Hi there, I am having a major problem with my computer.It is windows 98.. The past week it has been doing strange thins, such as freezing up ALOT, pop ups and stuff, we have ran several virus scans only to find nothing. Yesterday morning i rebooted my computer and im getting this error message. Cant find FNTLDR.exe..blah blah blah. So now i cant do ANYTHING! I click on something and i either get nothing or a box pops and asks me what i want to open the program with.All my icons look like the windows flag thingy.. The last time i was on the internet and went to the web using internet explorer it chaged my home page. NOW i need to know what if anything i can do.. I cant get online so i cant download nothing.. Is there anything i can do myself to help my computer that has my life on it? HELP PLEASE, Im now using a very very old computer that is SO slow i cant stand it..LOL Please email me with any suggestions, I will try anything, guess i cant screw it up more then what it already is...
sandy

I suppose the first thing you should try to do is see if you can get into Safe Mode.

On some machines just hold Ctrl key when booting, otherwise keep tapping F8 while booting which always works.

Derek.W

Ok i can get into the safe mode..Now what?
sandy

Sandy, You are plagued with spy and adware. You may have to get a friend to d/l Spybot S&D the prog is about 4.5MB so they may have to put it on a cd for you. Even a cdrw would be fine.

Make sure to up-date it before using it.
1-Check for problems
2-Fix Problems
3-Immunize
I'm sure from what you've said that your browser was also hijacked as it changed your homepage, but Spybot should correct that for you. Post back if you have any more problems.

If you need a simple solution, try mine. I try to give advise on things that have happened to my PC. Glad to have a chance to help you.

Try to check the computer with spybot S&D that should fix it

The jack of all trades.

It is always useful to be able to get into Safe Mode. There will be certain things that will come in useful which will avoid having to use DOS for "everything".

I agree that this looks like a Spyware issue but you need more information in order to get the machine running.

Firstly, have you got any anti-spyware programs already on your machine? If so then run them now from Safe Mode. Obviously if you can fix things enough to get to normal Windows (however rickety) it will be much easier to progress.

I doubt it will be possible to get onto the internet (In Safe Mode it uses very basic drivers) but it is worth a try - if you manage it then life will be simpler.

Assuming you can't get on line then, sure, getting Anti-Spyware programs on board is your next step.

Definitely do not risk using CD-RW's because they very often don't run on a different machine. Get all your downloads put onto CD-R's and ensure when burnt they are "finalised" (session closed). They will then run on anything.

Next problem, which has not been mentioned, is that you will not have any CD support in Safe Mode, so you will have to put the downloads in place using DOS (they will then install from Safe Mode).

Did you ever make a Startup disk (floppy) for this machine? If not then go to Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs/Startup Disk and make one. This will be necessary in order to transfer the downloads onto your machine from DOS.

If DOS is not your scene then shout back when you have the downloads and Startup floppy - we will assist.

I would suggest you download the install files for these three onto CD:

Ad-Aware (search Google)
SpyBot Search & Destroy (Search Google)
A2free CLICK HERE

We'll await your return....

Derek.W

OMG Im back but not a real happy camper..HAHA, I did download the virus thing that everyone had suggested onto a CD..So i switched computers and tried to run the CD only to find out that my CD is GONE!!! I have no D drive! Where in the heck did it go?
As far as spyware i did have one on my machine BUT i cant get to ANYTHING everytime i try to open something i get the Open With box.Its telling me i have to open it up with something....(little window flag?)Can i run this CD within DOS? If so can someone tell me how? Or can i download it on a floppy or a few floppys?
As far as add and remove, when i click on that i get the same thing."open with"
Nothing will open (well very little) i can get into the windows explorer but when i try to open something from that i still get the "open with thingy"
What in the H%^*&$# do i do now? Ill keep checking back..... And THANKYOU ALL VERY VERY MUCH for your help
Sandy

Another thing, im noticing things are missing off my desk top.. Like my aol icon. my trash bin...geeeze we have a very mean thief out there! Hahaha

Sounds bad. I assume you were doing all this from Safe Mode.

The reason I suggested making the floppy was because you don't get a CD drive in Safe Mode, so that's quite normal. We have to put the download file (or files) into the hard drive via DOS. We can then RUN them from Safe Mode, a bit like normal.

If the other machine is W98 then you can make the boot disk (another name for it) from there. Otherwise you can download one from www.bootdisk.com

Make sure it is a W98 boot disk with CD-ROM support. IMPORTANT. You use whatever you download to produce the floppy on the machine you downloaded it on (any machine will do for this, doesn't have to be W98).

If you can get the other programs I mentioned in my #5 (onto CD) I would do so because this machine seems quite a mess.

Just for info these are probably not viruses but other nasties (malware, trojan maybe) but can be just as bad. Often virus checkers don't find them so that's why you need these other programs on the machine.

Better add that I live in the UK and it's 1am here. I'm can hang around a while but eventually I must get my head down. In which case either someone else might pop by or it will be tomorrow night (after 6pm here) that I come back on again. I have to pay for internet access before that.

Derek.W

Ok the machine thats broke is a win 98, the one im on is is 95(and it sucks) haha So when i go to the site to download the win98 boot disk which one do i want? And am i putting that on a CD or Floppy OR just downloading it right to this machine? Here are the choices that i have ..can you tell me which one i want to download?
Windows 98 OEM | Alt1 | Alt2
Windows 98 Custom, No Ramdrive | Alt1 | Alt2 | Alt3
Windows 98 SE OEM | Alt1 | Alt2
Windows 98 SE Custom, No Ramdrive | Alt1 |

Concentrate on my #8 - this is just info.

While I'm waiting I thought I'd set out broadly the way I intended to go in case someone else takes over later.

My idea was to set up a folder c:\dump (from DOS) on the HD then copy the program downloads into it from the CD you've made. The programs should then install and run from Safe Mode. I would probably run them in the order given in my previous post.

If we can get rid of the "nasties" it is still possible that we would then need a Windows overlay to get humpty together again - but we'll hope that doesn't prove necessary. If it does then you will need your W98 CD.

To get the CD to work from DOS we boot with the floppy and chose CD-ROM support. One complication is that your CD drive letter will be grabbed by what is called a RAM drive, so your actual CD will take on another letter. This is often just one higher (D becomes E) but sometimes something else like R. Once you've found your CD drive letter the DOS command to copy over the downloads is very simple. If it's a finalized/closed session CD-R it should go fine.

Derek.W

We overlapped. Firstly the Alt1 & Alt2 are just alternative download sites so you can use either. The ones without the RAM drive might be best but I've never used them so it's best if we avoid any unknowns.

So it comes down to either:

Win98 OEM or Win98SE OEM.

Have you any idea whether your W98 is first edition or second edition (SE)? If you know this then choose appropriately. If not right click My Computer/Properties and it should be shown at the top (General tab). This assumes it will let you do it.

Otherwise we can find out from DOS or just take a chance (latter best avoided).

Derek.W

My best guess is that it is the 2nd edition..as far as the broken computer letting me do it I dont think so...
sandy

Derek:
Hey i feel really bad that im keeping you up. Why dont you just go to bed for the night and we can pick this up tomorrow after 6? Just advice me on what link you want me to download the boot from and ill do that. Also am i putting that on a CD or Floppy? Im going to see about borrowing a monitor from someone so i can be working on the broken one and on this one at the same time.Its a pain unhooking and hooking 10 times hahaha
sandy

Then you can now do one of two things.

Perfect purest, go to one of the Command Prompt only items and type:

dir c:\command.com
(hit Return). Note the space after dir.

This will say COMMAND COM and give the date.
If it is 23 April 1999 it is 2nd edition. Can't remember first edition off hand but feel sure it is 1998.

Otherwise just download the W98SE one and hope for the best. I'd try the DOS thing if poss.

It's worrying me a bit now. If you think things have got so bad that we can't even do that My Computer trick then I don't fancy our chances of running the malware programs. Did you try My Computer/Properties from Safe Mode?

Derek.W

Don't worry, I'm highly nocturnal.

I'll tell you when I'm off. I might be able to get hold of jboy who is nearer your time zone to take over when the time comes (assuming he's willing).

Press on for now....

Derek.W

That'll work - if you're booting to DOS from the hard drive, you can also enter

ver

to return the Windows version.

For most things, it won't matter which 98 bootdisk you use, but may as well have it match the installed version.

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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Ok im back......im downloading the SE version, the date i found was april 1999....am i downloading to a disk or right to this computer?
sandy

Okey doke. Better nip off now. Not sure if anyone else will drop by - hope this shakes out better than the vibes I'm getting.

I'll obviously look back tomorrow...

CU

Derek.W

Sure, SE would be 04-23-99 10:22p

Download the file to the computer that you're on, double-click the file and it will 'make' the bootdisk

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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Ok i downloaded. it is asking me if i want to install and run boot98se.exe? do i click yes? when do i put the disk in? Sorry im so stupid i just know im gonna open up this program and mess this computer up also..:)

It should prompt you to insert a floppy, but you can put one in now. It won't affect anything else.

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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Ok its on the disk, now what?

Ok - you should be able to use that diskette to boot your ailing computer to DOS *WITH* CD-ROM support. This will allow you to copy the Ad-aware and/or Spybot installation programs from the CD to your hard drive.

You may need to go to the computer's CMOS setup and ensure that the floppy is the first boot device.

Once the Ad-aware etc installation files have been copied, remove the floppy and reboot to Safe Mode, then install the programs that you'd copied. Once installed, run them.

Looking into your error message (fntldr.exe cannot be found), it does seem like an adware problem - further info here

Hopefully either Ad-aware or Spybot will be able to resolve.

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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ok going to try this wish me luck. im going to need it
sandy

Sure thing. You should have an option to boot with CD support - select that, keep an eye on the screen to see what letter your CD drive becomes (usually it's R:)

Once you get that far, you want to use DOS copy to transfer the installation files to your hard drive. Assuming they're the only files on the CD, enter:

copy r:\*.* c:\windows\desktop

.. to put them on your desktop.

Why don't they make computers that will do what we think we want them to do?

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