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I have inheritesd a Win98SE machine and I am having lots of problems. I installed Lavasoft Ad-Aware and AVG Free Virus Scanner. I was able to run both to completion at one time. However I still had problems with uninstalling software such as Netscape. The uninstall runs for a few seconds and then quits leaving Netscape in tact. I got rid of quite a few viruses and lots of spyware. Last night on several occasions I was unable to run ad-aware to completion. It gets so far and then just hangs. I tried doing a windows update, which never seem to go above 0% when it was searching for updates. So I decided to leave it overnight which was probably a mistake because when I came back today well over 100 files in the windows direcotory were infected with the Win32/GaelicumA virus. Avg seems to have cleaned them. In addition last night I tried to run regedit to scan the registry. The program is nowhere to be found. I know I am getting close to formatting and completely reinstalling Win98SE, but I would like to keep the current install because it has some software that I would like to use such as Nero the CD burner that is in the machine. Does anyone have a good document for over the top install of Win98SE. I used one once and it was excelent and worked perfectly, but unfortunately I cannot find it again on the web.
I don't usually recommend this, but I suggest you bite the bullet, format & do a clean install. Before you do it, make sure you have copies of all the necessary device drivers.
You can get a trial version of Nero 6 here:
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Jam I had gone to the install guides already. All I saw was 8 guides showing you to install 98 from scratch, none that showed over the top instructions. I will try the ccleaner and if that fails I may just bite the bullet as you first suggested.
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It sounds like Netscape is damaged or someone deleted essential files necessary to un-install it. You have to install that version of Netscape so that you can properly un-install it.
You don't need a special document to do an "overtop" Windows Setup.
It's worth a shot, won't do any harm, and takes a little less time than a Windows Setup from scratch does.1.Insert your Win98SE CD in a CD drive.
2.Boot the computer with a Win 98SE Startup Disk.
If you don't have one....To make sure your floppy disk is error free,
I recommend you use Windows to prepare your floppy using FULL format. FULL format (RIGHT click on A: to find Format) is slower, but will find and exclude from use any previously undetected bad sectors on a floppy, a common problem these days.To make a Startup Disk, open the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box at the Startup Disk tab.
Click Create Disk.
Follow the instructions on your screen.3. Allow the Startup Disk to load support for your CD drive(s) (the default), and let it run until it is finished, and at a command prompt, type Setup (enter).
4. Install Windows to the SAME directory it is now in - usually that is C:\Windows. You MUST install to the SAME directory in order for your existing Windows installation to remain intact.
Setup will proceed pretty much the same way as for a Setup from scratch, except you will be prompted to answer fewer questions, make fewer choices, and you will not need to enter the Product Key.That should repair missing or corrupted files and programs that are on the Windows CD.
If that doesn't cure enough of your Windows probems, you will have to wipe and/or re - partition (fdisk) /format the partition Windows is on, and run Windows Setup from scratch.
Backup what you don't want to lose to another partition or hard drive or wherever before you do that.
If you Format, you might as well run Fdisk first - it only takes a few minutes more, and Fdisk automatically thuroughly checks the drive partition for bad sectors as it partitions. Delete the existing partition Windows is on, re-partition it, make it Active if it is the partition that will be booted.Go to Windows Update on the Microsoft site and load at least the Security and Critical updates that you don't already have, and you should have fewer problems with malware.
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Recently helped someone on here with Windows overlay into the same (c:\windows) directory. It went fine but it did ask for a product key. It can obtained from the system before overlay if you haven't got it to hand.
DerekW
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Here's something I produced for someone else on here, which might still be of interest (although much/all of it has already been covered):
"Go to "Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs/Startup Disk tab" and make yourself a boot disk (floppy).
Power off, put in the floppy, then power on again. It will then boot with it and eventually give you various options. You choose "Start with CD-ROM support".
Watch the screen and you will see that Windows grabs your CD letter to temporarily use as a RAM drive. This will move your CD drive letter up by one (so if your CD is D it will become E). Downloaded floppies often use R.
You then put in your W98SE CD and (assuming it moves D up to E) you type:
E: (hit Return key)
setup (hit Return key)
It might ask if you want Windows installed to C:\WINDOWS.000. If it does redirect it to C:\WINDOWS so that you don't end up with two installations.
Additional Note:
Although I have not tried it, apparently it should be possible to simply type setup from the A: prompt after you've booted with the floppy. Worth a try, otherwise proceed as above."DerekW
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Derek,
I just realized I brought the Win98 CD with me today but I did not bring the manual with the key on it. How do obtain the key from the system before the overlay.
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As it's working just do this:
Type regedit in the Run box and hit Return key.
On the registry screen choose Edit/Find (at the top)
In the "Find what" box type ProductKey
(just the way I've put it, caps where shown and no space).
Be patient, it will eventually find it (in the right hand pane). Any problems shout back - there are many ways...
DerekW
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Oaky well that is one of the problems. For some reason regedit is not on this machine. When I did start run and typed in regedit it couldn't find it. Can I extract it from the cd. I remember some program you can use to extract files.
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Derek,
I found 2 pgm's I could use. Extract in the win98 directory on the cd and ext in the tools/oldmsdos directory in the cd. Unfortunately both find the file I want and then fail on out of memory when trying to extract the file.
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Not from the CD I'm afraid.
I guess someone has renamed regedit.exe
Copy that between the lines below into NotePad (straight off page):
====================================
var WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
var ProductKey =
WSHShell.RegRead("HKLM\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Productkey");
WSHShell.Popup(ProductKey, 0, "Windows 98 Product CD Key", 64);
====================================Save it somewhere as Prodkey.js
Double click the saved file and a box should pop up with the number in it. Not 100% sure if this will work in your case - we shall see.
Also check email.
DerekW
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I overlapped your last post. You won't get it off the CD. Let me know if the above works.
DerekW
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Here's another way I've just invented:
Make sure you are set to show hidden files and extensions.
"Copy" the file system.dat (in c:\windows) to some spare folder. Go to the saved copy and change the extension from .dat to .txt
Double click the file and it should offer WordPad. When it's finished opening it, do Edit/Find for ProductKey
The key will in the junk, just to the right of ProductKey
DerekW
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... gotta go, past 3am here in UK, back sometime tomorrow. I'm not yet quite out of ideas to get it out of the system if you don't manage it.
You could, I suppose, look in c:\windows and see if you can guess the regedit.exe rename but it's a bit risky double clicking an .exe file unless you are pretty sure it's the right one. Whatever it will be stored in system.dat because this file, together with user.dat, make up the registry.
CU later
DerekW
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Hello? Did you read response 5? You don't need the Product Key for an "overtop" Setup!
Try that first, and you may not need to do a lot of other repairing!If you can get on the web on this computer, or another computer, search for: Keyfinder
by Jellybean software and download it - that will find your Windows product key of the any Windows installation that is currently running, and the product keys of other Microsoft products. It will even run from a floppy in Windows, but it's faster if it's on your hard drive
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Hi Derek,
I was able to get the extract to work and I ran regedit and got the key. I did the install of windows (it looked more like a regular install but all my stuff is still there). I still have a problem with the Win32/GaelicumA virus. I tried ccleaner and it doesn't seem to get rid of it. I will do a search on the internet and see what else I can find. It got so bad it was telling me that my avg exe had the virus. I have since reinstalled AVG an I am doing a scan now.
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This post has my continued curiosity with regards to the effectiveness of AVG.
Was AVG installed already when the PC got the virus or after it already had the virus?
I ask because it is my interpretation of many past postings that AVG is a Virus detection tool rather than an anti virus program.
Bryan
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Bryan,
Very good question. The virus was already on the machine and I installed AVG after I got it. it was then I discovered the viruses. I tried running Trend Micro but couldn't get Java instaleld properly. Now that I hopefully have windows reinstalled, I will try it again tonight.
Your question leads me to another point though. When you first install windows, and connect to the internet to grab any updates that are required, you are totally vunerable to attacks. The reason this came to mind was sometimes when I have had to reboot, I get a message saying that there are two user connected. It seemed that the virus situation got worse after I left the machine connected all night trying to get the windows downloads to display. They never did. The next morning it was still at 0%. It makes me wonder what was happenning to my machine all night long.
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Tubesandwires
See post #56 here which was an over-the-top install:
It seems that sometimes you do need the ProductKey, hence my post #6 on here. I thought it adviseable to get it while we had the chance, because it becomes complicated if it's requested part way through an install.
DerekW
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AVG is a very good, top rated antivirus program. However, it only seems to focus on finding viruses, not trojans and worms, which you may sometimes get.
I recommend you set any anti-virus or anti-spyware program to scan all files, not just the executable ones - these days it is quite common for malware to rename itself to a seemingly harmless file name.
Some malware will attack the more frequently used anti-virus programs and disable some of their features so that the virus or whatever has a better chance of surviving. If you scan with something else such as the Trend Micro online scan that finds the malware and gets rid of it, you can then re-install the anti-virus software and it will work fine after that most of the time."When you first install windows, and connect to the internet to grab any updates that are required, you are totally vunerable to attacks"
That's true but you are a lot less vulnerable if you are running 98SE because most malware is targetted at newer operating systems.
"...when I have had to reboot, I get a message saying that there are two user connected. "
Do you have another computer on the same local network that was on at the time? If you do, that's a harmless message.
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On balance I think it best to get your AV on board and updated before you get your Windows Updates. You are vulnerable for longer while you are getting stuff from MS.
In fact I would advocate getting your firewall working before both of these.
Note also that overlaying Windows does not necessarily get shot of existing nasties.
Here's a freebie Trojan finder/fixer that might be of interest:
A-SQUARED FREE - JUST DOWN PAGEIt's fine but DO NOT go for the Context Menu option during install of "A Squared". It causes problems with W9x which the author doesn't appear to be fixing.
DerekW
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"It seems that sometimes you do need the ProductKey, hence my post #6 on here."
If Windows is damaged enough that Setup can't find the Product Key, yes, of course that's possible. But I've done a 98SE or 98 "overtop" Setup at least a dozen times and I've never been prompted to enter the Product Key.
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Tubesandwires
Agreed, I too have done overlay without a PK.
However, having sailed rather close to the wind on that other post I now intend to protect posters by getting the PK first, against the possibility of the presence of such damage.
There was a regedit problem on this one so who knows which way it might have gone.
DerekW
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Hey everyone,
I tried to insstall java again from www.java.com so I could run the free scanner from Trend Micro but everytime I install it it fails and tells me to refresh the page. I even tried to download it to my hard drive and then install.
As for AVG it is finding lots of viruses when I run the scan, it is just not cleaning them up. I am trying the A-SQUARED the Derek suggested.
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When you say AVG is not fixing the viruses, what is it doing with them? Are they just getting reported, or does it Quarantine them only for them to re-appear on reboot?
Note that many AV's don't detect everything that is nasty - they concentrate mainly on viruses.
If you can't sort this it might be an idea to post it as a virus type problem on the Security & Virus forum. Often cleaning a machine requires more specialised help.
DerekW
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The AVG scan runs and reports the file as infected. At the end it gives a vount of a number of files that were cleaned. But if I run the scan again the sames files are still infected.
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OK Thx. Some viruses and other nasties can criple AV and other checkers. If ASquared cant sort it out I'd repost in S&V as suggested earlier.
DerekW
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