32MB RAM) I got a defective monitor that after a few hours of usage, once gone into off mode (temporarily during a reboot or low power mode) it will stay that way, unless powered off for minutes to hours.

2. SlimBrowser 3. GOM Player Instead of WebICQ you may wanna try Miranda IM (see my signature) - in a few days, as the main server is down currently.

Looks like someone didn't read carefully my earlier post regarding dependency chains. Some files needs a thorough check for both 'less than' and 'higher than' in terms of version number. And it's compulsory to know which goes with what. A complete scheme of interdependency between packages as well as interdependency between individual files, based on versions. It's a heavy job.

Thanks but it's not security that I care about but more like compatibility with applications. If apps are gonna crash or misbehave because of some package, then I'd rather have an older version of it or none at all. I might try it at some point though - just not right now.

Nope, that was 6u3 that I had at the time. I'd rather wait for other opinions before I decide what to do, as I'm already after a bad (unrelated) experience yesterday that could've gone VERY wrong and I'm trying to avoid a heart attack.

Actually I have one minor problem, but I have no idea who's at fault: all DVDs are shown as having a 2GB capacity, although they've been burned at full capacity. Everything else works. DVD unit is a Samsung SH-S182D. I've had a CD unit Plextor PX-54TA before (and at the same time with the DVD, for a short time) and had no problems with it at all. About MSXML, looking in the System folder I only found MSXML 3 SP7 files but there's no uninstall entry for such package in Add/Remove. I'm not playing any games on this machine so I'm reluctant to installing the recommended MSXML4 just for kicks. Now, since I'm still here, apologies but I'm gonna go slightly off-topic: does anyone know of a fix when some applications can't recognize folder names that contain dots (such as Folder.name.dat)? In Explorer can only be seen as Folder.name (everything after last dot is considered as extension) and some apps fail to read files in such folders.

I wonder what's the problem with ASPI 4.71.2... I just checked my system with Nero Info Tool and says everything's OK. Both wnaspi32.dll and apix.vxd are 4.71 (0002) from July 17, 2002. What is it that I should check, to see if there's any problem with it? As for MSXML, what's it useful for? Any examples? I completely removed any trace of MSXML in Add/Remove and I have no idea if there's any other version left around.

Has anyone tried to edit their MySpace account profile under Win98SE, having Java 6 installed and set as default? I've had trouble seeing some of the applets (color pickers, sliders, etc) as well as CPU usage to 100% (400MHz Pentium II, 256 MB PC133 RAM). I had to uninstall it. Could anyone else confirm (or not) this behavior?

A few days ago I have tried to install ffdshow-rev1803_20080120.zip and ffdshow-rev1805_20080122.zip (MMX version) and they both threw an error stating 'The setup files are corrupted...". I downloaded again from the mirror provided by free-codecs.com and still the same error. However, an older build I had around (ffdshow_beta4a_rev1723_20071224_clsid.exe) installed succesfully, but I experience very frequent image lockups (on a 400MHz Pentium II with 256 MB PC133 SDRAM and GeForce4 Ti4200 VTD8X 128MB). Could anyone else confirm these issues?

@ niknak: the setting referred to by soporific is usually called 'AGP aperture size'. If you have an AWARD BIOS, you may try to press CTRL + F1 once in the main BIOS screen - it offers advanced options. However, the aforementioned option should be a standard one, so chances to find it using that trick are slim. Worth trying, though. @ soporific: a few months ago, I was banging my head on the walls because Yahoo Messenger 8.x was crashing while trying to listen to voice messages. After uninstalling a sh!tload of applications, I found the culprit as being MSXML 4.0. Dunno which version it was, as I've been performing bulk uninstalls at the time, trying to fix the issue. I was just thinking if anyone could test the current MSXML version included with Auto-Patcher against Y!M 8.0 and/or Y!M 8.1. On another note: any news on the GUI?

Could you please post some detailed information about your hardware? I have a feeling such errors only come from OEM hardware such as Dell, Compaq, IBM, Fujitsu-Siemens, etc. I may always be wrong though...

Could you perform a feature comparison between AnVir Task Manager Free and Codestudd Starter, and point out the differences - at least the ones that matter? I found the former to be very slow on my 400MHz Pentium II (probably because of the skin, for one), while the latter is extremely easy on the system. And seeing that soporific already grabbed the former and tossed it in Auto-Updater, if I wanted to update Win98SE on my testing 166MHz Pentium I, I'd certainly wanna have at hand a tool that'd actually work on such system.

Another one of those stupid applications which ignore the function that the [X] in the corner was designed for: CLOSE the application. And... 'upgrade to Pro if you want <this> or <that>'? C'mon... It's resources usage is ridiculous as its system requirements are. Codestuff Starter does almost the same job and runs fine on a 200MHz Pentium.

Here's how I'd do the whole thing, if I had the needed ingredients (brains, time, knowledge, will, available hardware, etc): - grab all available individual updates - no super/ultra/mega packs; individual updates are easier to manipulate when updating/unpacking/extracting/etc. - process each and every individual package and define a chain of component dependencies, based on version numbers (is that MS cumulative update rule still true?) - based on user choice, extract only necessary elements from chosen packages, always the highest file version of each - create current dependency chain and if any incompatibility found, mark respective chain as incompatible, try to find alternatives and notify the user of the incompatibility and any alternatives found - final step - actual system patching - could be done the usual way (replace whatever possible and leave the rest for next run after reboot) or - as some other app did long ago (can't remember which one) - forcibly unload each and every running application and module (including and especially explorer.exe), unregister modules, upgrade them, (re)register needed modules and relaunch explorer. You may have a look at nopey's command line parameters - could come in handy at some point, who knows... P.S. Happy New Year! I'm still lurking around but not feeling in shape to embark myself on this endeavour yet.

Or if you have the FileInfo plug-in installed in Total Commander, you can see everything you need to know (and more ):

OK, as I voted for a combination, I should also explain a bit. First off, I'm using Win98SE (with lots of official/unofficial/manual upgrades). In time, I've had a few light infections, mostly at the beginning of my Internet adventure. Then, I got a good hang of the common sense, although still surfing dangerous places. But... at one point I stumbled into Ad-Aware, which started showing me the mistakes I've made and their results. After that, I also stumbled into Spyware Blaster. Both of those tools - the latter preventing malware installation and the former cleaning up whatever managed to slip in - helped me keep my system sane. Few years ago I also found HijackThis, who introduced me to the world of deeply buried registry keys; not much of a news, though, as I was already using Mike Lin's StartupCPL and Codestuff's Starter to check on autorun items - much better than msconfig, in my opinion. And talking about autorun, a few lines in autoexec.bat also help me keep the system clean and prevent any malware stored in Temporary Internet Files or Temp from running, at boot time or whenever: @deltree /y c:\windows\cookies @deltree /y c:\windows\history @deltree /y c:\windows\tempor~1 @deltree /y c:\windows\temp @md c:\windows\temp Another tool I used to use quite often back then, was Trend Micro's Damage Cleanup Engine AKA sysclean. I still regularly update it together with the virus signature file, but I very rarely run it, lately. Same goes for Ad-Aware - last working version for Win9x being 1.06R1 - and Spyware Blaster. Just because I haven't had an infection in years on my system (not counting a trojan found in a screensaver, while running Win2003Server last year). My browser of choice is SlimBrowser, IE-based. Some useful features (auto-logins, batch start, etc) combined with popup blocker, in-page filters and many others has made me keep it as a must-have, for years. No firewall and no real-time antivirus. I just don't need any, and it would only kill the scarce resources I have (Pentium II @ 400MHz, 256MB PC133 SDRAM, MSI GeForce4 Ti4200 running in Dual-View mode). The best advice I can offer is: always know what's running on your machine. Regularly check startup items, services, run a rootkit revealer, look in the processes list (Task Manager or Codestuff Starter) for any unknown/suspect process and look it up on Google... Oh and never install ANY nicely offered free toolbar. Be the master of your system - don't let it own you!

Can you also find a list of hardware manufacturers that still provide Win9x drivers for their products? Don't bother with Lexmark and Hewlett-Packard - I've been there searching for Win98SE drivers for X1100 all-in-one series and Deskjet D1460 printer, respectively, and all I got was "there are drivers only for these operating systems; don't search for any others: Win2000/XP/Vista, MacOS, Linux". X1100 driver CD does have Win9x drivers included, however D1460's only has XP/Vista drivers. I have a very, very bad feeling about this.

ONGD - FREE - SymmTime (Time synchronization and multiple timezones display) *Note: the application is advertised as only working on NT4/2000/2003/XP, however I have it up and running without a glitch on my Win98SE. Please keep in mind though, that my system is manually upgraded and running on KernelEx (0.3.2a at the moment of posting). Anyone able to test it on a vanilla Win98SE, please do and report the result. Unfortunately, currently I do not have this possibility. ONGD - FREE - GOM player (Media player - can play SWF, FLV and other files, with its own codecs)

Grazie tanto, Max! This one was a killer regarding adverts, but at least I could download the file.

I wonder how long do I have to wait until this version makes it to http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php, considering you know very well I can't download anything from rapidsh!t.