So far, yes, only when trying to download AOL IM. At the same time, we haven't tried downloading anything else either. The computer is doing some strange things. WINMINE.EXE disappeared, so I restored that. Then WIN.COM and HIMEM.SYS disappeared. Same thing happened last week with WIN.COM and HIMEM.SYS. Restored those last week using the extraction tool. Restored the computer last night by going to an older registry.
Virus scans using both Norton and McAfee ran clean. If you look at my computer's history (D1E5A), you'll see it goes through these file deletions every six months or so. The last time, I ran low-level formats to guarantee a clean hard drive before running fdisk, etc., just to make sure there wasn't a virus on the drive that could survive the standard fdisk format.
I've got to wonder, does everyone experience complete Windows 98 system crashes every 6 months or so?? I've considered upgrading to XP, but I'm told the internet explorer errors while surfing the web with XP are a real pain in the rear.
Anyway, the registry restore took care of the program.exe problem, but I suspect more file deletions will follow.
Again, any one else experience these kinds of problems or know of a hard fix short of a complete reinstallation?
MichaelCretired
2 Intern
•
1.3K Posts
0
November 3rd, 2003 11:00
ronray43,
Thanks for using the Dell Community Forum.
Does this only happen when you try to install AOL IM?
ronray43
10 Posts
0
November 3rd, 2003 13:00
Hi,
So far, yes, only when trying to download AOL IM. At the same time, we haven't tried downloading anything else either. The computer is doing some strange things. WINMINE.EXE disappeared, so I restored that. Then WIN.COM and HIMEM.SYS disappeared. Same thing happened last week with WIN.COM and HIMEM.SYS. Restored those last week using the extraction tool. Restored the computer last night by going to an older registry.
Virus scans using both Norton and McAfee ran clean. If you look at my computer's history (D1E5A), you'll see it goes through these file deletions every six months or so. The last time, I ran low-level formats to guarantee a clean hard drive before running fdisk, etc., just to make sure there wasn't a virus on the drive that could survive the standard fdisk format.
I've got to wonder, does everyone experience complete Windows 98 system crashes every 6 months or so?? I've considered upgrading to XP, but I'm told the internet explorer errors while surfing the web with XP are a real pain in the rear.
Anyway, the registry restore took care of the program.exe problem, but I suspect more file deletions will follow.
Again, any one else experience these kinds of problems or know of a hard fix short of a complete reinstallation?
Thanks,
Ron