Windows help needed

[melott]

I need some help with Windows 98SE.
This is my wife's machine (got to try to keep her happy)
On my PC, when it gets too messed up I just reformat and
reinstall. She has so much on her machine now that its
almost out of the question to wipe the drive and start
over.

SpyWare is taking over and also Explorer or Outlook or
something is tring to start on boot-up. I'm on dialup
and on boot-up the connection window open.
She is using Opera for the browser and Outlook Express
for mail. Opera is sometimes crashing now and sometimes
Outlook Express also. When connecting to the server it
appears to make the connection twice. When she in just
running some other prg. the connection window will
pop-up to connect to the net server and she gets error
messages popping up randomly saying Explorer has error.
 
There was a thread awhile back that mentioned a couple
prgs. that help get rid of the SpyWare but I couldn't
find it. I've tried 'CWShredder' and 'Cleaner' but they're
not doing the job.
I need to clean out the SpyWare and fix the Registry.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

[whabang]

AdAware isn't as thorough as other spyware-removal tools, but it removes what it does find.

RegCleaner is good at fixing registry problems.

[bloodline]

SpyBot!!! Get Spybot

-Edit- And get XP on there... 98 is a pain in the...

[Holley]

Spybot can be found here.

Also make sure you have up to date MS patches on (visit Windows Update, it's still active for '98) and up to date anti-virus.

All versions of Windows require constant maintenance to ensure no bugs get in, it's just part of the fun/challenge of having it ;-)

I'd suggest you sort a way of backing her files up (network to your PC or a CD recorder or something) as they all go bad sooner or later!

[melott]

-------------
- And get XP on there... 98 is a pain in the...
-------------

I've stayed with 98SE because I don't see much difference
in the different versions.
My guess is I would have all the same problems with XP
as I'm having with 98.... so why change.

I'll get SpyBot and Reg? and try them.
Is there any other prgs. that might help???

[blobrana]

Hum,
and if you do manage to clean the machine,
 here`s a Service Pack for Windows98 SE that contains all Windows98 SE updates from WindowsUpdate site and more... .
(Windows98 SE 1.16.2, only 12.1Mb)

Though you`ll have to update that as well, cos of the .jpeg exploit.... (unless you use mozilla etc)



[ On a clean unpatched machine you may last 30 seconds before your infected... (no one can hear you scream) ]

[FastRobPlus]

In addition to the suggestions above, make sure you add a firewall to your system.  Somehting like ZoneAlarm (which is free) can speeed up you OS by blocking ports that are commonly used by worms.  

[Cymric]

melott wrote:
I've stayed with 98SE because I don't see much difference in the different versions. My guess is I would have all the same problems with XP as I'm having with 98.... so why change.

Definitely wrong. With Windows98 SE my machine crashed once every while. Now, with Windows 2000, it's nearly rock-solid. The only time the OS failed on me was because my hard drive started dying. It's also much harder for malicious software to get in provided you practice proper data hygiene. Win2K is more hardened than Win98SE in that regard as it says 'no' more often. No disrespect intended, but if your wife's machine is filling up with crap like that, you need to talk to her about it.

[odin]

'Honey, I need to talk to you. Either W98 goes out the door or I go.'  :-P

[ple3003]

The diffrencies between XP and w98 are huge!
w98 is like trying to drive a car with the parking brake on compared to xp. The only "feature" w98 has is the blue screen of death.

1. As mentoned above, get "spybots - search and destroy".
You can try another one if you want to, but i wouldnt recommend it. Spyware removers often get you you more spyware - just like a trojan horse. Thats what i would call a "real" trojan.
Spybots 1.3, by the way, has got resident protection! not a single byte in the registry can be changed without your authorization.

2. Use Mozilla Firefox as your default browser. My god, i cant start to tell you how much crap get into your computer by using internet explorer and the like.

3.I usually check my mail at a website, to avoid getting it "into" my computer. As a rule of thumb - you got email reading software, use antivirus. I can recommend avast, which is free of charge, under the condition that use register the product at their website. www.avast.com

4. Firewall. I actually use the built in xp firewall, but im also on dial-up. Using broadband i woulkd recommend a hardware firewall. The software firewalls just suck your mhz out of your pezee.

As simple as that you say? yes sir!
Seriously, i never have any problems with my computer, so i guess that means i know what im talking about....

[Wain]

Seriously, i never have any problems with my computer, so i guess that means i know what im talking about....

Means nothing...you could just be someone who doesn't do much with your computer, "never" could be a span of merely 10 days, and you could be really lucky.
:-D

[ple3003]

I could be... but if I was i would never made a comment on this particular topic.
But on the other hand, thats not easy for you to know.

But I do use my computer a LOT. true multitasking.
I fly rc controlled airplanes with my own custom-built  rc interface, using sims like FMS and aerofly PRO.
I Make music using tools like Cubase VST and fruityloops.
I do a lot os scripting in Purebasic and PHP.
I rip dvd:s using smartripper and Vidomi, mainly by using OGG vorbis as soundtrack and DivX5.02 as codec and OGG as container.
I sometimes have my FTP sever running day and night when i feel i have a need for it. I usually have a web server running also, but as i said im currently on dial-up, so whats the point.
sucking dv material from my camcorder and editing it with pinnacle 9 and pinnacle edition.
Burning cd:s, dvd:s... and all of that.
I aasure you, with the right configuration, everything will run just fine. and yeah, for weeks.
I actually cannot remeber the last time i had to hard-reset my computer because of some sort of failure.
I just turn it off sometimes. Like when i know im going to be away from home a couple of days. honestly.  :-)

[TjLaZer]

Get Amithlon and run it on there!!!!  

[ple3003]

I didnt mean to sound like im "all dat.." just wanted to point out i use my pecee.  :-P

[Seacoast]

She has so much on her machine now that its
almost out of the question to wipe the drive and start
over.

In addition to the other suggestions, I would suggest defragmenting the drive. In my experience, nasty things can happen when you run low on disc space in Windows including corrupted files. The Windows defragmenter likes to see at least 16% free space which also seems to about where trouble begins. However, defragment will usually work with less free space available. You just have to run it more than once. If you can't free up more than, say, 10% even after several passes, it's time for a larger drive.

You can also run chkdsk /f to clean up some stuff. It's sure a lot faster than backing up and restoring the darned thing.

HB