Drugwash

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.

Please try a real host, like http://uploaded.to/ or something. Maybe that way I could download it too. Thank you. [EDIT] Sorry, my IE seems to be FUBAR - I can't seem to download from that host either, although it used to work. Something is really FU here, and I need to fix it a.s.a.p. But I really dunno what to do first, it's driving me crazy.

To be honest, I never used any firewall or resident antivirus on my 98SE system, and I'm still alive and kickin'. No router or any other fancy stuff. The only protection I've ever used was Ad-Aware (1.06 R1 being the latest usable on Win9x) and Spyware Blaster, combined with occasional scans from Trend Micro's Sysclean Package (requires the pattern signature package), only when I suspected something fishy.

I wasn't only referring to KernelEx, but to other system upgrades, such as RichEdit, gdi.exe/gdi32.dll, user.exe/user32.dll, msvcp71.dll/msvcr71.dll (VC2003 runtime), msvcp80.dll/msvcr80.dll (VC2005 runtime that needs installation; doesn't work by only copying those 2 dlls to the %system% folder) and similar. Heck, some applications may not work (correctly) even if gdiplus.dll is missing. Not to mention others that depend on unicows.dll...

Dunno if I'll find the time to add useful apps to the list, however I'd like to mention that there are certain applications that do not work (at all, or work with limitations/errors/crashes/etc.) on a vanilla Win98SE, but they do work after system upgrades, provided by (un)official patches/packages; most important of them being KernelEx, which for example, allows me to run KMPlayer (which would otherwise throw a C++ error message box) and allows the use of Media library in QMP beta119. Considering this, it may be a good idea to compile a list of applications and their versions that would run on such a fully patched system, together with the required upgrades for each of them. That would be hard work, I know, but it has already been requested so many times in the KernelEx thread and I thought it might be the right time to start building such information now. OK, to contribute a little to this thread, I'll add a few apps that I use and think are noteworthy: - ONGD - SHAR - Total Commander --> http://www.ghisler.com - ONGD - FREE - SlimBrowser --> http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/ - LAST - FREE - JWPce 1.50 --> http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~grosenth/jwpce.html - ONGD - FREE/$$$$ - BSPlayer 2.x (Pro) --> http://www.bsplayer.com/en/bs.player/home/

Could someone repost the English package to a decent host that I can actually download from? I've had enough posting and reposting that that stupid RapidShare has something that always tells me I'm already downloading from my IP although I'm NOT. Thank you. Nevermind, I had a friend download it for me. Thanks anyway. (later edit) Thank you for the link below.

@ bristols: which version of usp10.dll do you have installed? I have 1.0471.4030.0, together with riched20.dll 5.30.23.1221 (I know about .1228 but dont' have it around) - the other richedit versions don't work correctly with SpellChecker in Miranda - and I have no such problem. Also, please specify which messaging plug-in you're using (SRMM, Scriver, tabSRMM, nConvers), and if that error comes up with any of the aforementioned (switch them in Options > Plugins, if you got them installed; make sure you install the appropriate, compatible versions).

Normally I'd agree, but personally I had some experience with a friend's system that I enhanced with 98SE2ME and the shutdown sequence is a bit confusing, because the machine is AT not ATX, hence it does not shutdown automatically. I had performed a few tweaks on that system, including deleting temporary files and such on shutdown, which creates certain HDD activity and when the logos are missing, the user is uncertain as to how long should they wait until pressing the Power button to actually shutdown the machine. I believe this is one situation when those logos (or at least logos.sys, the last one) do prove to be useful. Maybe anonymous or somebody else could tweak those system files to at least allow logos.sys to be displayed on shutdown.

Dunno about you guys, but I have a Flash version of 9.0.74 (not from Auto-Patcher) and the Toyota site opens up fine, with no errors, redirections or whatever. I'm using SlimBrowser 4.10.015 (latest build AFAIK), which is based on IE.