MDGx Windows 98 Tricks + Secrets

Windows 98/98 SE
Tricks + Secrets - Part 2

Go to Windows 98 ©Tricks + Secrets Contents

• 12-7-98 Win98 Original ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

WIN98 PHANTOM DRIVE BUG

What, another Win98 BUG? Yeap! And this one is NOT documented ANYWHERE. At least not yet. :)
Here we go...
I was reading some info on the Internet about the CONFIG.SYS BUFFERS setting.
To learn about the "BUFFERS", what they do, and how to maximize your system's performance by tweaking your CONFIG.SYS BUFFERS line, read:

the CONFIG.TXT file, installed in your Windows 98 folder,
the BUFFERS related topics in MEMORY.TXT and EMM386.TXT [both part of W95-11D.EXE], and
"DOUBLE BUFFER", also in MYTIPS95.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE].

THE BUG:

So one sunny day I tried the double-buffer setting on my CONFIG.SYS BUFFERS line to improve the read-ahead disk cache performance, but WITHOUT adding a line for the DBLBUFF.SYS driver. I changed it to read:

BUFFERS=12,6

instead of:

BUFFERS=12,0

I also need to mention that I use SMARTDRV (Microsoft MS-DOS mode disk cache driver) configured to cache reads and writes on ALL my drives (floppy, hard and CD-RW), to speedup the loading of drivers and TSRs in my startup files and to decrease Windows GUI loading time. My AUTOEXEC.BAT Smartdrv line:

SMARTDRV.EXE 8192 16 A+ B- C+ D+ E+ F+ G /N

And I also use MSCDEX (MicroSoft Compact Disk EXtensions driver) to access my CD-RW drive in native MS-DOS mode, outside Windows. My AUTOEXEC.BAT Mscdex line:

LOADHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:CDRW /M:20 /E

Well, after rebooting in Win98 GUI, I have noticed a new drive icon (H) was installed in Explorer and File Manager. And this new "phantom" drive was the identical "twin" of my E drive (which is actually the second FAT16 partition on my primary boot drive). Also, in the Control Panel → System → Performance tab, a new:

"Drive E is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system"

alert message appeared. Hmmm...
And in my Windows folder, a new file, IOS.LOG, was generated upon Win98 GUI startup. When I opened it in Notepad for viewing, guess what? It says:

"Unit number 04 going through real mode drivers."

and further below:

"TSR Name: SMARTDRV
Hardware Interrupt Hook Bit Map: 00000003
Hooks: Int 13
Hooks: unit number: 00 → Drive A
Hooks: unit number: 01 → Drive C
Hooks: unit number: 02 → Drive D
Hooks: unit number: 03 → Drive E = Unit number 04
Hooks: unit number: 04 → Drive F
Hooks: unit number: 05 → Drive G"

Then if I run:

SMARTDRV /S

from a DOS prompt, it's obvious that "Unit number 04" above corresponds to drive E (see above) if you count down the list beginning with number 01 (drive A), also shown on Smartdrv's status screen:

"Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 5.02
Copyright 1991,1993 Microsoft Corp.

Room for 8 elements of 8,192 bytes each
There have been 1,360 cache hits
and 2,340 cache misses

Cache size: 65,536 bytes
Cache size while running Windows: 65,536 bytes

        Disk Caching Status
drive   read cache      write cache     buffering
-------------------------------------------------
A:      yes             yes             no
C:      yes             yes             no
D:      yes             yes             no
E:      yes             yes             no = Unit number 04
F:      yes             yes             no
G:      yes             no              no
Write behind data will not be committed before command prompt returns."

Also if I enable the DoubleBuffer=2 line under my MSDOS.SYS [Options] section, without adding a line in my CONFIG.SYS for double buffering like:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS

or:

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER

the SMARTDRV /S screen looks like this:

"Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 5.02
Copyright 1991,1993 Microsoft Corp.

Room for 8 elements of 8,192 bytes each
There have been 1,360 cache hits
and 2,340 cache misses

Cache size: 65,536 bytes
Cache size while running Windows: 65,536 bytes

        Disk Caching Status
drive   read cache      write cache     buffering
-------------------------------------------------
A:      yes             yes             no
C:      yes             yes             yes
D:      yes             yes             yes
E:      yes             yes             yes
F:      yes             yes             yes
G:      yes             no              no
Write behind data will not be committed before command prompt returns."

This means double buffering is enabled at all times for all hard drives (floppy and CD/DVD drives canNOT be double-buffered).
But if I keep the DoubleBuffer=2 MSDOS.SYS line, and I also add a double buffer command in my CONFIG.SYS, the SMARTDRV /S display changes as shown below, similar to having the line DoubleBuffer=1 in my MSDOS.SYS, with or without a DBLBUFF.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS:

"Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 5.02
Copyright 1991,1993 Microsoft Corp.

Room for 8 elements of 8,192 bytes each
There have been 1,360 cache hits
and 2,340 cache misses

Cache size: 65,536 bytes
Cache size while running Windows: 65,536 bytes

        Disk Caching Status
drive   read cache      write cache     buffering
-------------------------------------------------
A:      yes             yes             no
C:      yes             yes             no
D:      yes             yes             --
E:      yes             yes             no
F:      yes             yes             no
G:      yes             no              no
Write behind data will not be committed before command prompt returns."

This means double buffering is enabled only if needed on the D drive (my only drive over 8 GB partitioned with FAT32).
It doesn't matter if Smartdrv is loaded or not in Autoxec.bat, all these "variations" do NOT influence the weird way Windows 98 (noticed also in Win95 B/C OSR2) "reacts" to having the double buffering enabled. Although this implies that I keep the BUFFERS=12,6 line "active" in my CONFIG.SYS throughout all these tests, without which double buffering is NOT possible, and I also must have a CONFIG.SYS LASTDRIVE=H line, to show at least 1 drive letter above the number of physical drives/partitions on my system, even if the DoubleBuffer MSDOS.SYS line and/or the CONFIG.SYS DBLBUFF.SYS command are present or not.
To my knowledge, Win9x doesn't provide a 32-bit protected mode driver counterpart for double buffering, which can be enabled ONLY in MS-DOS modes.
The MSDOS.SYS "DoubleBuffer=" line parameters:

0 = completely disable double buffering on ALL drives;
1 = enable double buffering ONLY on selected hard drives (IDE/ATA large, over 8 GB, especially if partitioned with the FAT32 standard, or SCSI/non-standard ESDI), ONLY if needed;
2 = enable double buffering AT ALL TIMES on ALL hard drives.

To edit MSDOS.SYS (mandatory for Win9x proper operation), a hidden, read-only, system file located in C:\ root, you can use my DOS batch file [SYS95.BAT, part of W95-11D.EXE].
Hmmm... Strange, because I don't recall making any changes to my system or adding any hardware devices lately.
Note that the "phantom drive BUG" is NOT present in native/real/true/pure MS-DOS mode, outside the Windows GUI!
I have two EIDE UltraDMA 33 MB/sec hard drives installed, both connected to the motherboard's primary IDE controller (Megatrends HX83 Pentium class main board):
• a Maxtor DiamondMax 2880 UltraDMA 5.7 GB (master) and
• a Maxtor DiamondMax 2160 UltraDMA 8.4 GB (slave).
My "master" drive has three FAT16 partitions:
• C: 2 GB
• E: 2 GB and
• F: 1.6 GB.
My "slave" drive has a single FAT32 partition: D: 8 GB.
I also have an IDE/ATAPI internal Plextor 16x10x40 CD-RW drive set as drive G, connected as master to the secondary motherboard IDE interface. My A drive is a plain Teac 3.5" (1.44 MB) internal floppy drive, and I don't have a secondary floppy drive installed. Oh, and I have no SCSI devices on my system.
I have checked all my drive cables for proper connection (and even replaced the hard drives IDE cable with a new one) just to make sure the hardware works OK.
To see my detailed hardware specs, see MYPC.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], or go to my Über-clocked PC specs page.
All my hard drives are partitioned and formatted using Partition Magic, a retail program which I recommend as a MUST HAVE to all Win9x users.
Nothing out of the ordinary so far.
I have thoroughly checked the entire Device Manager list in Win98's System applet, available from the Control Panel, to make sure there are NO red or yellow marks, which might indicate an incompatibility by 2 different devices using the same IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest line), hex Base Address (BA) or DMA (Direct Memory Access) channel, which usually results in a hardware conflict, with unexpected consequences: system crashes, or even data loss. Ouch!
Also, I don't have the DrvSpace driver installed, and I deleted all DrvSpace files and DBLBUFF.SYS right after I first installed Win98.
Well, why do you think I got the "new" drive letter after resetting the BUFFERS to 12,6? Because Win98 automatically "thinks" that a drive in the system needs double buffering enabled if the second CONFIG.SYS BUFFERS number is above zero, and if the "DoubleBuffer" line in MSDOS.SYS does not have a value of 0 (which disables it), Win98 OS tries to load the double buffering device (default) at bootup (DBLBUFF.SYS). But even if my MSDOS.SYS DoubleBuffer line reads 0 (to eliminate the possibility of the OS loading DBLBUFF.SYS by "accident"), Win98 still "created" a new "phantom" drive (H in this case).

NOTE: To learn about MSDOS.SYS parameters and how to tweak them for optimal performance, read "COMPLETE MSDOS.SYS REFERENCE", also in MYTIPS95.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE].

THE FIX:

Limit the number of drives (on the LASTDRIVE line) available to your system to the actual number of physical drives/partitions installed in your computer, or...
Have your BUFFERS line's second number read ALWAYS zero.

You can change/add your LASTDRIVE line in CONFIG.SYS to read (in this case):

LASTDRIVE=G

If the LASTDRIVE line is not present in your CONFIG.SYS, Win98 sets it to Z, the maximum number of drives allowed on any PC being 26 (A to Z).

NOTE: For details and optimal CONFIG.SYS settings read "LASTDRIVE", also in MYTIPS95.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE].

Because my machine has a total of 4 physical drives (1 floppy, 2 hard and 1 CD-RW), which have assigned a total of 7 drive letters (A to G), any additional letters on the LASTDRIVE line allow Win98 to add "phantom" drives IF the BUFFERS line's second number is ANYTHING above zero. :(
Letter B is automatically assigned to the second floppy drive in any IBM PC/AT compatible BIOS, and cannot be reassigned to ANY other drive, even if such a floppy drive is not installed!

NOTE: I suspect that this "phantom drive BUG" can also be reproduced on Win95/OSR2 systems, but I haven't tried yet.

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• 12-7-98 Win98/2000/ME/XP/2003 Registry ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

REGISTERED USER?

Have you noticed that you HAVE to register your Windows 98/2000/ME/XP/2003 copy at the Microsoft Windows Update web site BEFORE you are allowed to download/install ANY system upgrades, patches, fixes, enhancements etc?
By sending your registration information this way, you are allowing Microsoft to store your personal data and computer specs, including the 25 digit Product Key displayed on your Windows Setup CD-ROM sleeve, on its servers for future reference. Talk about privacy! :(

FYI: If you have ALREADY REGISTERED your copy of Windows with Microsoft you do NOT need to do ANY of this, because your private info was already sent to Microsoft the FIRST time you accessed Windows Update!

But if you have NOT registered yet, you CAN still download ANY software from Windows Update WITHOUT being prompted to register, by applying this simple Registry FIX.
Use Notepad to create a Registration (.REG) file and save it as REGDONE.REG.
Cut & paste REG lines below into Notepad EXACTLY as they appear:

Windows 98/ME users:
-----Begin cut & paste here-----
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]
"HWID"="0"
"MSID"="0"
"RegDone"="1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Welcome\RegWiz]
@="1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\User information]
"HWID"="0"
"MSID"="0"
"Product Identification"="Not Used"
------End cut & paste here------
Windows 2000/XP/2003 users:
-----Begin cut & paste here-----
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"RegDone"="1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Welcome\RegWiz]
@="1"
------End cut & paste here------

Close Notepad. Open Windows Explorer or File Manager (FM = %windir%\WINFILE.EXE) and (double-)click on REGDONE.REG to merge (register) this information into your Registry.
Now run the Windows Update tool from the Start button → Windows Update icon and start downloading any fixes/patches/etc you wish. You won't be prompted to register anymore. :)

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• 12-1-98 Win98 Registry ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

WIN98: NO INSTALL CODE!

If you have accidentally misplaced or lost your Windows 98 Setup CD-ROM (or your Win98 Product Key code), there is still a way to (re)install Win98 on your computer, without knowing the 25 digit Product Key.
This method applies to ALL Windows 98 Gold (final retail) releases: Full, OEM and Upgrade. It also works with Windows 98 SE(U), but only with the OEM and Upgrade version, NOT the Full release.

WARNING:
By replacing Microsoft files you may VOID the EULA, warranty and/or support (if any).
You do all this at your OWN risk.
ALWAYS BACKUP FIRST!

NECESSARY STEPS:

First copy the entire \WIN98 folder from your Windows 98 Setup CD-ROM to a temporary directory on your hard disk, provided you have enough room (170 MB).
Use the DOS based EXTRACT.EXE tool (located on your Setup CD-ROM in \WIN98) to copy PIDGEN.DLL to a directory on your hard drive, by running this command from any DOS prompt:
EXTRACT D:\WIN98\PRECOPY1.CAB PIDGEN.DLL
I presumed that D is your CD-ROM drive letter. Change if different on your machine.
Run DEBUG (filename DEBUG.EXE, located in C:\Windows\Command) from any DOS prompt to modify PIDGEN.DLL, by typing the command lines below EXACTLY as shown (case insensitive), including the SPACES, and then pressing the Enter key after EACH line:
DEBUG drive:\folder\PIDGEN.DLL
E 1ED7
E 1EDF
W
Q
Typing "E 1ED7" and respectively "E 1EDF" above (no quotes) will generate two new DEBUG lines:
xxxx:1ED7 39. 8B
and respectively:
xxxx:1EDF 39. 8B
Press Enter after each one.
NOTE: If you have a hex editor, you can patch the offset 1DD7h and 1DDFh from bytecode 39h to bytecode 8Bh.
No further DEBUG segment adjustments are necessary, because PIDGEN.DLL is less than 64 KB in size.
The "W" line (no quotes) tells DEBUG to write the changes to the file (generates a message like: "writing xxxx bytes"), and then "Q" quits (exits) the command line debugger, returning to the DOS prompt.
Now run Setup from the folder where you copied the Win98 installation files. When prompted to type the serial number of the Product Key, type any letters or numbers except all zeroes. If everything goes well, your modified PIDGEN.DLL file will be used instead of the original one from Precopy1.cab.
Also, you will not be asked to insert a "proof of upgrade" disk if you are installing the Win98 Upgrade release, and if there is no older Windows/WfWG installation found on any of your hard disks/partitions:
- Windows/WfWG 3.xx Setup floppies, or
- Win95/OSR2.x Setup CD-ROM.
Win98 Setup searches specifically for these Win95 Setup files: WINSETUP.BIN, PRECOPYx.CAB + WIN_95xx.CAB.
This tip should work with Win98 NEW installs and REinstalls as well.
If you are trying to (re)install the Win98 OEM (Full) release, you might need to perform a few extra steps:
When Setup is almost completed, your computer will reboot.
When the Win98 GUI comes up, it will ask for the Product ID.
Cancel and shut down Windows.
Reboot and hit F8 (or Ctrl) at the "Starting Windows 98..." screen.
The MS-DOS mode Startup Menu will show up. Select "Safe mode" (option 3).
When the Safe mode GUI comes up, click the Start button, click Run, type Regedit, and press Enter.
Highlight the "ProductId" string, found under this Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
In the right hand pane, (double-)click on "ProductId".
Typical format of Win98 "ProductId" string:
XXXXX-XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXX
Type in any characters (letters and/or numbers), only don't type 25 zeroes for the entire serial number. :)
Close Regedit.
Reboot again in Normal mode to complete the install.

Done.

UPDATE: "There is an easier way of installing Win98 without a serial number.
All you have to do is start Setup normally, and when it asks to enter the serial key, shut down (Alt+Ctrl+Del), reboot in Safe mode (hold F5 while your PC boots), then run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

Create (if not present) or modify (if present) these 4 String Values (do not type the quote marks):

"ProductId" [xxxxx-01x-xxxxxxx-xxxxx or xxxxx-OEM-xxxxxxx-xxxxx Data field format] = replace all "x"-es with any combination of numbers except all zeroes.
"ProductKey" [xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx Data field format] = replace all "x"-es with any mixed combination of letters and numbers.
"RegisteredOwner" = type anything.
"RegisteredOrganization" = type anything.

Close the Registry Editor and reboot in Normal mode to complete the install."
[Thank you Toynut!]

FYI: For more Win98 installation workarounds see:

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• 11-4-98 OSR2/Win98/ME Original ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

IDE BUS MASTER DMA FIX

This is an(other) undocumented bug in Windows 95B/95C OSR2, 98 + ME, all retail/OEM releases. In order to fix it, it requires you to modify these 2 system information (.INF) files: MSHDC.INF +/- (and/or) DISKDRV.INF, located in your %windir%\INF folder (default is C:\WINDOWS\INF).
BACK THEM UP FIRST, as you should also BACKUP your Registry files: SYSTEM.DAT + USER.DAT, found in your Windows folder, BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES!

FYI:

MS HWDEV: Enabling IDE DMA on Windows based Systems.
MSKB: How to Enable Direct Memory Access (DMA).
MSKB: DMA Check Box Does Not Remain Checked.
MSKB: Computer with IDE DMA Hard Disk Hangs When Resumed.
MSKB: Drive Does Not Have a DMA Check Box.
PC Guide: Ultra DMA (UDMA) Modes.
PC Hell: IRQs, DMAs + Memory Addresses.

IMPORTANT:

You need your Pentium/Pro/II/III/IV or AMD K6/K6-2/K7/K7-2 class (or better) chipset and motherboard built-in Bus Master IDE/EIDE controller to support IDE drive transfers for (at least!) DMA Mode 1 (PI/O Mode 4 at 16 MB/sec) or better: DMA Mode 3 (PI/O Mode 5, UltraDMA at 33 MB/sec = known as the UDMA33/ATA33 IDE standard) or DMA Mode 4 (UltraDMA at 66 MB/sec = known as the UDMA66/ATA66 IDE standard) or DMA Mode 5 (UltraDMA at 100 MB/sec = known as the UDMA100/ATA100 IDE standard) or DMA Mode 6 (UltraDMA at 133 MB/sec = known as the UDMA133/ATA133 IDE standard) for this to work properly!
Check your hardware specs manuals/docs and your motherboard BIOS/CMOS settings to see which standards are supported by your machine.

THE BUG:

Microsoft added the IDE DMA setting ONLY in Windows 95 B/C OSR 2.xx, 98/98 SE and ME. It is NOT available if using ANY older Win9x release: Windows 95 (first retail release) or 95a OSR1 (95 retail upgraded with SP1)!
On some Windows OSR2/98/ME computers using:

older motherboards with built-in IDE/EIDE controllers or/and BIOSes, not supporting all newer PI/O, DMA and/or UltraDMA standards, or
add-in IDE/EIDE controller cards (PCI) that use non-standard hardware Interrupts (IRQs) and/or Base Addresses (BA), or
older/generic IDE/EIDE hard drives (with firmware problems), which may not be properly recognized/configured by the BIOS,

when you try to enable the DMA hard drive/CD/DVD setting under: Control Panel → System → Device Manager → Disk drives → Properties → Settings tab → DMA check box, you may not notice an increase in hard disk/CD/DVD access speed, or the DMA check box is grayed out (unavailable), unless you apply the FIX detailed below.

ADVANTAGE:

The DMA/UDMA disk setting makes a difference mainly when you perform certain tasks on your system, like accessing large (multimedia: video, audio) files, or create/copy/move/delete large files on the same hard disk/partition or between different hard drives/partitions.
This means that the DMA (Direct Memory Access) controller on your motherboard takes over the handling of hard disk reads and writes, relieving the processor of these time consuming tasks, which would require extra CPU cycles, so your processor can proceed with other operations at the same time, thus making multitasking work smoother and speed up disk access noticeably.
This translates typically into a major decrease of CPU usage dedicated to disk access, from a huge 30-50% (without DMA enabled), all the way down to only 3-15%, when DMA is enabled.

THE FIX:

Edit MSHDC.INF + DISKDRV.INF using Notepad. The \Inf folder is "invisible" to My Computer and Windows Explorer by default, unless you turn off its Hidden attribute: open Windows Explorer → highlight C:\Windows\Inf (default location used here) → right-click on it → select Properties → uncheck the Hidden box → click OK/Apply or hit Enter.
Now scroll down to the MSHDC.INF [ESDI_AddReg] section and modify (or add if not present) these 2 lines below to read:

HKR,,IDEDMADrive0,3,01
HKR,,IDEDMADrive1,3,01

Now edit your DISKDRV.INF file and scroll down to the [DiskReg] section. Add/change the same 2 lines above.
This applies to systems with 1 up to 4 hard/CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-R(W)/DVD-R(W) (E)IDE/ATAPI compliant drives installed on the built-in (E)IDE/UDMA/ATA (NOT add-on/3rd party/proprietary!) motherboard controller, which supports up to a maximum of 4 drives (up to 2 for each connector interface).

CAUTION: Do NOT modify ANYTHING else in these files!

Now save them both in a folder OTHER than C:\Windows\Inf → Control Panel → System → Device Manager → Disk drives → remove ALL items under "Hard disk controllers" AND all local disk drives under "Disk drives" and "CDROM", ONLY the hard/CD/DVD drives, NOT the floppy/add-in/removable drives!
Reboot your PC ONLY AFTER removing ALL above items.
When you restart Windows, the Hardware Wizard will find the new hardware devices and prompt you to install the appropriate (in most cases generic Microsoft) drivers, which are bundled with Windows. Browse to the location of your modified .INF files, NOT to the C:\Windows\Inf folder, which contains the original, BUGgy files! The existing disk drive controllers specified in your modified MSHDC.INF will be reinstalled, and then the Hardware Wizard will detect your installed (E)IDE hard/CD/DVD drives by looking at your "tweaked" DISKDRV.INF. Now insert your Windows Setup CD-ROM in your CD/DVD drive, and then browse to the: \WIN95 (OSR2), \WIN98 (Win98/98 SE) or \WIN9X (WinME) folder for driver extraction, if prompted to do so.
Restart your machine one last time when prompted, so all changes can take effect.

MEANING:

This workaround forces ESDI_506.PDR (the Microsoft generic IDE driver located in C:\Windows\System\Iosubsys) to enable the DMA mode on all fixed and removable local drives, if a standard (E)IDE/ATA drive controller is detected.

IMPORTANT: Install the updated Microsoft ESDI_506.PDR file for your specific Windows 9x release:

Windows 98 + 98 SE IDE driver fix [158 KB].
More info.
Windows 95, OSR1 + OSR2 IDE Driver fix [154 KB].
More info.

As final step, you should Defrag(ment) ALL your hard drives/partitions (run C:\Windows\Defrag.exe) with the "Rearrange program files so my programs start faster" option enabled, present ONLY in Win98, 98 SE and ME.
Then use a disk benchmark tool to compare results before AND after making these changes, for reliable disk testing. A good example (ONLY for raw disk subsystem access testing, NOT real world benchmarking) is WinMag WinTune [1.7 MB, free].

A MUST: See also "BUS MASTER DMA - Part 1", "BUS MASTER DMA - Part 2: BUGS + FIXES!", "BUS MASTER DMA - Part 3: MORE BUGS + FIXES!" + "BUS MASTER DMA - Part 4", all also in OSR2TIPS.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], for more FIXes!

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• 7-27-98 Win98 ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON!

The Captain kindly sent me another cool Win98 tip.

"Elementary, My Dear Watson!

If you frequently get illegal operation or invalid page fault error messages in Windows 98, there is a great utility that Microsoft included which you can use to troubleshoot, find the cause of, and correct those errors to prevent yourself from getting them again. It also logs all errors so you can report them to Microsoft or your software program's vendor so that they can fix the problem. To start this program:

Click Start, Run.
Type "DrWatson" and press ENTER.
An icon for Dr. Watson will appear on your taskbar tray.
Double click it. From here on you can view detailed information about your Win98 system.

I recommend putting a shortcut to Dr. Watson in your Startup group, it will automatically log all illegal operations and invalid page faults that you might get."

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• 7-21-98 Win9x ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

3RD PARTY AUTOSCAN

This cool Windows 95/98 tip was kindly sent in by The Captain.

"If you have McAfee (formerly Helix Software) Nuts & Bolts or Norton (Symantec) Utilities installed, you can force one of their real DOS mode disk repair tools to run upon bootup after a bad Windows shutdown, instead of Microsoft's ScanDisk (default).
Copy the executable you want to use: Disk Minder for DOS (DMDOS.EXE) or Norton Disk Doctor (NDD.EXE), respectively, to your C:\Windows\Command folder (default setup, change if different), then rename your original SCANDISK.EXE to SCANDISK.WIN, and finally rename the copied file to SCANDISK.EXE.
The next time you (re)boot after a bad shutdown, your 3rd party hard disk scanning program will run from now on.
This can be reversed by deleting or renaming the new SCANDISK.EXE file."

FYI: See "BYPASS AUTOSCAN", also in OSR2TIPS.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], to learn how to configure the MSDOS.SYS "Autoscan" switch to run SCANDISK at boot time.

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• 7-13-98 Win98 ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

DOUBLE PANE EXPLORER

Courtesy of The Captain.

"Open any folder (i.e. My Computer).
Choose View → Folder options... from the menu.
Move to the File Types tab.
Locate the Folder entry. To do this fast, click onto the Listview and type the word "folder" (no quotes).
Choose Edit.
Select Explorer, and finally...
Press Set as default, and leave the dialogs using OK/Close.

Now whenever you open any sort of folder, may it be a drive/directory, the Control Panel or your Mobile Devices folder, you automatically get the two-paned Explorer view for easier navigation."

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• 7-1-98 IE4/Win98 ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

IE4 SEARCH KEYWORDS

... Kindly sent in by The Captain.

"Search the Web Using Keywords with Internet Explorer

If you type in "go x" in MS IE 4/5/6, where "x" is any keyword, you can search for ANYTHING using IE, it will default to Yahoo [www.yahoo.com] for searching for that item that you entered for "x".
Don't type the quotes though. :)"

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• 6-17-98 Win98 ©Trick in TIPS98.TXT, part of W95-11D.EXE:

GIMME ME BACK MY REGISTRY!

Yet another cool trick from The Captain...

"Gimme Back My Registry!

To restore the registry in Windows 98 do this:
Restart the computer to MS-DOS mode. This can be done by choosing Command Prompt Only on boot or by clicking Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer in MS-DOS mode and clicking "yes" when prompted.
Type:

scanreg /restore

Press enter.
Restart your computer. These steps will restore your registry to its state when you last successfully started your computer."

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WIN95/98/NT EASY MIGRATION

"Installing Win95/98/NT over(writing) Win 3.x by The Captain

Some people like the dual-boot features of Windows 95/98 that let you keep booting to an existing OS such as Windows 3.x and a previous version of DOS, myself included.

I found a simple way to migrate your current Windows 3.x apps to Windows 95/98 without losing Windows 3.x and you don't have to reinstall any of your programs.

All you have to do is make an exact duplicate of your Windows 3.x folder and all the files and subdirectories within it, and that's usually just your Windows and Windows\System folders and the files contained in them. Usually it is less than 10 megabytes so this isn't a problem if you're short on disk space. All you need to do is make a folder named Win95 or Win98 depending on which version you are installing. Go into MS-DOS or use the Windows File Manager program to copy all your files from C:\Windows (substitute your drive/folder/directory name in place of C:\Windows) and your C:\Windows\System (same) to your C:\Win95 or C:\Win98 System folder. You will need a sub-folder/directory in your DUPLICATE COPY of Windows 3.x named "System" where you copy the old Windows 3.x system files from the Windows 3.x system sub-folder.

Then simply run Windows 95 or Windows 98's installation program and tell it to install to C:\Win95 or C:\Win98, overwriting your "previous" (actually a copy of your previous) version of Windows. All of your existing programs and applications will be automatically ported to Windows 95/98 while still being accessible in your original copy of Windows 3.x.
This will update the Win95/98 registry and even put the programs into the Start Menu so you don't have to worry about it. This tip should also work for Windows NT 4.0 and in the future, NT 5.0."

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CAPTAIN'S QUAD OS MACHINE

Another great tip sent by The Capt'n!

FYI: Microsoft Multiboot Windows 9x/ME + 2000/XP.

"Quad-booting MS Operating Systems

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for anything that happens as a result of using this information.

It is possible to quad-boot Windows 95/98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, and MS-DOS all on one PC with no special utilities or third party programs.

Make sure you are using a FAT16 partition on your primary hard drive.

First, install Windows 98 or Windows 95 normally.

Click Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click Yes.

Once the computer reboots and Win98 or Win95 starts loading, press F8. Choose "Safe Command Prompt Only."

Take an MS-DOS disk (where "A:" is your floppy drive letter) and type:

attrib a:\MSDOS.SYS -h -s -r
attrib a:\io.sys -h -s -r
attrib a:\command.com -h -s -r
copy a:\MSDOS.SYS c:\msdos.dos
copy a:\io.sys c:\io.dos
copy a:\command.com c:\command.dos
attrib MSDOS.SYS -h -s -r
edit MSDOS.SYS

Make sure it has "BootMulti=1" under "[Options]".

Press ALT + F. Press "S" for save. Press ALT + F. Choose "Exit."

Remove the floppy disk. Power off the PC and after 10 seconds power it back on. (The ten seconds gives it time to spin down to avoid un-necessary wear and tear).

Press F4 when Win98 or Win95 starts to load. Windows 95 will say "Starting Windows 95..." but Windows 98 will not, so be careful to press F4 at the right time.

It will load MS-DOS (in my case 6.22). A "DIR" command will reveal that Win98 or Win95's IO.SYS file has been renamed to WINBOOT.SYS and that the Win98 or Win95 versions of COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS, and AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS now have the extension ".W40" after them.

Now that you are into MS-DOS, you can install Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 into a folder. Make sure you don't accidentally install it over Windows 98 or Windows 95! I suggest a folder name such as "Win3" or "Wfw" as location for Windows 3.x.

Usually Win98 or Win95 are installed in C:\Windows by default.

Now, reboot the computer and let Win98 or Win95 load completely.

Once it's loaded, go to Start, Shut Down, Restart the Computer. Click "Yes."
This is an important step so do not skip it!

It will say "It is now safe to turn off your computer."
At this point, put in your Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup disk #1.
Restart your computer by pressing reset or ALT CTRL DELETE or by turning the power off and back on again after 10 seconds have passed.

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 setup will load. Follow on screen instructions. It will automatically detect that Win95 or Win98 is installed. If it asks permission to overwrite the Windows 3.x installation tell it "NO".

I suggest installing NT Workstation 4.0 it into the folder C:\WINNT.
Once NT setup is done, the next time you reboot you will get a boot menu asking if you want to load "Microsoft NT Workstation 4.0", "NT Workstation 4.0 [vga mode]" (similar to Win95 and Win98's safe mode) and "Microsoft Windows". "Microsoft Windows" actually refers to Windows 98 or Windows 95, not Windows 3.x or Windows for Workgroups.

In System Properties in Windows NT Workstation 4.0, you can easily tell the PC if you want to boot to NT or 98 or 95 by default and you can even specify the delay until it automatically loads the default choice (which you can pick). I set a time of 5 seconds and chose Windows 98 ("Microsoft Windows" as my default OS).

Now, after rebooting Windows NT Workstation, you can let NT load, OR you can choose "Microsoft Windows." This sounds a little complicated but is actually quite simple. If you choose "Microsoft Windows" from the boot menu at startup, Windows 95 or Windows 98 will start to load normally. You can let it proceed by not doing anything, OR you can press F8 for the normal Win95/98 boot menu and make yet another choice there, such as Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only, Previous Version of MS-DOS (such as 6.22 and Win3.x) etc. Or you can just press F4 when Win95 or Win98 starts to load and it will take you to MS-DOS and/or Windows 3.x.

I have found that its okay to use Windows 98's Defrag and Scandisk utilities on the hard disk as well as NT 4.0's CHKDSK. Try to avoid using MS-DOS and Windows 3.x based utilities as they don't understand long file names and other things that are only in 32 bit Windows operating systems. Using Windows 3.x and MS-DOS based utilities can cause problems for Win95/98 and NT 4.

If you can't find drivers for hardware you need to work with any of the operating systems, visit the manufacturer's website."

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WIN98 LOGO BUG!

This is not a tip but a BUG! And you thought Win98 is BUG free?! Think again... ;-) Courtesy of The Capt'n.

"A minor ("cosmetic") Windows 98 BUG

Right-click on your Desktop → click New → select Shortcut. The image displayed on the left side still says "Windows 95".
Microsoft is aware of this and stated they will not fix it. :("

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WIN98 CPU INFO

Many thanks Captain (Intel CPUs) + Bob (AMD CPUs) for this cool trick!

"If you have an AMD or Intel processor, the General tab on the My Computer screen reports your PC as an AuthenticAMD or GenuineIntel Processor (or similar). For more information, open Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0

(Double-)click on the "VendorIdentifier" String Value and type a space between "Authentic" (or "Genuine") and "AMD" (or "Intel"). Close the Registry Editor when done.
Now right-click on My Computer → Properties tab.
Underneath the Authentic AMD (or Genuine Intel) line, you'll see that your CPU is displayed as coming from the "x86 Family X Model Y Stepping [version] Z", where X, Y + Z are the correct values for your processor. Close the Properties tab, reopen that Registry subkey and the same information will be seen on the VendorIdentifier line.
After restarting Windows 98 the default value will be reinstated. :)"

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