my in-laws are still running windows 98

[dethangel]

hi there, my inlaws are still running windows 98 and have recently (within the last 6 months) reinstalled as they had a virus. now when they go to open a folder on the desktop it gives them the eroor message that explorer has caused an error and must be shut down, it doesnt shut down the computer, BUT it closes all programs (except MSN messenger oddly enough) and the only way to get to your folders (even my computer generates this error) is to right click and go to explore, now it aint a big deal as they can access them this way, BUT it is annoying and i would like to fix it so my in-laws will love me again neways, any help would be great and btw they have norton AV but im not sure if they have scanned (ill try that 2nite) and i have all of the most recent win 98 service packs

 

[mrdinkel]

was the partition table deleted, and reinstated? You might try that also, because if you simply reinstall, there may still be a virus present. If you do this, however, you will need to back up any and all data first.

 

[dethangel]

no, that couldnt be it beacuse they had a boot sector virus, so they just got a new HDD, the old one they just threw away

 

[mrdinkel]

Ok...
2 things...

1. What are they running specifically when it decides to crash?
2. I would suggest downloading Powerdesk from www.cnet.com, as it does a better job than explorer for file management. Still asks the kernel for permission to see the files, but runs far more efficient.

 

[Apokalipse]

F****** Windows 98 again!

i had the same problem once, i reinstalled and it fixed it. but i installed to a different directory
if you just install it over the previous one it just acts like it's reinstalling, but only really changes settings.

 

[dethangel]

mrdinkel-

they are just trying to open folders from the desktop, the shortcuts on the desktop are fnie, they all work, but none of the folders will open with the normal double click or right-click-> open, but they will open with right-click-> explore

apokalipse-

its not really feasible to reinstall as i dont want to install over their data, but what i might do is just put the old HDD (13GB) back in and transfer all of their data to it, then reinstall windows on the new HDD (160GB) then transfer all of the data back to it, and install windows on the 13GB and uninstall windows from the 160GB that way if they ever have a problem like this again i can just reinstall w/o losing all their data, but this would take a really long, time, but its what i might have to do

 

[Apokalipse]

no i'm not saying install over their data, just when you install win98 install to say C:\Windows 98 instead of just C:\Windows, you won't lose your data

 

[TwoShipps]

detangel,

I had a similar situation w/a comp of a colleague of mine. She had to scrape entire drive, and when we did that, we put ME on instead of 98.

Good luck...and I completely understand the inlaw situation. I get calls all the time!!!

 

[Apokalipse]

hey Windows 98 is bad, but Windows ME? no offence but that's like the shittest windows version

if installing to a diff directory doesn't work, it just might be a possibility that it's the video card drivers unable to display the icons and stuff correctly. only a small chance though

 

[devlish96]

hey Windows 98 is bad, but Windows ME? no offence but that's like the shittest windows version

well, some people don't have the spare cash to get another OS like XP...not to mention upgrading their office programs and other apps that work only in 98 or ME. when I upgraded to XP from 98,..i actually lost half of my apps due to incompatibility to XP,..even when using the compatibility modes. sometimes its not even practical...

however i do understand that you've been traumatized by the OS..so ui cant really blame you if you feel that way

dethangel,

if its an old PC that your in-laws have,..try updating the bios so it can support bigger drives. your plan of migrating data between disks is the practical solution