Okay. I've been having a lot of protection errors and random resets for some time now. I've exhausted all my efforts trying to repair the problems.
Now I'm considering reinstalling win98, but I'm afraid all of my newly updated drivers and files will be wiped out. Does installing the OS again collectively delete all of the system files (ones that have been updated)?
Also, I would appreciate a little walkthrough of the whole process.

Thanks in advance

if your just inserting the disk while you have windows up & running, it may not wipe them out, if your doing from a clean install (fdisk/format) then yes it will wipe them out, if you dont have the updated drivers on a disk/floppy, back them up, if you do have them, then boot up w/ 98 cd, choose boot w/ cd support & just go thru the wizard.

If you run setup without formatting the chance of losing anything is practically nil. Windows normally saves all the drivers in a c:\windows\inf folder.

you can do a fresh install without loosing all your new drivers.

boot the system using a bootdisk with cd-rom support. check it works before advancing.

at the dos prompt type
ren c:\windows winold [enter]

then run cd-rom:\setup.exe

when asked for folder to install to enter -Windows

to use the new drivers point the install to c:\winold\inf\other

and if it cannot find a driver file, point it to c:\winold\system.

there you are, a clean install using the new drivers.

I only can advise you to use a liitle registry protection same as I do.
I try out a lot of shareware and full programs and this is not without riscs! More than 2 years I didn't reinstall my Win98se since I use UNINSTALLMANAGER, but you better start from the first software installed on your PC and after every change/deleting or uninstall a program you can fall back on you first or correct registry settings. Very useful and easy to use!