Any help here, or is this a problem with just my system. regsvr32 doesn't load hotplug.dll. This file is what disconn. storage device - and not what loads icon to tray, so I assume its a problem with it being registered.

Well, is there any more information about your problem that you can share? At the moment, one of the 189 updates contained in AP is causing the problem. If i can't replicate the problem in front of me, i don't have much chance of trying to find a fix for it. These are some of the things you can do:

1) post your log file so i can see what you were trying to run. I've already mentioned this!
2) just tell me which modules you ran, and also which optional updates you ran, or you could just send me your log file, whichever is easiest.
3) inform me what 3rd party apps you have installed that possibly could be causing a conflict

See how you go with that

soporific :
Brother's tee-shirt (I need one) "Help, I'm talking and I can't shut up!"

"Wordiness" due to IT experience; too technical (above others' head) req' detailed explanation. Edits to post necessary to follow-up in case others have already read / keep from wasting additional post.

Press on, folks!

(<<snip snip snip>> for brevity; info retained for feedback / test results)
Attachment contains info / Test probs / feedback / Test assist info (brief as possible)

edit: go here-
http://www.msfn.org/board/Auto_Patcher_Win...059#entry666059
Thx to NativeTexan for reminding me of WinKey (doh!).
In addition, "kablooies" in Explorer and IExplorer (Invalid Page Fault). Reverted to Dr Hoiby patch (should not have mattered), and uninstalled PowerMenu. PowerMenu uninstall was when "kablooies" happened. Went Safe, Scandisk Full, then Defrag, then Safe/Command deleted win386.swp, then scanreg/backup. Rebooted. All ok again (so far)! Sticking with this until/unless it gets sick again; then @#$%!

I seem to have made a mess of things. I was trying to install some NVidia 3d drivers, and somehow managed to destabilize my whole system. I am wondering if the kernel ex update may have anything to do with it, but am not sure. In any case, among other things, any attempt at sending or receiving e-mail, whether yahoo, gmail, thunderbird, outlook express, etc., seems to cause my computer to freeze/crash. I may still be able to post on this forum, though.

My primary drive is Drive C. I also, have a Drive D, which still has the OS on it the way it was before it was ghosted onto the present Drive C. What I was wondering is, is there any way to access the WINDOWS on Drive D, perhaps through DOS, and run the computer through it, at least until I can figure out a more permanent solution? I tried things like : RUN "D:\WINDOWS\" , but it seems to be a Bad Command.

NO i'm pretty sure you won't be able to do that. In your situation, i would probably consider a re-install of the OS but keeping the existing programs already installed (if there's nothing wrong with them) ... the OS will need updating but just run AP.

To do this do the following:

1) make a backup of WIN.COM (which is normally in C:\Windows) and then delete this file (or rename it to something else)
2) Use your Installation CD to start Windows setup. Because you have deleted or renamed WIN.COM the setup program will allow you to continue.
3) After the OS has re-installed, you will need to run AP to get your system up to date.

It took me several days to get the installation disk from Totonto. I am in Montreal. I deleted WIN.COM and then tried to run the installation disk. The computer fiirst kept trying to boot from the hard drive, but I managed to set the bios to boot from the installation disk. It got as far as copying the files to the disk. Then there was a need to reboot, and afterthereboot, I got the following error message:

A device has been specified more than once in the SYSTEM.INI file, ora device specified in SYSTEM.INI conflicts with a device which is being loaded by an MS-DOS driver or application or a device loaded from the registry file. Remove theduplicate entry from the SYSTEM.INI file, and then restart Windows.

Duplicated device: vcd
Press a key to continue

At that point, pressing a key still worked, and I may have succeeded in replacing the old OS. However, the screen resolution was now only 640 by 480 with 16 colours. I got a message saying that an NVidia driver was missing.

I made the mistake of tryinto runAutopatcher to see if it would help, and things just screwed up more.

At this point, if I try to boot from the hard drive, I just get the above error message, and pressing a key does not allow me to go on. Even pressing f8 does not bring up the customary menu.

If I try to do the reinstall, the farthest it will go is thefirst reboot. If pressing a key has an effect at all, I only get the the messge:

Windows 98is now setting up your hardware and any plug and play devices you may have. Then there is another reboot, followed by the above error message. The most pressing a key then does is causing another reboot, until the computer becomes completely unresponsive.

I noticed that two of the options on the installation disk result in DOs prompts, so maybe the problem can besolved from there, but I have no idea how to do it.

Hmmm, it seems you have your hardware config all screwed --- if its not getting past the setting up of pnp hardware, we need to force a rebuild of your VXD config ... there's some threads floating around that goes into this in more detail, have a browse thru some of the older threads...

The only other thing to do is a clean re-install, IMHO you need to do this at least once a year with a Win98 system anyway so see if this is do-able because this will obviously fix the problems ...

Jack, since i may have made your situation worse by my suggestion to try a re-install i am happy to answer any questions to help you resolve this situation you are in, but we should swap to talking via PMs as this isn't AP related ... if you want, i can send you a list of all the things you normally want to save before performing a clean re-install of Win98, eg: favourites, fonts, your current desktop, etc ... just PM me!

AP News well, its been over a week since June 2007 sp2 was released and the deafening silence usually means there's no problems ... am i right? Are there any Outstanding problems to fix?

I had problems with Sun Java Environment 5 update 12. Caused a crash visiting a trusted site; Firefox 2.0.0.4 on win98SE (with 98SE2ME and many of the updates).

Sun Java Environment 5 update 11 works fine though.

Might be worth trying to verify if update 11 might not be preferable to include in your update pack.

For Me Autopatcher works ...
Once again Thank you soporific

Has anyone else experienced problems with update 12?


Thanks for thanking me!

AP News

new addition for the next release:

* an alternate CDFS.VXD cd driver for Win9x to show Audio CD's as WAV files in the file system! This replacement driver shows WAV files in a variety of qualities. It works on any CD drive that Windows can support. Then you can use your favorite Wave Editor program to read directly from the CD. Never heard a skip or pop, unlike CDCopy or others... (size is less than 100k)
- any suggestions for which module to put this in? It's either: Critical and Recommended Updates, Optional Windows Components, or Essential System Components. My choice would be to put it in Optional Windows Components as opposed to Critical and Recommended Updates but i can be swayed either way with a good argument.

potential new additions for the next release:

* Windows Management Instrumentation
* WMI Patch (Q260710)
- size is 3.14 MB
- info: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394582.aspx

MDGx, you could definitely shed some light on whether this should be included, but anyone else can comment too. Has anyone used this? I don't want to include another 3 MB if its totally useless ...

If you do add this, make it optionnal. WMI is supposed to provide remote and monitoring capabilities (among other stuff) to help PC configuration... Read M$ KB
Maybe usefull for XP since it manages the system through a layer but for 9x systems, IMHO, it just fills the startup for no reason.

Just installed it on a 98SE2ME/Win98Lite system. Install went really well. Very slick and professional.

Great job! Thanks a lot!

soporific :

re CDFS.VXD - google search reveals "may not work on all..."; worth testing for people that want to try (make it optional - you will have to create an installer, tho).

re WMI? dunno...

Down to my nitty-gritty -

Yep still had probs even after the last post (you read + attach?). Strange "overlay" of IE portions of screen in addition to crashes (especially when accessing burned DVD); usually Explorer when accessing the HDD; usually when using WinRar (using that the most).

Finally got frustrated, uninstalled all IE6-related stuff and a few other unofficial (including Explorer fix). Unofficial un-installs mainly due to re-install of IE. Had a heck of a time flip-flopping file-names so's the uninstallers would work. Reinstalled IE6SP1, installed official IE6/OE6 stuff, went to WU, re-installed (official) from stored fixes. Only one shows up in WU - q273017 (can be ignored).

Then ran AP Find Missing Report (after selecting all)... interesting to say the least (see attached report). Certainly doesn't jive with WU. And so far not a single "crash". I will attempt another reload (someday soon?) and retest (perhaps bypassing some unofficials via code-tweaks).

Other than my "personal problems" (?VIA driver conflicts?) it seems to be ok (but see the attached - wierd). (edit) According to SHELL32.DLL fix, "Anonymous" has patched a number of these files... how well have they been tested in conjunction with each other / this install (this is not SP1; a different breed). ?Who is "Anonymous" and can he assure us that there are no cross-dependency problems?

l8tr, m8! keep up the good work

Great to hear ... but it does sound a bit like you have 'installed' Auto-Patcher but have you actually run the program? Sorry, i don't mean to offend by asking such an obvious question but there has been confusion in the past where some people thought that 'installing' AP meant that all the updates were performed as well. The other clue you gave me was the "Very slick and professional" quote --- i've heard lots of different comments about the fact the program is written in DOS and uses batch files but certainly not that! But thanks for the kind words anyhoo.

I googled "CDFS.VXD" and "may not work on all" and got NO results!! I took your quotes for real dude !! --- give us the link you found ... i agree with your suggestions re the installer -- i have already made one that uninstalls properly as well (and puts the original file back as well) --- download the attachment if you want to test it before the next release.

I will read again, but yeah of course i read it, i like wading thru your stuff, always lots of info even if its not always 100% relevant !!! i will go thru your report and see if i can't improve stuff ...

Yes, installed AND run

soporific :

Ok, my bad... Google on "alternate" and "cdfs.vxd". Just by reading dang near everything referenced indicated that it might not work on some hardware. Hey, if it works, the user is stylin'! If it not, well uninstall...

Tracking down AP Report "not installed" modules. Guess my re-install of IE6 undone a lot of stuff, all of which do not show up in WU anyway. I see a lot of them (official) would have required getting the Hotfix through MS Tech Support. Good luck with that!

Still holding stable... perhaps some of my hardware is too new / too fast for Win98 (?). I don't actually recollect what I was doing when the odd stuff started; seemed random. Maybe accessing a RAR on the DVD drive (a burned DVD, not CD). Possibility that was what was causing some of it (?). Think I might try re-install clean (I keep saying that...) and give the new CDFS.VXD a shot; it may "cure" it. All I did was clone fully patched, installed NIC, VIA video (from Soyo), VIA platform (VIAHyperion4in1453v), modem, VIA audio (in that order) - ZAP crashes began...

Just me, folks... If you are good, then kewl! This is the most complete 98SE package devised. And I might recommend creating at least a minimal UBCD and keep AP handy as well. It may save your hides!

Edit @soporific - Read this attachment. I uninstalled a couple more (IExplore probs gone?). Notes inside...

soporific....and other helpers

I have read your page 1 and being a dumbo, heh heh, can I make these suggestions and if I am wrong, maybe that tells you, that there may be others who may download the wrong files as well....I hope not..... but thats why I chose dumbo as a user id.

Suggested page 1 edits could be??

_____________
What is Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se?

Auto-Patcher features

For those doing a clean install of W98Se

1) Download the June 2007 Full edition.....link to be inserted here
2) Download the June 2007 SP2..................link to be inserted here

(NOTE its not clear to me if Jun SP1 is needed or not)


For those who have previously downloaded V1.95 PR2 or LATER

1) Download the June 2007 upgrade........link to be inserted here
2) Download the June 2007 SP2 ..............link to be inserted here

(NOTE its not clear to me if Jun SP1 is needed or not)

Notes on the 1.95 PR2 Upgrade release:

What's new in June 2007 sp2?

shameless plug

_____________________________

Questions
1) Does june sp2 need sp1 similar to XP requires sp1 before install sp2?


Thanks for any tips you or others care to add.

I'm sure you're not a dumbo but the name as an avatar does have a certain charm .... you just have to find a picture of an elephant with big ears and it will be perfect!

I probably shouldn't have gone with the 'service pack' name to differentiate between releases within the same month. I originally was going to release a version and call it by the month, but i forgot i wasn't infallible and in the end had to release updates to correct bugs.

So, you don't need sp1 to install sp2. If you downloaded "June 2007" then all you need is the sp2 update.

I will completely re-arrange the first post to make it much harder to download the wrong file. I can imagine the sinking feeling of having downloaded 275 mb of the wrong file, especially if you haven't got ADSL2 broadband!! Sorry 'bout that ... and i'm a guy who prides himself on good communication skills

Thanks for the feedback on the post!

Thanks, soporific, for a great program. Saves old hardware from a premature death by MegaByte w/o MegaBuck life support. Happy 99th birthday, too!

I found a bad consquence of the Kernel update (KernelEx in manual installs): It really loused up the Windows Explorer (& My Computer, Control Panel, etc.) folder views: Caused 'View as Webpage,' Icons, & small window size. After countless times manually unchecking 'View as Webpage,' selecting Details, enlarging the window, saving, setting view all folders 'Like current Folder', apply, saving & closing, checking & unchecking 'Remember each folder's view setting', etc., it never kept my fixes. "View as Webpage' would go away but return whenever re-booted. Also, opening the Windows folder gave the webpage with warning about dangerous to tamper with System files. Irksome.
After browsing for fixes, did some Registry editing. E.g., on HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams]
Changed Settings. No luck. Deleted lines, no luck. Deleted more lines, still no luck.

Ran Kexreco (in MS-DOS mode). Fixed!

P.S. Had hoped the Kernel update might enable running Google Earth on Win 98SE (didn't). Have another computer with Win XP, so no biggie, but perhaps you can add a patch to enable installing & running Google Earth on Win 98SE.
Thanks again, Ken V.

It makes me happy that this program means old hardware is still being used, thanks for the feedback.

The problems with KernelEx should also be posted in its home thread, but i will add a cautionary note to the index for the Manual installs apps in the next version.

Cheers.

soporific :

Installed 98SE using UBCD (only the Opsys, bypassing patches by "moving" to sub-folders, i.e. "raw/clean" 98SE install). Installed June SP2 to cross-check "official" patches (what I had previously downloaded past/present and what AP has) vs "unofficial" patches. Intent is to one-by-one install "official" to see where this bad boy stands in relation to "unofficial" (oddball TaskBar/goboom confirmation)...

Noted GDI+ Detection Tool (KB873374) is a "registry bypass" instead of the actual tool. Assuming installation of Cumulative IE6SP1 (re KB833989) and DotNet2 (over DotNet1.1 without SP1) and other non-installables onto Win98SE obviates the need for it...

For a test, I decided to use AP to install IE6SP1 only (no other patches whatsoever) and then intended to install and run the actual KB873374. But it didn't happen... During the AP install of IE6SP1, I got the following screen (attached JPEG). Apparently AP exited during/after the install without rebooting(?). I clicked "End Task" which caused a reboot ("Configuration Settings Update"). Run-Mod continued (after System Settings Update) and completed normally. Musta not detected/set "Reboot Needed" in IExplore for this scenario...

Also noted in MainCode the new DOREG4/DOREG5 routines (DOREG5 is unused). They are exactly the same and appear to be a variation of DOREG3 utilizing the RegKey from DOREGZ (DOREG3/DOREGZ are also unused). Appears to be due to some modifications in HFSecure for registry checking. Extraneous code is a real be-otch to sift through (I know, "Hurry Up and finalize")...

cheers, m8!

This is my first post to this wonderful forum. I am only sorry that my first post is what may seem as a silly question.

I have just read through this thread about the Auto-Patcher for Win98se and would really like to try this out on an old laptop computer I have. The machine is just sitting there, not being used, because of the rather low hardware-specs compared to the needs of Xp and Vista. So, this would be a way to get it back to life.

One question pops up though, a rather serious one I suspect:

I only have a license for a localized danish version of Win98SE. I have the original installation CD with boot-disk. Would AP work on my system or should I go find/purchase an english version of Win98SE?

This is my first post to this wonderful forum. I am only sorry that my first post is what may seem as a silly question.

I have just read through this thread about the Auto-Patcher for Win98se and would really like to try this out on an old laptop computer I have. The machine is just sitting there, not being used, because of the rather low hardware-specs compared to the needs of Xp and Vista. So, this would be a way to get it back to life.

One question pops up though, a rather serious one I suspect:

I only have a license for a localized danish version of Win98SE. I have the original installation CD with boot-disk. Would AP work on my system or should I go find/purchase an english version of Win98SE?

The problem is that any edition of Windows 98 se that uses different names for "Program Files" or "Windows" will produce errors when updates try to install. The other problem is that some of your language strings will become English. But the only way to actually find out the exact effects is to try it out!

But it really shouldn't work.

Thanks for the reply.

I had considered the Program File problem. In the danish version this folder i called Programmer. Something that has been giving me problems from time to time with third party software that only works in english.

So, I am now looking round for an english version of Windows 98 SE. Maybe I can get a cheap one off eBay.

hi first I just want to thank whoever is responsible for this great program
I've been using 98se with 98lite for a while but I've never bothered to update windows... I have just used auto-patcher with almost no problem whatsoever even though I had a lot of things removed with 98lite. My first question is: would it have been better to run auto-patcher on a clean 98se instead of on top of 98lite? Secondly, can I uninstall auto-patcher and delete it's folder now that I've finished using it?? thanks for your help!

Thanks for the feedback!! Good to hear you had no problems whatsoever but please report anything you think could also be improved!

To answer your questions:

1) the program was designed to work on whatever state your system is in so if you are a 98lite user, then it should work for you. The only people it won't work for is 4DOS users but they should see a message informing them of this. There is no difference using AP on a 'clean' or '98lite' version of Win98se - both will get updated with the same updates.

2) Yes, once you have used the program, you can safely delete the installation folder. Please use the uninstaller because it will properly uninstall the program and delete the uninstall registry entry as well. TO use any of the update packs i release every now and then, you will need to install the full version before installing the upgrade pack so if you have the hard disk space it may be easier to just leave the files installed.

Excuse me,I want to know if the Auto-Patcher has viruses.Because my Dr.Web found that the files "TTFpack.exe, V_Studio.exe, DXM9X.exe, HHUpd.exe, IE933566.exe, kb886677.exe, kb918144.exe, kb920670.exe, kb923689.exe, kb925454.exe, kb926247.exe, kb927779.exe, kb929969.exe, oleup.exe, riched9x.exe, servic9x.exe, w98mp10.exe"all have the same virus called "BackDoor.TerraBit".Can you tell me if my Dr.Web had made a mistake ?

I'm glad you added that last emoticon because you already know the answer don't you?

Dr. Web ... never heard of it ... AP has been going for about a year and i've never had a complaint about possible viruses ... so going on that, i think Dr Web is having you on !!!

thanks a lot for the fast support soporific! I can't see what it could do better, it did exactly what I thought it would. The only problems I had was that I installed explorer and media player by mistake (because I was too lazy to select only the components I wanted ) and I had to manually remove them. Besides that the icons on my desktop seemed to have disappeared, but it's only because I use a french version of 98se and they were hiding in the french equivalent folder of desktop... to people who use the french version of windows I can safely say you can use auto-patcher since program files and windows are the same, all I had to do was delete the french folders which weren't used anymore.

quick question: are the replacement tools for "add remove programs" & "shutdown reboot logoff" supposed to actually replace the original ones? because for me they only work when I select them directly from system tools
also it appears that some tweak ui options are not working anymore, the Shortcut overlay option and the Logon automatically option
nothing major though

1) replacement tools: nope, they are designed (i suppose) to supplement the tools you already have. I guess the title of the update is misleading but you'll have to complain to Tihiy about that, i just include his update in the program

2) Tweak UI options: the shortcut overlay thing is due to one of the updates ... if you review the optional updates for the Critical & Recommended Updates module, you'll see that one of them has a side-effect of removing the option to remove shortcut arrows from shortcuts.

I didn't know about the auto-logon disappearing as well, has anyone else noticed the same thing?

ah well it's fine the add remove programs replacement tool is more useful than the original one
about the automatic logon, an update changed my Primary Network Logon option to Microsoft Network instead of Windows Logon that was the problem
thanks!

Is there any way at all to slipstream this into an install disc? I'm not overly concerned if it takes lots of effort (rebuilding driver .cabs etc), but would just much prefer it if there were any way to do this?

Thanks,

Wrayal

i did originally plan to do this but it hasn't been enabled. The main reason is that i already have achieved a unattended boot CD and there are instructions about how to use the files in Auto-Patcher to make it update your computer as well. Go to the following link for the unattended boot CD:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=88008

Thanks very much! That's perfect

@ soporific - Just downloaded and installed AutoPatcher June 2007 sp2 FULL. You may recall from a few months back I was having multiple troubles with AP. This time I was pleasantly surprised to find that it all seemed to go well, no error messages or complications. (But there's some stuff included in there that I didn't need e.g. Zip-7, powermenu)

Would it work (except for some things being in english afterwards), with a non-english win98se
if I have c:\Program\ renamed to c:\Program files\ (and all references in the registry too) before ?

on this setup I have windows in c:\W\ so I have to reinstall anyway so if I do the change
before anything else, perhaps there isn't that much to change than ProgramFilesDir, ProgramFilesPath
and CommonFilesDir in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
and perhaps some more.

A better idea would maybe to modify autopatcher (if possible) instead. I really don't like
the idea of having a space in an important windows-directory, when I can have it a
normal 8-char non-lfn...

Why don't you think you need powermenu? I change thread priorities quite often, especially if i am multitasking like a mad demon. And what unzipper do you use instead of 7-Zip? Those programs were included because they add functionality to Windows that really should have been there already. All other 3rd party programs included have to perform some absolutely necessary function for it to be included. And if they are small in size then that helps too.


The only way to find out is to try it out. If you have "Program Files" as a directory, then it should work (possibly perfectly). The program doesn't use "Windows" anywhere, it uses %Windir% which is the environment variable for the Windows directory. SO try it out !!!

About powermenu, my 'chine isn't up to so much multitasking so pm just gets in the way in systray and uses up resources needlessly. Besides, I seem to recall reading something while back about it being a bit dodgy, couldn't get hold of maker's webpage either.

As for the zipper, I bought NetZip couple of years back and I use that plus the zipper that came with MDGx's 98SE2ME. I load NetZIP when I need to add or subtract things from a ZIP file because its big feature is that when loaded it allows a zip file to be used just like a common-and-garden folder.

(I also have WinRAR there in reserve for stuff the other zippers can't handle)

postscriptum - 'the July 2007 release will be available within 48 hours!' Can't wait, but hadn't that better become August 2007 by now, we're on the verge! (PPS - will that be a 'full' or a patch and if it's a full can it be installed on top of the June full?)

* Thanks for all the info about your software alternatives re the 3rd party apps --- i do listen to feedback and if enough people say the same thing then i usually will bow to popular demand. Usually.

* the July 2007 release will be an update installation, its currently 8.30 MB in size and these are some of the changes:

- Microsoft .Net Framework 2 has been completely removed (the reason is v2 is not officially supported in Win98 even though the version included in previous APs worked fine)

- the following apps have been updated:
* 7-Zip (v4.51)
* Flash for IE (9.0.47)
* OLEUP
* Root Certificates
* Visual Studio 6.0 sp6 Components
* Unofficial Windows Explorer Update

- the following are new apps:
* Unofficial Visual Basic 6.0 sp6 Update (Visual Basic Runtimes module)
* Karen's Directory Printer v5.2.0.3 (3rd Party Applications module)
* CD File System update (reads CDs as WAV files) (Optional Windows Components module)

- The latest Visual Studio Components update replaces the Visual Basic 6.0 Common Controls Update and has been moved from Optional Components to the Visual Basic Runtimes module.

This is only a partial list, i will complete the list tomorrow. Good night and i hope you all have colorful dreams !!

Question: could you please elaborate on the 'is not officially supported' statement regarding .NET v2?
I'm not a fan of it and I have no .NET version installed on my system yet, but tangentially, while collaboration on this IM application down in my sig, I might wanna install it at some point in time, if only to test some 3rd-party plug-ins that rely on .NET.

So, could you explain what you mean by this supported/unsupported thing? There are heaps of applications that officially don't support Win9x, but work just fine on such systems, or with little issues that can safely be overlooked. While .NET v2.0 seems to work on such systems (your words) and there have been no heavy complaints regarding misbehavior, why would you remove it from the package?



As I said, it's just a question...

- Karen's Directory Printer I already have. Would AP detect this and not reinstall it in a different place on my hard disk? Just wondering. And again out of curiousity when I re-install or update AP do progs which were previously installed by AP but are not in the updated versions of AP actually get removed from the HD?

OK, i was wrong about the support question - it is supported -- the problem is due to the version i was using --- it was designed to be installed on the Win2000/XP tree of OSes and the official one from MS doesn't play well when trying to install it silently. I may put it back in, but i will definitely wait for people to actually start asking for it because it has been such a pain for me ...



Re: Karen's Directory Printer (which was suggested by Submix8c, thanks dude) --- now that i'm starting to include more 3rd party apps, i have thought long and hard about how to go about checking if it has already been installed. The way i've gone with is to check for the uninstall string and use the information from that. So it doesn't matter where you've installed it, if you used the installer, then everything will be fine. IF you didn't use the installer, then you already have it anyway. But it is OK to try to re-install it if you already have it as it should be able to tell if it needs installing (by using the uninstall string info).

re: do old updates get deleted from HD if they are removed from AP? Case in point .Net Framework 2.0 --- in short, no they don't get deleted. This means that the install directory for a user that has June 2007 sp2 and July 2007 installed will have a bigger directory than is needed. You can delete the dotnet20.exe file from the components directory to save 16 mb.

Can you give me any further info...
1) Is this the FIRST thing you see? The first thing you should see is "Loading Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se..."
- please be more specific about where you get to before the program stops working, you should at least see ""Loading Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se..."
2) i can't see how you don't at least see the main menu, of which a screenshot looks like this:



3) what version of AP are you trying to use?

Please answer the above and i'll try to help ...



EDIT: please see the first post for news and links for the July 2007 release

soporific, where are you?? Have you gone AWOL?

Sydney, Australia ... like my profile says


Have i gone "Absent without leave"?

Whose permission do i need, and where am i absent from??

I'm happy to answer questions but not the Spanish Inquisition...


Now i finally understand the saying .... and its true!!! ... nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!

This could very well be a dumb question, so apologies if so...

In the July upgrade it says that you've removed .Net Framework 2... by this do you mean it will uninstall the .Net framework installed by the required June SP or do you mean it isn't included in the July upgrade?

Sorry for my confusion...

(btw: Thanks for all your hard work )

It isn't included in the July upgrade ... Auto-Patcher isn't Big Brother you know, if you want .Net Framework 2 installed, you should be allowed to without the fear of other apps uninstalling it.

If this was the Spanish Inquisition, however, yes, it would be uninstalled.

I DON'T want .Net framework installed... and I'm glad the you're no longer including it. My question/point is that it will still be installed, will it not?

If the July upgrade could be installed without the June SP then the fact that it's not included from now on would be clear i.e. it wouldn't be there. But since the July upgrade needs the June SP then it will be there... which (to me) makes the statement that it's not a bit misleading.

But don't bother replying to this - I can find a million and 1 people on the net who'll talk to me like I'm a child without having to take up any of your precious time...