Auto-Patcher For Windows 98se (English)

[soporific]

re: GUI is coming long term. It involves me clearing the decks enough so i can concentrate on learning the syntax of C++, it won't be anytime soon though. If anyone knows of any crash course sites or the like, please PM me.

Issues:

* MSXML 4.0 -- this should be fixed, uninstall any version later than kb927978, and then install kb927978. RetroOS is the man to turn to for identifying which MSXML we should be using.

* InfraRecorder update section gave an 'access denied' error when trying to remove the old version.

- anyone else get this?

- RetroOS, was the old version installed by AP? If not, that makes sense.

* The Twain update looped

- this should have been fixed in RC2. Can anyone see if they can get it to loop again? Cheers!

* The 48BitLBA update looped

- i can't replicate this problem - however i've changed the INF, hopefully this will fix the problem

* SYSTEM.ini tweaks

- "The SYSTEM.ini tweaks menu option gave me an 'out of environment space' error and went back to the main menu. When I freed up some environment space to work around the error, it correctly detected my RAM as 1.5GB, but used the wrong formula to calculate. It set MaxFileCache to 262144 which would have killed Windows! - my current (maximum) setting is 114688. Probably because of this the Chunksize was set as 2048. I use 1024. When I selected current SYSTEM.INI settings, the Chunksize, MinFileCache, and MaxFileCache did not match my current settings"

- i will investigate this

* There is something wrong with the Visual Basic menu... There is no official VB6 entry and yet I get this in the log

- I moved the official VB6 to the Stability Hotfixes module for 2 reasons:

-- 1, It's not optional anymore as virtually everyone will get the superseded message. The only reason it will get installed is if you are using AP on a newly installed OS, or you actually don't have VB6 on your system. Who doesn't need VB6? Is there any good reason not to install it?

-- 2, by moving it out of the VB module we save having to reboot twice when using this module.

* BROWSEUI.DLL 6.0.2800.1915 from kb942615 kills my Windows Explorer (failure in EXPLORER.EXE), the catch is that I have EXPLORER.EXE 5.50.4134.100 from Revolutions Pack 7.11.

- i will revert back to kb939653, problem solved. I'll put a note on my updates list about this. Thanks for being such a useful beta tester.

* (wouldn't it be good to include the) "windows 2000 color scheme" ... I am soo sick of this default gray scheme that 98SE comes with

- i'll add it to the tweaks

* have you looked at ASPI Layer 4.71.2?

- yes i have and it sucks big time. 4.6 has never failed me yet, 4.71.2 has failed me twice. And others have reported similar, so its a def no. Still, thanks for the suggestion!

* How to toggle off the Windows Explorer update

- you disable the entire module, you can't individually disable the Windows Explorer update. I thought this was obvious!

* Incompatibilities with RP and 98SE2ME

- i really don't know what to do about this. I must admit to not testing very extensively with RP (but i do to some degree) but not at all with 98SE2ME. I suppose i should get around to it, but i can see that its going to be lots of work getting stuff to not blue screen on me. Maybe i'll make the next major release more 98SE2ME compatible, but until then i suppose that you 98SE2ME users gotta be careful using AP.

* DCOM 98 1.3 is on thy system in c:\windows \system ;yet Auto-patcher rc2 does not recogize as so

- i will look into this

* DCOM 98 1.3 ...... loops once then skips and moves on to next updates

- this is expected behaviour, i designed the program to do this. The 'looping' message is a result of AP thinking that an update hasn't yet been installed when in fact it has. Its the down-side of my system of independently checking if the update is installed. It usually means i've got the code wrong, but sometimes its because i've got a weird situation to deal with

That's it. If i've missed anything, don't by shy, say something. Thanks for all the feedback.

EDIT: regarding the groups, i've been slowly adding these over the various releases and i haven't had that much feedback, these groups are pretty much arbitrary. If anyone cares to make suggestions as to what goes in each group, they will most likely get their wish. Assuming the suggestion isn't a lunatic one, that is. Even the group names were pulled out from somewhere dark on the spur of the moment, so they're fair game as well. The groups i'm talking about are: MOST, SAFE, and ESSENTIAL. The ALL and NONE groups pretty much speak for themselves.

Edited January 31, 2008 by soporific

[Drugwash]

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.

Edited January 30, 2008 by Drugwash

[awergh]

some games such as rise of nations need msxml

[RetroOS]

...

* MSXML 4.0 -- this should be fixed, uninstall any version later than kb927978, and then install kb927978. RetroOS is the man to turn to for identifying which MSXML we should be using.

Just to clarify, after uninstalling all MSXML4 entries, for example, MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB936181), from Add/Remove Programs, the actual MSXML4.DLL file needs to be deleted from the Windows SYSTEM folder (normally C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM) before installing kb927978. Otherwise the file stays the same!

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936181/en-us for details.

* InfraRecorder update section gave an 'access denied' error when trying to remove the old version.

- anyone else get this?

- RetroOS, was the old version installed by AP? If not, that makes sense.

Yes it was the previous AP installed version.

* The Twain update looped

- this should have been fixed in RC2. Can anyone see if they can get it to loop again? Cheers!

Yep, that figures... I never installed RC2.

* There is something wrong with the Visual Basic menu... There is no official VB6 entry and yet I get this in the log

- I moved the official VB6 to the Stability Hotfixes module for 2 reasons:

-- 1, It's not optional anymore as virtually everyone will get the superseded message. The only reason it will get installed is if you are using AP on a newly installed OS, or you actually don't have VB6 on your system. Who doesn't need VB6? Is there any good reason not to install it?

-- 2, by moving it out of the VB module we save having to reboot twice when using this module.

Makes sense.

* BROWSEUI.DLL 6.0.2800.1915 from kb942615 kills my Windows Explorer (failure in EXPLORER.EXE), the catch is that I have EXPLORER.EXE 5.50.4134.100 from Revolutions Pack 7.11.

- i will revert back to kb939653, problem solved. I'll put a note on my updates list about this. Thanks for being such a useful beta tester.

The only problem was the BROWSEUI.DLL file. I'm still successfully using all the other security patched files from kb942615.

I suggest just replacing the one BROWSEUI.DLL file in kb942615 with the file from kb939653.

That way we get nearly all the security updates.

* have you looked at ASPI Layer 4.71.2?

- yes i have and it sucks big time. 4.6 has never failed me yet, 4.71.2 has failed me twice. And others have reported similar, so its a def no. Still, thanks for the suggestion!

Roger!

* Incompatibilities with RP and 98SE2ME

- i really don't know what to do about this. I must admit to not testing very extensively with RP (but i do to some degree) but not at all with 98SE2ME. I suppose i should get around to it, but i can see that its going to be lots of work getting stuff to not blue screen on me. Maybe i'll make the next major release more 98SE2ME compatible, but until then i suppose that you 98SE2ME users gotta be careful using AP.

If you were referring to the dialog a couple of posts back, this was really a historical explaination rather than a current problem.

Aside from the BROWSEUI.DLL problem, I have no other current problems with AP and RP/98SE2ME.

Edited February 1, 2008 by RetroOS

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

* have you looked at ASPI Layer 4.71.2?

- yes i have and it sucks big time. 4.6 has never failed me yet, 4.71.2 has failed me twice. And others have reported similar, so its a def no. Still, thanks for the suggestion!

after installing ASPI Layer 4.7 you must install ASPI32.EXE then reinstall ASPIINST.EXE

which will give you 4.71.2 without problems

Edited January 31, 2008 by PROBLEMCHYLD

[soporific]

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?

after installing ASPI Layer 4.7 you must install ASPI32.EXE then reinstall ASPIINST.EXE

which will give you 4.71.2 without problems

The problem is that ASPI 4.71.2 doesn't work for all models of CD and DVD drives. Don't ask me why, it just doesn't. If your drive works fine, then you won't find a problem with 4.71.2

[Drugwash]

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.

[RetroOS]

...

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.

...

Drugwash,

The uninstall instructions only apply to MSXML4 not 3, 2, or 1.

You should install the latest supported MSXML4 anyway.

If you install a piece of software that uses MSXML4, and you don't already have MSXML4 installed, it may install an older and more security vulnerable version...

[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.

[RetroOS]

Hi soporific,

I have found a problem with AP's detection for the OLEUP install.

I have some software that has online updating. It's worked okay updating for some time.

However, the last update decided that I was running Windows XP SP2 (as everyone does... NOT), and installed XP SP2 OLE files...

As you can imagine, or know, Windows did not like this and most of my start-up apps failed and Explorer became unstable.

So, I manually ran OLEUP from AP and rebooted. Problem gone.

When I ran System File Checker, it showed that OLEAUT32.DLL had changed.

OLEAUT32.DLL was updated from 2.40.4522 to the newer 2.40.4519. Anyone thinking it's a typo see here (post #912).

Getting to the point, what this means, is that AP is not detecting the OLEUP update install correctly since AP said it was already installed, when in fact it was not up to date...

Another small fix needed in AP.

[soporific]

When I ran System File Checker, it showed that OLEAUT32.DLL had changed.

OLEAUT32.DLL was updated from 2.40.4522 to the newer 2.40.4519. Anyone thinking it's a typo see here (post #912).

Getting to the point, what this means, is that AP is not detecting the OLEUP update install correctly since AP said it was already installed, when in fact it was not up to date...

Another small fix needed in AP.

Thanks for finding this, ive made a new function called 'FILK' (not that you needed to know that) and this little guy checks 2 files for their versions, if either are lower than what i coded for then the update goes ahead. So, those who had the latest version of OLEPRO32.DLL but not the latest OLEAUT32.DLL will get the install going ahead. The only problem here is if the user has one of those 'higher' versions of OLEAUT32.DLL AND they have the latest OLEPRO32.DLL -- AP will think its installed. Is this likely to happen?

Edited February 3, 2008 by soporific

[Max_04]

When I ran System File Checker, it showed that OLEAUT32.DLL had changed.

OLEAUT32.DLL was updated from 2.40.4522 to the newer 2.40.4519. Anyone thinking it's a typo see here (post #912).

Getting to the point, what this means, is that AP is not detecting the OLEUP update install correctly since AP said it was already installed, when in fact it was not up to date...

Another small fix needed in AP.

Thanks for finding this, ive made a new function called 'FILK' (not that you needed to know that) and this little guy checks 2 files for their versions, if either are lower than what i coded for then the update goes ahead. So, those who had the latest version of OLEPRO32.DLL but not the latest OLEAUT32.DLL will get the install going ahead. The only problem here is if the user has one of those 'higher' versions of OLEAUT32.DLL AND they have the latest OLEPRO32.DLL -- AP will think its installed. Is this likely to happen?

I hope to understand this issue... maybe this could be a special case to use an additional MD5 or byte check (over version check) on the OLEUP files (in/out of package).

Edited February 3, 2008 by Max_04

[Drugwash]

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.

[RetroOS]

When I ran System File Checker, it showed that OLEAUT32.DLL had changed.

OLEAUT32.DLL was updated from 2.40.4522 to the newer 2.40.4519. Anyone thinking it's a typo see here (post #912).

Getting to the point, what this means, is that AP is not detecting the OLEUP update install correctly since AP said it was already installed, when in fact it was not up to date...

Another small fix needed in AP.

...The only problem here is if the user has one of those 'higher' versions of OLEAUT32.DLL AND they have the latest OLEPRO32.DLL -- AP will think its installed. Is this likely to happen?

Hi soporific,

One problem that is ready to jump out and bite me, is that because of the OLEAUT32.DLL versioning quirk, the lastest compatible version of the file actually has a slightly lower version number but is newer!

If anyone has an even higher version than 2.40.4522 of OLEAUT32.DLL installed then it won't be for long!

Sure there is MD5 checking as mentioned, but this only checks if a file is already there but is no use for versioning...

The other aspect of checking is the file date. OLEAUT32.DLL 2.40.4519 is newer (31 July 2006) than 2.40.4522 (19 June 2003).

Most system files will maintain the original file timestamp.

Some files however, will change to the install date (and increase size...), for example some of the Internet Explorer 6 SP1 files.

It's some type of serialisation process of the files during install. Not sure why...

[soporific]

One problem that is ready to jump out and bite me, is that because of the OLEAUT32.DLL versioning quirk, the lastest compatible version of the file actually has a slightly lower version number but is newer!

If anyone has an even higher version than 2.40.4522 of OLEAUT32.DLL installed then it won't be for long!

Sure there is MD5 checking as mentioned, but this only checks if a file is already there but is no use for versioning...

Well, in lieu of specific alternate suggestions i'm going with what i've got so far. And where i previously referred to a 'higher' file version number i was referring to the versioning quirk you mentioned, i should have used more that just quotes to explain what i meant, sorry ... you previously mentioned that AP thought that the latest update was already installed when in fact it wasn't, i think this issue should now be fixed.

So, people, i want to finally release December 2007 Final ... so if you still think i have work to do, please speak up now or forever hold your peace! For issues in particular, the 48BitLBA loop is still outstanding from RC1, i haven't got any feedback if RC2 fixed this (i was never able to replicate the problem)

Cheers.

EDIT: change log as it currently stands

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

December 2007 Final (unreleased)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

change: the check for OLEUP now uses 2 file version checks

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

December 2007 RC3 (unreleased)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

rolled back the Unofficial Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer 6 sp1 to the previous one (replaced kb942615 with kb939653)

updated: Sun Java 2 Runtime Environment 6 update 4

added: Windows 2000 style theme to schemes list

fixed: small bug with Unofficial Microsoft Scripting Engines v5.6, the wrong file version check value was being used

EDIT 2: oops, forgot about the problems in AutoSystemINI --- will fix pronto.

Edited February 5, 2008 by soporific