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The "Not Quite Amiga but still computer related category" => Alternative Operating Systems => Topic started by: melott on November 03, 2006, 04:41:34 PM
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I need some help :-D
I'm running Win 98 SE on my online poker playing machine.
Thats all I use it for. I did a reformat of the drive and
a new install of Win 98 SE then went to MicroSoft and did
a complete update of the system.
The problem is memory isn't being used correctly.
After a while of playing I guess the buffer gets full and
the system gets VERY slow until it finally crashs.
I was told to install this file (gdidettool.exe) to solve
the problem but it doesn't install. It returns a message
saying there is no software, MS Office, MS Picture It, etc.
that is vulnerable to GDI+Graphics component security.
I use Opera browser and it is having the same page fault
problem as the other software.
Does anyone know what I need to fix this ????????
(I'm NOT a Windows fan and I don't want to upgrade to
Win XP or whatever)
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Sounds like it might actually be a physical memory problem.
I'd download Microsoft's RAM tester and give it a run. I have used this before, and it works very well.
If that doesn't work, on to the next troubleshooting step...
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I did a reformat of the drive and a new install of Win 98 SE then went to MicroSoft and did a complete update of the system.
That still leaves the system wide open for viruses and other malware. W98 support has ended, no new security updates are being made.
I was told to install this file (gdidettool.exe) to solve the problem but it doesn't install. It returns a message saying there is no software, MS Office, MS Picture It, etc. that is vulnerable to GDI+Graphics component security.
That's nonsense. This GDI security hole does not cause system slowdowns. It's still good idea to plug the hole nevertheless.
Your system is probably infested by viruses and spyware (which are included with most "poker" applications). Use spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/), adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and antivirus (for example free Avira AntiVir (http://www.free-av.com/)). You probably want to run some firewall aswell.
Anyway, if you suspect memory problem, use memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/#downiso) to test the memory.
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Your system is probably infested by viruses and spyware (which are included with most "poker" applications). Use spybot, adaware and antivirus (for example free Avira AntiVir)
Anyway, if you suspect memory problem, use memtest86+ to test the memory.
This is a completely new instalation, ( 2 days old ).
I don't think its hardware, the ram chips system test
good and everything was working fine until I did the
re-install on the formatted disk. The reason I did the
new install is I'm using SCSI drives in this computer
and the SCSI card I had in it was old and didn't reconize
the full size of the harddrive. So I installed a newer
SCSI card that allowed multi drives.
I would have thought an complete update at MSN.COM would
have fixed the problem ( foolish me ;-) ).
I don't think its a virus. I think I must be missing a
patch file that fixes this problem.
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u must be joking, within seconds of connecting an unprotected computer to the internet( no firewall, spyware blocker or anti-virus) I would put money on that machine crawling.
I have had experience of this
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@JJ
Heh, didn't even consider that. I mean no-one is foolish enough to plug any windows machine directly to internet these days... right? ;-)
Firewall (or being behind NAT) is critical component of safe browsing.
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Just reading what he said, and he said installed 98se and then went to microsoft and downloaded updates. He might be lucky and be running through a router, which should give him good protection.
Thats why I keep copies off all software, like avg and spbot on a cd, so if I do a fresh install I can install these and switch on windows firewall, before updating from microsoft.
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I had similar problems a few years ago. Turned out that Win98 and ME didn't like the fact that I had installed over 512MB of system RAM. It caused the floppy drive to work erratically and as well as strange system "pauses" that sometimes lasted for several minutes. It only began to work properly again after some creative registry hacks that turned the additional RAM into a disk cache as Win98 and ME weren't designed to access over 512MB of RAM.
[EDIT] I think 512MB was the limit....may be more or less, but anyway, I had exceeded the max that Win98 or ME could use.
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You can tell Win9x not to use memory beyond the 512 MB barrier (I'll have to look this up if needed, something with MaxPage... in system.ini).
Win9x out of the box did not run -any- services that could be compromised with just a network connection. If you don't install the file server and don't use anything opening a port, you don't actually need a firewall (though I'd advise to install one anyway).
Of course security can very easily be compromised by using IE without necessary patches. Since IE has known vulnerabilities that can't be patched yet (that's probably not gonna change ever...), it's much wiser to use a 'proper' browser, e.g. Firefox.
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Hum,
You could run SysEdit. (Select Run in your Start menu, type SysEdit in the text box, and press Enter.) Click in the system.ini window. Scroll down to the [vcache] section. If you don't see one, type in [vcache] as a new heading. If you enter these two lines:
MinFileCache=0
MaxFileCache=65535
to limit it to 64MB of cache memory
If you have more RAM, enter these two lines:
or MaxPhysPage=20000
(to limit it to 512mb, or less, experiment with less)
Close SysEdit, saving changes on the way out, and restart Windozes.
To improve Swap File Performance on systems with large amounts of memory, more than 128Mb, the hard disk based swap file is not needed as much. This tweak optimises the use of the swap file on such systems. Using notepad open the SYSTEM.INI file in your Windows directory. Find the [386Enh] section and add a new line reading
"ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1".
Save the file and restart Windozes for the change to take effect.
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@melott
Without a firewall (hardware or software), your fresh install is going to be absolutely riddled with crap within an hour of going online. You've had 2 days. Listen to Piru, he isn't joking.
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Hum,
i read that an unprotected PC will be probed after 19 seconds of going online, on average.
"The speed with which PCs can become infected has now shortened. If your Windows computer is not properly protected, it will take 12 minutes before it becomes infected." - Comment from 2005.
"Was uns nicht umbringt, macht uns stark" - Conan the barbarian.
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So this topic is not removed but a reasonable discussion on what to do about software author issues gets the boot...
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Ditch win98se.
I installed Win2k last year on one of my sys. Installed SPK2, SPK3 off line. Installed ZONE alarm on line and AVG for virus checker. Then I installed SPK4 and then did a scan after with 3 spyware removal tools and my sys was full of spyware and viruses.
XP is the way to go. Save yourself some trouble and spend a bit of money. XP isn't that expensive to buy.
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actually I think that win98 is much better choice than XP , if you do not have any firewall/updates at all..
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DaBest wrote:
Ditch win98se.
Couldn't agree more!!!
XP is the way to go. Save yourself some trouble and spend a bit of money. XP isn't that expensive to buy.
XP's expensive enough!
To the original poster: if the PC in question has a reasonable amount of RAM as suggested above, and it's just being used for online poker, why not install Linux for $0.00 and give that a go?
Check out Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/), then take a look at Easy Ubuntu (http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/) to install stuff like the Flash plugin, Java plugin, multimedia stuff, etc.
- Ali
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My win2000 pc has no protection and I`ve had no malware at all. This talk of machines being infested within minutes is nonsense in my experience.
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xp is less than £60 if you buy the OEM version, all you have to do is buy a cheap mouse or something like than, look on scan on ebuyer
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@ frags
From experience a few years agoa did fresh install of win2k, no protection, connected to do updates, within mins, machine slowed right down, and the internet conenction was completley choked, machine was crawling with spyware etc...
Its not a myth, and if its not happened to you, then you have been very fortunate
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Frags wrote:
My win2000 pc has no protection and I`ve had no malware at all. This talk of machines being infested within minutes is nonsense in my experience.
You have to go online first ;-)
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Just lucky I guess - I never get spam either!
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i am typing this on a win98se machine right now, about 6months after an install with fireware and router.
my firewall reports 724 intrusion attempts none high rated. spyware blocker is run regularly and usually finds very little.
if it does what you need it to why replace it.
reinstall and get a firewall, antivirus, and spyware blocker.
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"You have to go online first ;-) "
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
No kidding.......
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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What sort of hardware is this machine running? I've had seriously poor results running Win98SE on anything more modern than a 1GHz Athlon. All kinds of unexplained crashing, even with all the proper drivers.
Win2k is a far better OS than any other Windoze flavor IMHO, tho I wouldn't recomend using less than 128MB of RAM... Certainly no less than 512MB with XP.
And of course given your dislike of Windoze in general, you could try a small Linux package (Unbuntu, Linspire, Gentoo, Mandriva, etc.), all of which carry a nice stable version of FireFox for your poker game.
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Frags wrote:
My win2000 pc has no protection and I`ve had no malware at all. This talk of machines being infested within minutes is nonsense in my experience.
Put it online with a public IP address and you'll be splotched in no time. There are numerous holes still open in Windows 2000 that do not require user intervention.
While many people love Windows 2000, it is unsupported, unprotected, and unsafe. While not perfect, Windows XP is much better. If you're taking a Win2k machine online, you should be running some kind of Internet security suite with firewall, antivirus, and antispyware.
If you're going to sunbathe nekkid, at least use sunblock :-)
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I'm very familiar with Win98 memory issues. I used to have big problems with the display pausing for a couple seconds while playing games, but everything kept running in the background. Not a good situation when playing racing games.
I'd suggest following Blobrana's advice. If you're running a freshly installed system and having slowdown issues, it's usually related to memory management or a bad driver.
Do you know what chipset is used in your motherboard? You may be able to get an updated chipset driver. Bad drivers will cripple any OS.
Now for the rant...
@Frags: I agree 100%. I've used Windows since 1995 and have never had a virus, malware, spamware, or any of that crap. I have a router with a NAT, and that's it. It's not a miracle. It's called common sense. I fix computers all the time, and systems bloated with viruses always have garbage like CometCursor, AOL, Weatherbug, and something that has "Jukebox" in its name. That tells me those peope are compulsive downloaders. If you only use a system for poker, then you don't need any toolbars, "tune-up" programs, or any other such crap.
Ironicly, Norton Antivirus deleted my entire e-mail archive about 3 months after I installed it in 2001. I never used any anti-virus ever again. Also, that was on my Win2000 system, which I hadn't re-installed until two months ago when I updated to XP.
If you have a router, the only way I know of for a virus to get on your system without you explicitly downloading something is through an ActiveX control. You have two options. In IE, go to the Tools menu, select Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level, and then set "Download signed ActiveX controls" to "Prompt". The other option is to use Firefox or Opera. However, I have come across a few web sites that requested that I install some XPI plugins to view the site. Don't ever do that. Even Firefox is not 100% immune to malware.
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@ Wacoon
I agree with what you are saying. A router with a hardware firewall is a must.
But if you just connect a win2k or below directly to the internet through a modem, with no software firewall etc... you will have problems very very quickly.
Add your computer to the DMZ in your router and see what happens :lol: