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Windows 95/98 Helpful Hints Last update August 26, 2001
4:02 PM This section is for all of you with Windows 95 or Windows 98. From time to time there are questions that come up that are worthy of placing here to share with others. If you come up with something that is useful, pass it along to sparkey and we'll be glad to consider posting it here for everyone to use. Windows 98 tips: Security Patch -
"DOS Device in Pathname" Vulnerability: CRITICAL security update -
"IP Fragment Reassembly" security vulnerability http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/WUCritical/q259728/Default.asp Shutdown Problem - There
is a problem with some systems not shutting down properly under Windows
98. The following link provides solutions for this problem: Mapped Drives Shutdown Update - This update
resolves a shutdown issue in Windows 98 Second Edition, where Windows
may stop responding if there are a significant number of mapped network
drives on your computer. The larger the number of drives that are mapped,
the more likely the problem may occur. Shutdown Supplement - The
Windows 98 Second Edition Shutdown Supplement addresses shutdown issues
on systems with specific hardware/software configurations running Windows
98 Second Edition. These issues include systems restarting when selecting
shutdown and systems hanging on shutdown. Large IDE Update - This update addresses
an issue on Windows® 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition computers that have
an integrated device electronics (IDE) hard disk that is larger than 32
gigabytes (GB) in size. Passwords - Having problems? Try these hints.
Windows 95 tips: Security Patch - DOS Device in Pathname
Vulnerability: The obvious first stop for Win95 stuff is Microsoft. There are two links
that you will find useful. The first one is: It requires you to register to get into the sight but requires nothing more than an email address. Here you will find all the downloads you can imagine. The second link is: This is a nice list of things to download but not a complete list by any means. By using both lists you will find there isn't hardly anything you might looking for that isn't on one of these two lists.
The following is an unsorted list of various sites that have lots of win95 information. I am at odds about how best to sort this so if you have suggestions I would be grateful for your input (sparkey).
Windows 95 Easter Eggs:
Passwords
Many of us have had a problem with passwords in Win95. There are two major problems we deal with. The first is Win95 asking us for a password every time we turn the computer on. The second is dial-up networking not remembering your password to access your ISP. If you are using an ISP like Worldnet, you have a particularly bad problem because the user I.D. and password are both very large, assigned by AT&T, and not something you are going to easily remember. The first thing to do in an effort to resolve these problems is to delete the password files. To do this, click on "start", then "find", and type in *.pwl (which is a wild card for all files with the file extension of .pwl). Once the file or files is/are found highlight them in the list and delete them. Now restart your computer. When Win95 restarts, it should come up with a password screen asking you for a user name and password. At this point, put a user name in the appropriate box. DO NOT put a password in the box, but click OK (note: Do NOT click "x" to close the box). There will be another box that comes up asking you to type the password again to verify. Simply click OK without typing anything at all. Now, restart your computer, and it should not ask you for a password again. If after doing the proceedure above you still have the problem, try the following: Delete the *.pwl files as above. Then, restart your computer, enter a user name and no password, as above. Click OK, then no password for verification of password and click OK. When the computer comes up, then select "start", "settings", "control panel", and double click on passwords. You should now see a box with the option to change your password. Select that and a box should appear with three spaces, one for your current password, one for your new password, and one to confirm the new one. Enter your current password in the current password box, leave the other two blank, and click OK. Restart your computer and the prompt for password should no longer be a problem. You may encounter another problem with dial-up networking as described below. If you are having problems with the "save password" box not available to check on your dial-up adapter for your ISP, then there is another fix to solve that problem. Select start, settings, control panel, and double click on the "network" icon. Under the "configuration" tab, you will find a list of "installed components". Click the "add" button and then select "client" and click OK. You will then see a list and on that list, select "Microsoft", and click OK. At this point you may be prompted to insert your Windows 95 CD or disk. Follow the directions. Once the Microsoft client is installed, you should find that the "save password" in your dial-up adapter is available. Once you have entered your password, check the box and make your connection. NOTE: Your password will NOT be saved unless you connect successfuly to the ISP. But once you have successfully connected, the password should be saved, and will appear in the password box as a series of asterisks (******). Enjoy :) Reloading
Win95
If you ever find yourself in the situation where you have to reload Windows 95 but cant seem to get your computer to recognize the CD ROM drive so you can? The following may help you get it going again but be forwarned that this isn't for someone that has any apprehension about messing with the computer. Reboot the computer and press F8 just as soon as you see the "starting Windows 95" to get the menu of booting options. Select "command prompt" and enter. The computer should boot to a command prompt (c:\>). At this point, edit the autoexec.bat file and see whether there is a line that starts off saying "rem by Windows c:\dos\MSCDEX.EXE ..........." or something to that effect. If you find this line, delete everything beginning with the "rem" up to the c:\... Then save your changes and edit the config.sys file and see whether there is a line that starts off saying "rem device=atapicd.sys /d:MSCD001......." or something to that effect. If so, delete the "rem " (all up to "device") and save the file. Now reboot your computer. This will enable your CD ROM at the command prompt once again and allow your CD to be read once again. If these things are not shown in your autoexec.bat and your config.sys, then it will be necessary to install the "real mode" (dos) cdrom drivers from the disk provided with the CDrom. This task isn't for the faint of heart. Go back to the top.
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