When I start win 98 I get this : EXPLORER HAS CAUSED AN INVALID OPERATION IN MODULE EXPLORER.exe. IF I CLICK CLOSE ONLY THE DESKTOP APPEARS AND I CAN DO NOTHING. IT HAPPENS EVEN IF I START IN SAFE MODE. I'VE RUN SCANREG A LOT OF TIMES AT COMMAND PROMPT AND IT SAYS THERE'S NO ERROR. How can I fix this without having to reinstall win 98?

Could be corrupted shdocvw.dll file http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q175/9/30.asp Use the MS DLL Help Database to confirm the verion number you require http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion Also, see goddez's post http://www.windows-help.net/bbs/Forum2/HTML/005926.html

Walter, This happens with scanreg when you run scanreg /fix. Win98 assumes that the most recent backup of your registry is good and restores that even if it is incomplete. You may be able to find a good copy by using /restore and trying to pick out the good copy. Before you run scanreg again go to c:\windows\sysbckup and type in dir *.cab and hit enter. Pick one from a date you know is good and restore that. If that fails you will need to use extract and restore kernel32.dll, user.dll, user32.dll, shlwapi.dll, ole32.dll, comdlg32.dll, comctl32.dll, shdocvw.dll, ver.dll and mmsystem.dll. Generally a problem with one of those will give you the fault you have seen. Another option is to reinstall Win98 from your cab files.

Scanreg /fix does NOT do any registry restores. It FIXEs the current one. Scanreg /restore restores a previous version and will show all previous and allow you to select. On a boot, if registry errors are detected windows will recover from a previous registry that has been used to successfully boot. It WILL NOT use an incomplete registry, whatever that is. And DO NOT start recopying dll files without confirming the version number that you require.