mystified

Well, I finally got XP in and working right...thanks for all the help Anyway, two questions: 1. Is there a way to stop those popups on the bottom toolbar (install .net, take windows XP tour, etc.)? 2. Is there a way to get rid of Messenger? It doesn't show up in Add/Remove, and when I try to exit, it pops up a message saying it's in use by another program and I can't exit. I don't use it, don't want it, and don't want it to keep trying to access the internet. I'd like to uninstall it, but have no clue as to how to do that (it was easy to uninstall in 98SE, but I see no way to get rid of it in

I don't know why it was deleted, but just out of curiosity I sent the info to Snopes.com....hoping they can verify whether it's valid or not....Still, Terrorist's posts are usually right on, so I'm taking it as a legit warning....

I was getting ready to reinstall XP (SP1) per the advice I got in my other thread, but now I'm wondering if I should hold off a bit (I can still run on 98SE for awhile if I need to). I have the newest AVG saved to a CD, but I'm not clear on just what updates they're talking about. If I run the update now (just did yesterday), before I upgrade to XP, would that take care of it? The last thing I need right now is to have to reformat and reinstall everything again. Thanks for any thoughts.....

Thanks so much to all for the replies....much appreciated! I will definitely order the CD from M$....as long as I get the basic XP w/SP1 working OK, and get the express updates, sounds like I'll be OK to wait for the CD for SP2 (I don't do much online anyway, and definitely don't visit porno, warez, or "questionable" sites....from what I've heard that's where most malware comes from....still, I do want the security of SP2....ya just never know). I do have a couple of general XP questions, but they are different topics, so will wait until I'm upgraded and post as new questions. Anyway, I real

Thanks for the info, Terrorist 1. Apparently I'd have been OK if I had just left it at express...I'll do that the next time 2. No, it does not have SP2....just SP1 Reply is appreciated

Sorry for not posting sooner, but have been a bit over-whelmed with this XP upgrade thing. The problem I'm about to post....I caused it. I just don't know exactly HOW I caused it. I finally upgraded to XP from 98SE (actually, am now back on 98SE). All was going well, until I tried the Windows Updates. Please keep in mind that my knowledge is only intermediate...not advanced, and that I've never messed with XP before. Anyway, I'm used to updates for 98, and was kind of lost at the site for XP updates. Mainly, I saw two links: One for "Express," and the other was for individual updates. So, I di

Dang! Now ya got me wanting to cook up a messa ribs, but all I have in the freezer is hamburger and chicken. Oh, well, see ya when I get back from the store

I’ve posted this a couple of times in forums in the last couple of years. It’s a bit long, but I think it bears repeating. With winter here (or, very close), the need / desire to keep warm becomes important. However, there’s one way of staying warm that bothers me....space heaters. I’ve done a lot of electrical work in my life, and know all to well not only the comfort that can come from one, but also the danger. I’ve personally been in two mobile homes in my life where fires would have started had I not been right there (it's just as true in houses as in mobile homes). In both cases, the cord

Dang! I never thought of that It makes sense, too. This is an old M/B and CPU, for sure: Board: HOT_AI61 AMD-75X-W977 6A6S2H29 Bus Clock: 100 megahertz BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG 01/04/02 Well, if nothing else I did learn some things. I thank you for that (also more comfortable with XP now, too). So, your replies weren't for nothing! Anyhow, thanks to all for the replies and for hanging in there Best....Larry

Well, Killdisk did work. It took over four hours, but it did write zeros to the disk. However, partway through, I realized something. This link http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq...sk_80g_10g.html explains some limitations with fdisk that I didn't realize, and I think it's where my problem has been all along. Part of it says: (quote)"When creating partitions, FDISK allows the desired partition size to be entered in as either megabytes or as a percentage of the total available capacity of the disc drive. Enter the partition size as a percentage of the total capacity instead megabytes, t

Well, I may not be able to do this. Apparently I've really changed something on the hard drive. Since my last post, I talked to my son. He said that one thing might be to go ahead and upgrade to XP, hoping that it might reclaim the whole disk, and I might be able to do the partitioning through XP....so I tried. Yesterday I did upgrade (did not activate it yet). As in 98SE, Windows Explorer showed a full 80 GB. Since I had installed XP to FAT32, I was able to use my boot disk to get back into FDISK. Again, it showed C: as only 10 GB, and usage at 100%. XP utilites (DISKPART) could not create th

Well, thanks to your help, I pretty much know what to do now. However, I'm stuck on one last problem. It seems like I went through this same thing a few years ago, but just can't remember how I resolved it. Now, I've installed only enough right now to access the net, and only for this site (or wherever you tell me I need to check for info and/or d/l something). After my first partition attempt, and trying to install 98SE to the wrong partition, I ended up trying to reformat and start over. I ended up deleting partitions D: and E:, then reformatting. However, C: would only show 10 GB out of an

Thanks (again), Terrorist. I checked out the link, and it does explain a lot. I did it backwards (installed 98SE to C:). It does sound like this can work if I do things in the right order. I doubt I can do it this weekend (too many interruptions, and I'm best at this stuff when I'm alone), but will surely get to it Monday. Anyhow, thanks for hanging in there. Much appreciated......I just noticed something else. Although I don't do it as often, I sometimes go to Yahoo Questions and Answers. Now, whenever I try to click the link, I get an "illegal operation" message and have to shut it down. Bes

Well, I finally got back online, but not by much. I wish now that I had your knowledge. It’s been a lonnnng day. I started about 5 am, and finally at least got the basic 98SE and internet connection back about 6 pm. First, using fdisk I reformatted the HDD, then started to partition. Keep in mind it’s been a long time since I did that. Anyway, that began an entire day of things that didn’t work. I forgot that after partitioning, I have to format each partition separately. Anyway, I finally got it, I thought.... I ended up reformatting at least four times today. When I finally thought I had it

Just want to thank all for the help It's now Friday (after turkey day), and I went for the XP home. I especially thank Terrorist for letting me know about using FAT32. I didn't know XP could run on it, but that's what I want to do. Anyway, I did borrow Partition Magic from a friend, but don't think I'll use it. I've reformatted many times using fdisk, and I'm going to do it that way (reformat the HDD, then clean install everything). I'll partition the way Terrorist suggested, except I think I'll leave 10 GB for 98SE....can't afford an XP-compatible modem just yet, so will need to run internet

Sorry Terrorist got in ahead of you, The_ZoRo, but I did appreciate the comment about going to manufacturer's sites for drivers. I'll remember that Anyway, Terrorist, thanks for the info. Those were interesting links, especially the one about dual boot drives. I bookmarked them. Now, a couple of questions. I didn't realize that XP would work with FAT32 format. Now I'm wondering if I could fdisk in such a way as to leave everything I've already got on a smaller partition, leaving a bigger one open for XP (without having to uninstall & reinstall anything). Then, when I'm ready, I can unins

First, I want to thank all for the replies, suggestions, and advice. Much appreciated! Terrorist, I did go ahead and d/l the compatibility program. Thanks for that link. Anyway, when I ran it, it does say that my modem won't work with XP (I'll have to buy one), and the printer (HP 812C) and audio & video cards will need updated drivers. I'm trying to get them downloaded now to save them on a CD, but I'm running into more questions than answers. I started with trying to get the newer video driver (ATI Radeon 7500). I went to PCDrivers.com and tried to d/l it there. It wouldn't let me d/l it

Sad part is, you're probably right....they probably know more about it than me Anyhow....thanks.....

You know, you might just have answered my question My signal is just a plain ol' antenna (lol). I have a separate remote for the TV and the VCR recorder, but usually just use the VCR remote to change channels. Now, I'm thinking that I could set the VCR on the channel I want to record, then use the TV remote to change to the channel I'm watching. That should leave the VCR on the one I want to record. Yes? (hopefully, I typed that right so it makes sense...lol). Anyway, I'm going to give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion

Don't know if anyone can help without specific info on system, but thought I'd ask anyway. We have a reasonably new 32" stereo TV and a combo DVD/VCR player. I will NEVER understand all they can do, but I'm wondering if there's some kind of "generic" set of instructions (applies to most systems) telling me how to watch a TV program on one channel while recording one on another? It's no big deal, but thought if anyone has some pointers it'd be nice to know a little about it. Thanks for any thoughts....

Thanks for the replies Since I'm on dial-up (yeah, I know...dinosaur...lol), I'll d/l the compatibility thing tonight (start it when I go to bed...that's the way I handle long d/l's). Thanks for the link! It should tell me what I need to know. Thanks, too, for the nice welcome. Frankly, I've been afraid of XP, since I'm self-taught on 98SE (when I first got a computer, didn't even know how to turn it on, what the internet is, and someone had to tell me what a browser is). Now, I've reformatted this computer several times, with clean installs of everything, changed every component in it, and j

Is there anywhere I can do an online (or d/l software and do it offline) compatibility test for upgrading from 98SE to XP? I'd like to do this before I actually get the upgrade. I've checked through your site and did a search, but can't find anything. Thanks for any suggestions....

Thanks for the thought, martymas, but -- as you suspected -- it doesn't work on 98 (doesn't recognize cmd). Oh, well, worth a try. Terrorist, I owe ya It worked. The popup is gone. Wish I'd known about this a long time ago. While I still had some on my HDD, I saved what Windows Updates I could to a CD (28 of them), but always knew I didn't have them all. I'm going to save this setup program to a CD, even though I'm changing to XP....still could need it sometime. I'd like to know if these will also work on ME. Oh, well, can't hurt to save them. Anyway, thanks for the help....much appreciated!

I guess I must be doing something wrong. Tried again, with same results. Here's what I did: 1. Clicked your link and scrolled down to Windows Script Support, then clicked on it. 2. It took me to a page to read about what it is, then I clicked the Next button 3. That took me to a license agreement page. From the drop-down menu, I left it on "Accept License Agreement And Begin Download Now (English)", and clicked "Next." 4. That took me to a page which says "The Page Cannot Be Found." I tried clicking the Downloads button at the top, but that just takes me back to the beginning page (where I scr

Thanks, sethook. It does make sense that alcohol would dry it out. For now, I'll just use a damp cloth, and see about getting some of those papers and/or rubber conditioner. I'm sure that the rollers are just too dry and hard to pick paper up very well. Thanks