Here's my problem: I have 0 bit cipher strength and I started following the directions in Microsoft knowledge base article 261328 to get it back to 128 bit. Unfortunately, everything came to a screeching halt when it asked me to insert the Windows ME cd in to the cd drive -- my computer is an HP pavillion and Windows ME came pre-installed, so I have no Windows ME cd. The article said that the installation files may be at c:\windows\options\install, but I checked and they were not. So the questions are, (1) do I need the Windows ME cd or is there some other way I can fix the problem and (2) could the installation files be somewhere else on my computer where I can't find them. Thanks in advance for your responses!

hello you can get this 128bit cipher by going to hot mail sign in page click on truble signing in. goto security,and fined 128 bit security bit and d/l and install it.

Dave, I can't find a link for that on the hotmail sign in page or security. It talks about SSL but I don't see the link. Maybe it has been removed, do you think? Here's a post about it from the win9x board, but the first reply should be relevant to win me also. My daughter had the same problem and got it solved on this board. See the 4th reply here and follow the threads, she posted one or 2 more about it after this one and finally got it solved. Maybe this will help you also I hope. http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/21642.html

sorry I left this one out of the above post: http://computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/91385.html You can also search each forum here for the topic using slightly different wording and find more threads about it that way.

Ok - I finally found the one I was looking for where the problem is solved: http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/21787.html

Thanks for the comments. As it turns out, the installation files were located at c:\windows\options\cabs (not c:\windows\options\install). Using that path, the directions in knowledge base artice 261328 worked and solved the problem just fine -- cipher strength back to 128 bit.