This page contains answers to common questions answered
everyday on the News groups
1. Explore and Open are grayed out on my Start
button, why?
Use TweakUI | My Computer tab
and mark all drives for view.
*** Tweak UI is available on some versions of the W98 CD:
tools/reskit/powertoy and if not, it can be downloaded here.
The Win98 version of TweakUI
has IE4 & Control Panel tabs. Most users with IE4 or IE5 installed
have no
problems using the Win98 TweakUI
2. Nothing is listed in Add/Remove Programs, how
come?
Credit goes to Alan Edwards, MS MVP for this tip.
All Installed Programs May Not Be
Displayed in the Add/Remove Programs Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q240/3/48.asp
The problem can also occur in these
two situations:
1. The uninstall key name for an application is greater than 63 characters.
Solution: Rename the key name.
e.g. this is invalid
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234]
2. The DisplayName for the key is greater than 63 characters.
Solution: Shorten DisplayName
e.g. this is invalid
"DisplayName"="1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234"
3. Whenever I right click a INF file I do not have
the Install Option.
Download the INF Reg file, right click then left
click Merge....a reboot is required.
4. How do I
get CD-ROM support in the MS-Dos Mode?.
Provided you have a ATAPI CDROM:
Edit your config.sys file using notepad and add the following line:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\Windows\Command\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:mscd001
Then create or edit the Dosstart.bat located in the Windows folder with this
line.
LH C:\Windows\Command\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001
You will need to reboot then Start_Shutdown choose MS-DOS Mode and your
drive should work.
5. System Information shows I have a problem with my
Printer Drivers.
The first step is to uninstall your printer either by the uninstall
software it may have came with or by right clicking the icon in control
panel then clicking remove. Do this for any and all printers you have or may
had installed.
The second step is to open the Registry......Start_Run and type in regedit
Navigate down to this branch...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\LPTENUM
Beside the LPTENUM branch you will see a + sign, click that to expand the
branch. You will want to delete everything listed under the LPTENUM. You
should see something like Cannon BJC and a + sign beside that, just right
click the branch Cannon BJC then left click delete. You will want to do this
for all printers you may have listed. When you're done, the last item will be
LPTNUM--there should be
no entries under it.
Close out the Registry and reboot your machine. It should find the printer
and install the drivers for it. Go back to sysinfo and see if everything is
correct now... it should be.
6. Windows won't save my password, why?
No
one can explain this better than MS-MVP Ron Badour, he has an excellent
write-up on this problem.
http://badour.freewebsites.com/html/dun.html
7. I have lots of RAM, but my resources are low,
why?
Richard G. Harper (MVP MPS-D) explains.
The first thing to keep in mind is, "Resources exist to be
consumed." You
want to keep 100% system resources? Don't turn your machine on. The
resource pools are fixed-size special memory areas (64kb in size, and yes,
that's KILObytes) that are used for menus, pens and brushes (used to draw
screen elements), graphics, toolbars and so on. You can't increase
resources by adding memory, or a faster processor, or by adding hot new
devices . We'll discuss this more shortly.
The second thing to keep in mind is, "Until Windows tells you that you are
getting low on resources, you're doing fine." Low resources generally
won't
cause system crashes, system slowdowns or any other problems. The only bad
thing is that when you finally do run out of system resources you may be
unable to open or close some programs. Keep in mind this is when you RUN
OUT OF resources - when they hit zero, not when they hit 10% or 5% or any
other number.
The third thing to keep in mind is, "Clean up your resources on the front
end, where it does you the most good." How do you do that?
First, clean up
your desktop. Simplify your toolbars, menus, icons and background
graphics,
disable View Desktop as Web Page and so on. Resources consumed this early in
the ballgame will never be returned to the system. Second, check the list
of programs running at start-up. Use the System Configuration Utility
(Start/Run/MSCONFIG.EXE) and look on the startup tab. I'll bet there are
programs loading there that you didn't even know about. These programs are
consuming resources too, but more importantly, they're also consuming CPU
cycles and main system memory. Get rid of the toys you don't need and you
reclaim these resources early on in the game, when it does you the most
good.
The final thing to keep in mind goes back to #1 ... running programs will
cause resources to be used. That's fine - that's what they're there for.
Don't get worried just because they cross some imaginary line and you think
you're in trouble. If you're really getting near that point Windows will
let you know, and will let you know with enough time to do something about
it.
