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Windows 98 Help Page Two
Modem HelpSome times modems can be fickle with Win95/98, especially internal modems. If windows did not detect you modem, try installing it yourself from Control Panel and double clicking on Modems. This starts the Modem installation wizard which will guide you through the rest of the install. Also some computers will need to have Comm 2 turned off in the bios if you are installing an internal modem. I haven't found any pattern to this and have had to set the internal modem jumpers from auto set to manual settings to get Windows to find it. This will not be a problem for externals. If your modem will not dial or connect, try the following;
USR/3COM modems;
Back to TopShortcuts for Win98Explorer Shortcuts General control over folders/Windows Explorer In Windows Explorer In Properties General Keyboard-Only Commands Accessibility Shortcuts MS Natural Keyboard Back to TopSystem ToolsVersion Conflict Manager ToolThis describes the Version Conflict Manager tool included in Windows 98. You can use the Version Conflict Manager tool to troubleshoot problems that may occur after you install a program. NOTE: The Windows 98 Help topic "Version Conflict Manager" describes the Version Conflict Manager tool incorrectly. During the installation of a new program (including Windows 98), files on your hard disk may be detected and replaced with older versions. If a newer version of a file is detected by Windows 98 Setup, a version conflict occurs. Prior to Windows 98, most installation programs (including Windows 95) prompt you to either keep the existing file or overwrite the file with the older file. When you install Windows 98, this prompt does not appear and newer files replaced by Windows 98 Setup are automatically backed up to your hard disk for compatibility purposes. For example, if you upgrade a Windows 95-based computer that uses a newer version of the Commdlg.dll file to Windows 98, the newer Commdlg.dll file is backed up and the older Commdlg.dll file is copied to your computer. The Version Conflict Manager tool lists all the backup files, the dates they were backed up, the version number of the backed up files, and the version number of the file currently in use. When you use the Version Conflict Manager tool to restore a backed up file, the file that is currently in use by Windows 98 is backed up, and the backup file is restored. To start the Version Conflict Manager tool and restore a backed up file, use the following steps:
Signature Verification ToolWindows 98 includes a tool called Microsoft Signature Verification Tool. You can use this tool to view files to determine if they are signed or unsigned files. This article describes the Signature Verification tool. The Signature Verification tool finds signed and unsigned files on your computer. A signed file is a file that has been given a digital signature by a certifying authority. The digital signature indicates that the file is an unaltered copy of the original file. With the Signature Verification tool, you can:
How to Search for Signed or Unsigned FilesTo search for signed or unsigned files, use the following steps:
If you are looking for a specific file, type the name of the file you want to find in the Named box, and then click Find Now. If you are not looking for a specific file and you want to view all signed or unsigned files, click Find Now. How to View a Certificate of a Signed FileTo view a signed file's certificate, use the following steps:
If you are looking for a specific file, type the name of the file you want to find in the Named box, and then click Find Now. If you are not looking for a specific file and you want to view all signed files, click Find Now. System File Checker Tool (Sfc.exe)System File Checker checks for damaged or replaced system files, and then prompts you to replace any files that do not match the original Windows 98 files. To start System File Checker, use the following steps:
NOTE: If you click Extract One File From Installation Disk, you can specify the file you want to extract.
For more information about how to use the Microsoft System Information tool in Windows 98, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q184075 TITLE : Description of Microsoft System Information (Msinfo32.exe) Tool Automatic Skip Driver Agent (Asd.exe) ToolAutomatic Skip Driver Agent identifies devices that can cause Windows 98 to stop responding (hang) when you start your computer, and then disables them so that they are bypassed when you next restart your computer. To start Automatic Skip Driver;
For more information about how to use the Microsoft System Information tool in Windows 98, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID : Q184075 TITLE : Description of Microsoft System Information (Msinfo32.exe) Tool All devices or operations that have failed to start are listed by Automatic Skip Driver Agent. You can use Automatic Skip Driver Agent to enable any device it has previously disabled, and Windows 98 then tries to use the device when you next restart your computer. If this device or operation does not start correctly, your computer stops responding. If you then restart your computer for a third time, Automatic Skip Driver Agent prevents the device or operation from running, and when your computer starts, click Details to identify the device or operation that does not start correctly and then display a suggested course of action. If Automatic Skip Driver Agent is unable to locate any errors, you may receive a message stating so, and you can then click OK to quit Automatic Skip Driver Agent. NOTE: Devices disabled by Automatic Skip Driver Agent to allow Windows to start are recorded in the Asd.log file. Disk Defragmenter ToolWhen a program is installed on your computer, the program's files may be broken up over multiple locations on your hard disk. This is called fragmentation. If fragmentation occurs on your hard disk, the performance of programs on your computer is slower. The Disk Defragmenter tool optimizes the performance of your computer by reorganizing the files on your hard disk into contiguous blocks. When the Disk Defragmenter tool completes the defragmentation of files on your hard disk, the performance of your programs is faster because the files are arranged closer together. NOTE: You can use other programs while you are running the Disk Defragmenter tool. However, your computer will operate slower than normal. To start the Disk Defragmenter tool, use the following steps:
Maintenance Wizard (Tuneup.exe) ToolThe Maintenance wizard is a tool you can use to schedule maintenance programs so that they run automatically. To start Maintenance wizard, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Windows Tune-Up. The following maintenance programs can be scheduled to run automatically by Maintenance wizard:
You can modify the start time to any particular time you want these programs to start. To alter these times, run the wizard, and then follow the instructions on the screen. Disk Cleanup ToolWhen you use the Disk Cleanup tool, you can free hard disk space on your computer by:
To free hard disk space on your computer, use any of the following methods:
You can free more hard disk space by removing optional components that you do not use. To do so, use the following steps.
If a component's check box is shaded, only some of the components are installed. If you want to see what is included in the component, click to select the component, and then click Details. If you want to remove components, click to clear the check boxes of the components that you do not want to use, click OK, click OK, and then click OK. Remove Installed Programs
Repeat step 3 to remove additional programs, click OK, click OK, and then click OK. Convert Hard Disk to FAT32 File System See Fat32 and Large Disk Support above. ScanDisk Tool (Scandskw.exe)When you use the ScanDisk disk-checking and repair tool, you can check the integrity of your media (which includes hard disks and floppy disks), and repair most problems that may occur. Windows 98 starts ScanDisk automatically when the operating system is shut down improperly or your disk contains a critical error. When ScanDisk starts automatically, any files damaged on your disk after improper shutdown are automatically corrected and unused disk space is recovered. When you use ScanDisk, the following configuration settings are available:
Areas of the Disk to Scan: If you want use ScanDisk to check your entire disk for physical damage, including both its system and data areas, click System and Data Areas. If you want ScanDisk to check only the system area on your disk, click System Area Only. Errors in the system area of your disk may indicate that your disk needs to be replaced. ScanDisk usually cannot repair errors in the system area. If you want ScanDisk to check only the data area of your disk, click Data Area Only. Additional Surface Scan Features: If you do not want ScanDisk to verify that sectors can be read from and written to on your disk, click the Do Not Perform Write-Testing check box to select it. If you do not want ScanDisk to repair hidden and system files on your disk, click the "Do not repair bad sectors in hidden and system files" check box to select it. ScanDisk Advanced Options When you click Advanced, the following configuration settings are available: Display Summary: You can use ScanDisk to display a summary each time ScanDisk finishes checking your disk. The summary provides information about the disk and displays whether ScanDisk detected or repaired any errors. If you want to display the summary each time ScanDisk finishes checking your disk, click Always. If you do not want ScanDisk to display the summary after checking your disk, click Never. If you want to display the summary only when ScanDisk locates errors, click Only If Errors Found. Log File: You can use ScanDisk to store a history of ScanDisk events in a log file named Scandisk.log. If you want to replace the Scandisk.log file each time ScanDisk is used, click Replace Log. If you want to save information in the Scandisk.log file each time ScanDisk is used, click Append To Log. The Scandisk.log file is stored in the root folder of your hard disk. You can view the Scandisk.log file with any text editor (such as Notepad). If you do not want ScanDisk to create a log file, click No Log. Cross-linked Files: You can use ScanDisk to locate cross-linked files. A cross-link occurs when two or more files use the same cluster (area of a disk) at the same time. If you want ScanDisk to remove any cross- linked files it locates on your disk, click Delete. If you want ScanDisk to make separate copies of the cross-linked files in separate locations on your disk, click Make Copies. If you do not want ScanDisk to detect cross-linked files on your disk, click Ignore. Lost File Fragments: You can use ScanDisk to detect file fragments that are not in use by programs. File fragments are parts of files on your disk that were lost by a program. If you want ScanDisk to remove file fragments to recover space on your disk, click Free. If you want Scandisk to save file fragments, click Convert To Files. When you save file fragments to your disk, the file fragments are converted to file names such as File0000.chk and are stored in the root folder of your disk. You can use any text editor (such as Notepad) to view the saved file. This file may or may not contain any useful information. Check Files For: You can use features included with ScanDisk to verify file names, file dates and times, and locate duplicate files on your disk. If you want to locate files on your disk that may contain invalid names, click the Invalid File Names check box to select it. If you want to locate files that may have invalid dates and times, click the Invalid Dates And Times check box to select it. If you want to locate duplicate files on your disk, click the Duplicate Names check box to select it. Additional ScanDisk Features: You can use additional ScanDisk configuration settings to scan a compressed volume for errors before checking the disk, or locate MS-DOS-mode name-length errors that may have occurred with long file names. Errors on a compressed drive are often caused by errors on its host drive. If you want ScanDisk to scan the host drive before scanning the disk, click the Check Host Drive First check box to select it. If you want ScanDisk to report MS-DOS- mode name-length errors, click the "Report MS-DOS mode name length errors" check box to select it. Automatically Fix Errors If you want ScanDisk to repair most errors automatically without any prompts, click the Automatically Fix Errors check box to select it. How to Run ScanDisk
System Configuration Utility Advanced Troubleshooting SettingsTo start the System Configuration Utility and view the advanced troubleshooting settings, use the following steps:
Advanced Troubleshooting SettingsDisable System ROM Breakpoint: This setting specifies whether Windows 98 should use Read Only Memory (ROM) address space between F000:0000 and 1 megabyte (MB) for a break point. Windows normally searches this address space to find a special instruction that is used as a system break point. If this address space contains something other than permanently available ROM, you should disable this setting. This sets "SystemROMBreakPoint=0" in the System.ini file. This is equivalent to starting Windows with the command-line switch "/d:s". Disable Virtual HD IRQ: This setting prevents Windows 98 from terminating interrupts from the hard disk controller and bypassing the ROM routine that processes these interrupts. Some hard disk drives may require this setting to be enabled for interrupts to be processed correctly. If this setting is enabled, the ROM routine handles the interrupts, which can slow system performance. This sets "VirtualHDIRQ=0" in the System.ini file. This is equivalent to starting Windows with the command-line switch "/d:v". EMM Exclude A000-FFFF: This setting prevents Windows from trying to scan for unused memory address space. This also disables the Random Access Memory (RAM) and ROM search instructions for the memory address space. This scanning can interfere with some devices that use the same memory addresses. This sets "EMMExclude=a000-ffff" in the System.ini file. This is equivalent to starting Windows with the command-line switch "/d:x". Force Compatibility Mode Disk Access: This setting prevents all 32-bit disk drivers from being loaded except the floppy driver. You may want to enable this setting if your computer does not start due to disk peripheral input/output (I/O) problems. If you enable this setting, all I/O uses real-mode drivers or the basic input/output system (BIOS). Also, all disk drives that are functional in protected mode only, no longer function. This is equivalent to starting Windows with the command-line switch "/d:f". VGA 640 x 480 x 16: This setting causes Windows 98 to use the standard VGA display adapter driver. This disables the existing "display.drv=" line of the System.ini file, and adds the "display.drv=vga.drv" line to the [boot] section of the System.ini file. Use SCSI Double-Buffering: Some Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) drives may require that this setting be enabled. Windows 98 should detect whether or not this setting is needed, so you should only enable this setting if there is a disk access problem. This adds the line "Doublebuffer=2" to the Msdos.sys file. This setting is unavailable if a Doublebuffer line already exists in the Msdos.sys file. Disable Scandisk After Bad Shutdown: This setting adds the line "Autoscan=0" to the Msdos.sys file. This can be useful when you troubleshoot shutdown issues, as it decreases startup time after a bad shutdown. Limit Memory to <x> MB: This setting limits memory usage on your computer to the first <x> MB, where <x> is a number of megabytes. This setting adds the "MaxPhysPage=<nnn>" line to the System.ini file, where <nnn> is a hexidecimal value of the amount of memory to be used. If this setting is too low (16 MB or lower), it may prevent Windows 98 from starting normally. Disable Fast Shutdown: This setting disables Windows 98 shutdown performance enhancements. This can be useful to troubleshoot problems shutting down Windows 98. Disable UDF File System: This setting disables support for the Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system for all removable media. This setting can be used to troubleshoot problems with proprietary DVD players that may be incompatible with UDF. Enable Pentium F0 (Lock CmpXchg): This setting provides a method to work around an erratum in the Intel P5 series of processors (Pentium and Pentium MMX). The processor stops responding (hangs) if a particular illegal instruction sequence is issued. This issue should not occur with a normal program, it would have to be generated maliciously. If this setting is enabled, Windows 98 enables a protection routine to avoid hanging. This setting can interfere with some kernel mode applications (such as debuggers), so it should not be used while debugging programs. NOTE: Norton Utilities 3.0 SpeedDisk and UnErase Wizard tools lock the computer if used with this setting enabled. If you have Norton Utilities, Microsoft recommends that you do not use this setting, or disable Norton Utilities from startup. For additional information about file system troubleshooting settings, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q165503 TITLE : Description of the File System Troubleshooting Options For additional information about troubleshooting memory issues, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q134503 TITLE : Parity Error Messages May Indicate Bad Memory For additional information about the Msdos.sys file, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q118579 TITLE : Contents of the Windows Msdos.sys File. Back to TopVCache SettingsWith Windows 98 it's not necessary to set Vcache to limit ram "space" for applications. Win98 is a lot more aggressive in the way it handles ram and virtual memory. They seem to have figured it out. However if you want to set it, it will normally be set for 25% of system ram with a swap file(virtual memory) at two and one half times you ram. Play around with it until your system works like you want it. To have Windows 98 manage your virtual memory settings;
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Copyright © 1996-98 Richard Mask
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