WindowsFWG 3.11 Question

[Mijzelf]

After the scans had run for a while on the 3.11's hard disk via the network, I noticed that the icons on my Win98FE tower's desktop had disappeared. The Quick Launch icons also went away, although the little squares where they sit would still rise if you put the cursor over them. The file and drive icons in Windows Explorer all disappeared, as did the icons that show next to the listings in Start --> Programs. Only the icons in the notification area stayed intact.

That sounds like a resource leak. I suppose that somehow the combination virusscanner/NetBEUI somehow leaks resources. In that case the problem is on the W98 side.

What kind of malware are you afraid of? I can hardly imagine a Wfw box can be infected through the internet these days. Malware uses browser bugs, and/or user bugs to install 32 bit software. But I don't think it will run on Wfw, even when it has win32s installed.

[JorgeA]

Just a passing thought,

F-Prot antivirus for Dos

is still available and the

signature files are kept

up to date.

http://www.f-prot.com/download/home_user/download_fpdos.html

Jake

Jake,

That's interesting! I had looked into F-Prot, and run into this page.

But if they are actually still keeping it up to date, that's great.

Thanks!

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

That sounds like a resource leak. I suppose that somehow the combination virusscanner/NetBEUI somehow leaks resources. In that case the problem is on the W98 side.

What kind of malware are you afraid of? I can hardly imagine a Wfw box can be infected through the internet these days. Malware uses browser bugs, and/or user bugs to install 32 bit software. But I don't think it will run on Wfw, even when it has win32s installed.

Mijzelf,

Let's hope you're right -- that would change the issue from truly worrisome to merely annoying. Can I assume that that's a problem I can let go, rather than having to do something about it?

I'm not concerned about any kind of malware in particular, it's just that the WfW served as my main PC into 2002 even as Internet threats continued to grow and I obliviously kept using it without any kind of protection. Now that I am bringing it back into action (and am a lot more savvy about these things), I'd like to make sure that it's clean and that it won't infect my other PCs through the network.

Going forward, the PC will go on the 'Net only occasionally to specific safe sites for security testing, and more often to report its distributed computing results. But it's interesting to learn that, as a 16-bit system, it might actually be less vulnerable out in cyberspace than my Win98 or even the Vista. FWIW, it does use Internet Explorer 3.0a. Am looking into getting a more recent IE for it.

I appreciate the insights, thank you!

--JorgeA

[herbalist]

The F-Prot for DOS download still works. It appears to have been last updated in 2006, but if you stopped using that PC in 2002, it should cover any thing that might be on it. If I remember right, you'll need 3 floppies for F-Prot.

[JorgeA]

The F-Prot for DOS download still works. It appears to have been last updated in 2006, but if you stopped using that PC in 2002, it should cover any thing that might be on it. If I remember right, you'll need 3 floppies for F-Prot.

Thanks herbalist, I'll go over there and get it!

--JorgeA

[toutounet]

F-PROT for DOS is here:

http://fprot.org/fr_english.php

latest update: 20.11.2008

[dencorso]

Welcome to MSFN, toutounet! And thanks!

[JorgeA]

After the scans had run for a while on the 3.11's hard disk via the network, I noticed that the icons on my Win98FE tower's desktop had disappeared. The Quick Launch icons also went away, although the little squares where they sit would still rise if you put the cursor over them. The file and drive icons in Windows Explorer all disappeared, as did the icons that show next to the listings in Start --> Programs. Only the icons in the notification area stayed intact.

That sounds like a resource leak. I suppose that somehow the combination virusscanner/NetBEUI somehow leaks resources. In that case the problem is on the W98 side.

...

Mijzelf,

I'm curious to find out what may have caused this weird behavior. Based on your hypothesis, I found this article which points to a utility that I might try. (See the second paragraph under "Tracking GDI resource leaks.") The link is dead and I haven't found any other working links to it, but -- in general, how does investigating along these lines sound to you?

Also, the list in Start --> Programs ended up rearranged. Had never happened before the icons got wiped out. Could the two be related?

Everybody else is also welcome to chime in with ideas on what may have been going on!

--JorgeA

[Mijzelf]

I'm curious to find out what may have caused this weird behavior. Based on your hypothesis, I found this article which points to a utility that I might try. (See the second paragraph under "Tracking GDI resource leaks.") The link is dead and I haven't found any other working links to it, but -- in general, how does investigating along these lines sound to you?

You always want to go to the bottom, don't you? When you stumble on a dead link, you can try the Wayback Machine, and, in this case, it worked.

In this case, I think you can determine *if* there is a resource leak, by using the resource meter tool, and scan again.

[JorgeA]

You always want to go to the bottom, don't you? When you stumble on a dead link, you can try the Wayback Machine, and, in this case, it worked.

In this case, I think you can determine *if* there is a resource leak, by using the resource meter tool, and scan again.

Mijzelf,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner -- I didn't get notification that there was a new reply waiting, and the forum traffic seems to have decreased (vacation season, no doubt), so I've been checking in less often.

Yup, I do like to try to get to understand things, if they're not too far beyond my technical ability. (And I'm willing to stretch my mind, but only so far at a time else it "breaks." )

I greatly appreciate the Wayback Machine link, and the info on the resource meter. I did have the resource meter installed; will repeat the scan of the WfW3.11 machine off the Win98 PC, and see what it has to say. Thanks for reminding me of it.

About the Wayback Machine -- is there an efficient way to use it? IMX it's a slow, laborious process that turns up something useful maybe 30% of the time. There must be a better method that I'm not aware of. Can you enter a (dead) link and search for the corresponding page in the archive? Otherwise it's been like looking for a needle in a haystack. (Admittedly I don't use it often, so I'm not all that familiar with its ins and outs.)

--JorgeA

[Mijzelf]

Yup, I do like to try to get to understand things

That's a good thing.

About the Wayback Machine -- is there an efficient way to use it?

The only way I'm aware of is just entering the url. When it doesn't exist TWM offers to search the whole domain, but that never gave me something useful.

Otherwise it's been like looking for a needle in a haystack.

150 billion pages

Given one piece of hay is about 1cm³, this would give a haystack of 150000m³. A very big haystack indeed. (Assuming it's an American billion. A European haystack would even be a thousand times bigger)

[Judge]

I remember the good old days as a crime scene. When the FPU had a flaw in its Maths chips, causing the games the crash.

URL

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/pentium/fdiv/wp/

When companies were installing DOS and WindowsFWG before "Windows 95 launch"

[jaclaz]

Can you enter a (dead) link and search for the corresponding page in the archive?

Sure, that's exactly how it works.

You go here:

http://www.archive.org/index.php

or here:

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

and input in the text box near the "take me back" button the dead link and press the button.

Then you need some fantasy, just as an example, try shortening the URL and adding a * (asterisk) at the end, like, say you want to find this:

http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/

you enter it in the search box and you get this:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/

from this you can explore and see if the page is complete, it has working links, etc.

But you can also "widen" the search like:

http://www.v72735.f2s.com/*

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.v72735.f2s.com/*

(sometimes things may have a different name, or have a copy renamed, you never know)

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Thanks, jaclaz. It does help if one knows the original URL. In the Wayback Machine searches that I've done over the years, the URL (even an approximate one) was simply unknown, so typing one in did not even enter into my thinking. As you can imagine, then, the work has been slow and tedious. As Mijzelf put it, a needle in a very big haystack.

--JorgeA