Open Firefox. On the Menubar at the top of the screen, go to "Tools > Options". Click on the "Main" tab. The Options Screen should then look something like this:



At the bottom of the screen, in the "System Defaults" section, there is a place which says "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup". Make sure that the box before this is checked in. There should also be a button to the right saying "Check now". Click on this button. You should then see a window allowing you to set Firefox as your default browser. If there is no "Check now" button, then restart Firefox and you will get the same window. Once you set Firefox as your default browser, most programs should work properly.

And, at least in my opinion, it's a good idea to have IE working as well. Believe it or not, there are still some web pages that won't work in Firefox. Some websites seem to have never heard of it. And some even still refer to "Netscape" instead!

That fixed the default browser issue! Thanks!

The above procedure is incomplete; as soon as you start IE, it'll become default again and you'll wonder why. So here's what you should do before the above:
- Go to Control Panel > Internet Options
- Click the Programs tab
- Uncheck "Internet Explorer should check whether it is the default browser"
Only after that you may set Firefox as default browser and IE would never change that option again.

I've finally had time to try the latest AP for the first time since 1.95 PR2, and also to read all the posts since April. I downloaded and installed the August FULL archive and set up choices to be similar to my 1.95 PR2 choices.

Thanks for the System.ini tweaks info! This is what I wanted to see, although I just used the recommended automatic values based on my RAM config. The procedure seemed to go fine.

I still have trouble with my 'choices.sav' file disappearing periodically, but I've learned to back it up. (Every so often AP doesn't load any settings when I choose 'M', and I investigate and sure enough, 'choices.sav' has gone missing!)

I was a bit concerned about whether changes to AP or to some of the fixes would update correctly over 1.95 PR2, and a bit confused about the Win982ME changes, but in the end I thought I had it figured out and felt fairly confident. (I enabled both Q891711 and Explor98, sounds like that's what I should want.)

I also suffered the "OLEDLG.DLL is missing" problem, and found that OLEDLG00.DLL was already the same file in the update, though I can only see 'version 1.0' and I'm not sure where the 'real' version numbers are to be found. Anyway, I just renamed it and I think all is well.

Much more interesting is that two updates are reported as having been set to 'bypass' even though there's no option to do so! From my I_Result.Log:

14:53:27 ++ the Critical & Recommended System Updates module was started
--------------------------------------------------------------------
14:53:30 -- update installed: RootsUpd - Root Certificate Update August 2007 (13.0.2195.0)
14:53:33 -- update installed: TOOLS9X - Tihiy's Unofficial Improved Replacement Tools
14:53:36 -- update installed: OleLibUp - OLE Automation Libraries Update (OLEPRO32.DLL 5.0.4530.0)
14:53:39 -- set to by-pass -- 48BitLB2 - Unofficial Update for Drives over 137gb (for IBM portables)
14:53:39 -- set to by-pass -- NativUSB - Maximus Decim Native USB Drivers v3.1
14:53:40 -- set to by-pass -- 98KrnlUp - Unofficial Update for KRNL386.EXE (4.10.0.1999)
14:53:41 -- set to by-pass -- kb933360 - Unofficial 2007 Updates to Time Zone Daylight Saving Time Settings
14:53:43 .. the computer was set to reboot.
14:55:00 .. the computer finished rebooting and started Auto-Patcher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm referring to 98KrnlUp and kb933360. I don't see any relevant options for this module. Running a report doesn't find them missing, but it doesn't report them installed, either. Should I install these manually? I haven't tried yet. If so, I'm not sure if I should use the INF files to install or just run the 98KrnlUp.exe and kb933360.exe.

Thanks again. I'm amazed and encouraged to see this updated with so much enthusiasm!

I just located this new info on Notepad+ here: http://www.mypeecee.org/rogsoft/problems.html

"On systems with the MS IntelliType and/or IntelliPoint software installed (which come with the MS Natural Keyboard and MS Mouse), text can not be added after switching word wrap mode. It's hard or even impossible for me to cure this problem, since it seems to have to do with a conflict with the Rich Edit control and the Intelli.. software. All the word wrap switching function does is call the Rich Edit control and tell it to switch word wrap mode. The actual implementation is done by the Rich Edit control itself. I have send a bug-report to MS, but haven't received an answer.

Also limited to some specific systems is a problem with the Find function. The problem seems to happen at least on systems with Microsoft Pointing Device Software v. 11.01 (pointer.exe) software installed. I've had reports that the Find function wouldn't highlight the string that is searched for, or that the Find function doesn't work beyond 32kB of text. I haven't been able to reproduce the problem (I've tested the Find function extensively on documents up to 600kB in size). Since I use the internal Find function of the Rich Edit control, the same answer applies here: I can't fix it since it's the Rich Edit control that does the actual searching. I only call the Find function of the control with the search string and the position to start as parameters, and the found position is returned."

Could this be the reason my Notepad+ stopped working? My Notepad+ was working correctly before I patched, and broken afterwards, and AFAIK, I have NONE of the hardware or software listed above as being known to cause this. Has anyone else seen this behavior appear in Notepad+ ONLY after fully patching 98SE? Is it known WHICH patch or update "breaks" Notepad+? Is there a patch I don't need that installs MS mouse/keyboard software, or which modifies this "Rich Edit" control the author of Notepad+ refers to? Is there any other solution (other than ditching Notepad+) that makes it work again? Maybe going on to install 98SE2ME? I can't think of any other utility that has provided more value to me than Notepad+. It really hurts to see it behaving so poorly now. It's like watching a good friend die, and knowing my action (patching 98se) may have caused it.

Got it! Thanks again!

Wow, AP discussion has been relatively quiet ... and now its coming thick and fast ... i actually have a theory that the less problems in AP leads to less discussion, and there are some issues with August 2007 which will need to be fixed quick smart.

I have not been totally ignoring AP, but to be honest, i haven't touched the code for 2 weeks (sorry Max!) but its definitely next on my to-do list. i have just cracked the last few problems with the next edition of the UBCD (custom setup billboards text!) and so my way is nearly clear to get AP focussed again.

First, i will be listing all the issues that are outstanding, so as soon as this list appears, please check to see if your issue is on it.

Should be up within a day or two. I will put the list in 2 places: first post, and as a message to this thread. Stay tuned !!

Thanks to all the posters who have provided info in the last few days, you rock! Remember, this is the last remaining Auto-Patcher for Windows left standing so any posters should feel part of the team helping to keep it alive!

No rush on fixing the remaining issues with AP. Whenever you get to it is fine.

Just wondering if you have any thoughts on which patch/update may be causing Notepad+ to go weird on me?
And the question on having two Java Runtime Updates installed at the same time?
And what the purpose of the V4 folder is on the C: drive?

Thanks! And btw... You rock!

do you have Windows installed on a drive other than C: ? The code is not supposed to just install stuff onto the C drive, but onto the drive where you have installed Windows. Looks like there's a bug somewhere ... this reminds me that its been a while since i've done a test using a D drive Windows installation, so i shall set a test up and do a check on the August 2007 code ASAP.

the Java and notepad+ issues i've have to have a look at the code ... i'll get to it soon, promise.

The Windows which AutoPatcher patched is installed on the C: (98SE) partition, in the standard folders. However, I do have a boot manager, which permits me to swap the boot partition via a menu which appears during startup, and I also have Windows installed on the J: (98FE) partition of the same hard drive. However, the manager always boots to the C: (98SE) partition by default - unless I override it. If I override the default, it swaps the two in the partition table (so that C: becomes J: and J: becomes C:). But for the entire run of AutoPatcher I let it default to C: (98SE), and never booted to J: (98FE).

However, I installed and ran AutoPatcher from the F: partition, which is a separate physical drive (because F: had over 30GB free space, and C: only had 800MB free). It didn't appear to have any problems running from F: instead of C: AutoPatcher found all of its modules on F: and wrote all of its reports there as well. The only logs that got left in C:\Windows\Temp were ENGSETUP.LOG, EngUtil.log, java_install_reg.log, and msievent.log. The only mystery is why "V4" was created on C: with only a cabfile and a text file in it (both named iuident). It looks like it was used to install something else, but not cleaned up when the install was finished. However I'm asking what to do before removing it because I could be wrong.

When I rerun the report module, Autopatcher tells me all the modules I selected are now installed with only two exceptions: HTML Help, and the August 2007 Rootsupd, so I think everything else was correctly installed.

I hope all this detail helps. Just let me know if you need anything else!

OK, i should have mentioned before, those files relate to WU_files.exe which is the Windows Update files (inside EssComp.bat). You can safely delete them, we don't need WU anyway. I was just saving a tiny bit of bandwidth for those who still feel the need to check their system to WU.

but they should be installing into %ProgFile%\WindowsUpdate where ProgFile equals the current location of your Program Files folder. This variable is determined by code as it is not native to Windows 98. It seems to be installing into C:\V4 correct? If so, the code doesn't work for your system which is strange. I'll probably have some more questions but i may as well try a D drive install test first. Oh, and Auto-Patcher should definitely work if installed on another drive other than C, it just needs to be able to wrtie to that drive. I really should change this so then Auto-Patcher could be run from a CD. I know SubMix8c wants me to get around to implementing this ... i may just get around to it soon ...

Well the Sun Jave Runtimes installed correctly into C:\Program Files\Java, so it seems that code translated %ProgFile% into "Program Files" while the Windows Update code did not. BTW I still have TWO Sun Java Updates (06 and 12) installed. Is it ok to take the 06 out now via the control panel "Add/Remove"? If so my C: drive could use the reclaimed space.

Also, during the patching of my OS my firewall asked me to permit web access twice. I permitted it both times. I'm thinking it was during the setup of IE6 SP1 and maybe Windows Media Player, but I'm not 100% sure. Is it not possible to install all the updates without web access? I know the full IE6 setup is a huge file, almost 80MB if I recall correctly, but then the AutoPatcher August 2007 Full was more than 3x bigger (248MB). Was I correct in letting AutoPatcher thru my firewall? What if I wish someday to patch a computer with no net access? Would that require using the UBCD instead?

RE: Sun Java --- i would uninstall both, and then re-install the latest one.

RE: web access --- AP should run totally fine on a computer without net access. What is happening is certain setups (ie IE 6) still check for net access even though we aren't going to need anything from the net. MS has a long history of doing this, so i'm not surprised in the least.

As soon as i have September 2007 ready, i shall out out a call for testers ... you should put your hand up!

Well, I now triple-boot with 98SE and XP PRO SP2 on one hard drive (hidden from each other, both are C:) and Debian GNU/Linux Lenny on the 2nd hard drive.

The 98SE install is fine and I intend to keep it updated by using your updated Auto-Patcher versions as you release them. However I'd like to have the stable final rather than a beta version as Grub is installed to the 98SE drive's MBR. A 98SE partition format must be avoided at all costs since I'm a guru at this point in some Linux stuff but reinstalling the specific Debian Grub for an updated to testing (Lenny) for which I have no DVD for (it's an Etch DVD) is not something that I think I can get to go well. It's a different Kernel than what's on the DVD too. It would just be a disaster.

So, beta testing is unfortunately out for me. It would be different of course if I was still using this in VMWare but I'm not.

But I look forward to your next updated release. I'll of course always give you whatever feedback I can for things I notice while using Auto-Patcher. But I can't risk needing to reinstall either Windows installation as that would replace Grub, which I use to boot all of these operating systems (for Windows unhiding one, hiding the other, and setting the one I want active and chainloaded). So no risking of hosing Windows is my aim. It was too much thinking to get it right the first time!

The code that adds a ProgramFiles variable to the WU installation isn't the same as the Java install. The code that determines the location of 'Program Files' is not working on your system, and i want to get to the bottom of it, if possible.

Q: have you installed the Unofficial Microsoft Scripting Engines v5.7 ???


Everyone else:

here's the list of outstanding issues, please advise if it is missing anything:

loop problems:
- DX_Media, HTMLHelp, kb937143, Servic9x, RootsUp

Issues:
- Unnoficial Notepad Update issues, doesn't play well with Rogsoft Notepad+, the initial solution is to make the the update optional
- Java just installs update 12 without uninstalling Update 06 first
- some updates that report they have been 'set to skip' don't have any way to be set to skip, eg 98KrnlUp, and kb933360 (this has now been fixed, it is only a cosmetic bug, nothing bad can happen)

- the Unofficial Scripting Engine Update 5.6.0.8832 is available in the menu, but it never installs -- this is because i hadn't added this to the Optional Components module. D'OH!
- MSXML 4.0 SP2 Update (kb936181) breaks MSXML in Win98 (is there anymore info on this?)

do i have them all?

more info on Choice.sav
- this is the file that records your module choices. As soon as you make a change to the module selections, the save file is deleted. Also, you can't carry your SAV file thru different versions of AP, you have to make a new one.
- i know this feature is pretty basic but i can't see how to improve it without adding more complexity to the program as it is.

For the looping issues, can people also report back if the above updates DIDN'T loop on your system. Ta.

I am not really sure why you are getting "cross-pollination" between your partitions but I suppose that might depend on how you are setting up your partitions and how you manage your OSes. Personally, all my partititions are visible to all the other ones and all can read the others (yes, simple free DOS utilities allow you to read NTFS, Linux etc). As I never let any OS installers or updaters to get away with changing my boot management or partition table, nothing ever messes up the other partitions (well, unless I want it to lol). And the best thing is that all the utilities and management are free (although not all open source). I control boots using XOSL (for the Linux partitions I point XOSL at GRUB or LILO to allow them to ensure the latest kernel is in use). I control partitions using Ranish Partition Manager which means that when a new OS is installed, I plan the partition(s) for it beforehand and set up the exact spaces in RPM before letting the installer at them. To move/resize partitions I use GParted on a stick (I modified their LiveCD to run from DOS on a USB memory stick to simplify things). Whenever something installs that is likely to change the MBR, I go first back into RPM to check that the partitions are as I want them, then go to DOS to change things like boot.ini which WinXP invariably "unfixes" and then restore XOSL from somewhere else (another partition or a backup) and then set it to include the new OS. All of which takes no time at all once you understand how it all works.

Doing that, you can use any Auto-Patcher to your heart's content. It will ONLY affect the Win98SE partition(s). Can't think why it would affect any others - mine are all visible and the auto-patcher has never affected any of the other partitions except the one containing the specific Win98SE OS on which it is run. The others include Vista, XPpro (more than one), Win98SE (more than one), DOS (more than one) and various Linux distros. And various combinations on various boxes. Never a problem outside the specific Win98SE partition on which the auto-patcher is running - oh, except that it helps to tell your boot manager to boot that partition as the default while autopatcher is running which saves you supervising it or having to reboot manually back from the default OS each time it reboots (and even then it doesn't CHANGE anything on the other partitions).

Am I missing something here? Anyone else found the autopatcher does things to other partitions?

I set AP to install the Scripting Update. However I did bypass the CD File System update directly above it.
In the AP Result log right after CDFS reports being set to "by-pass" the next line says "all titles have finished installing."
I find NO mention of the Scripting Update in my AP Result log, nor can I find it in Add/Remove programs.

The WSCRIPT.EXE file in my C:\WINDOWS folder is version 5.6.0.8825 - size 114,688 bytes - date 08/09/04.
AP says the update should be version 5.6.0.8832. So I guess it didn't install, even though I set it to do so.
Could this be due to my choosing to bypass the CDFS update?

OOPS! You already explained why the scripting engine didn't update - even though I selected it!
Looks like the cause is already known!

So does this also explain the creation of the V4 folder on my C: drive?

The only two modules that I had looping issues with were HTMLHelp, and the Aug 07 RootsUp.
My Results log shows the DX_Media, KB937143, and Servic9x all installed successfully.

I think I went with the default settings in AP except in the Tweaks, 3rd party Apps, and
Optional Windows Components modules. I did turn off a few of those. Hope this helps.

Have you patched the COMPNTS.BAT module to install Scripting Update 5.6.0.8832 yet?
If you have, can we download just that patch now w/o having to download the entire project again?
(I'm assuming we'd only need to replace COMPNTS.BAT for that single fix.)

Or would you prefer that we wait til the next full release?

briton,

Of course you are correct when you do things the way you have done. I didn't!

I first installed 98SE, used Partition Magic to change the active partition to the 2nd NTFS and installed XP, then installed Debian which replaced all the Microsoft stuff in the MBR with Grub.

I set Grub to hide one partition, unhide and activate the other and chainload into it for both Windows partitions. Linux is on its own hard drive but Grub is on the 1st Windows partition on the first hard drive.

Using Grub I can leave it alone and boot into Linux or go down in the menu and it will hand over the process to whichever Windows I pick after doing its hiding, unhiding, activating magic. Sort of like BootMagic would do.

Now, if I erase the Linux drive Grub will not find its files and so nothing will boot. If I format Windows 98SE then Grub will entirely disappear from the MBR and Windows 98 will be the only operating system bootable unless I reinstall Grub again. XP, um, not sure where the heck its stuff is but I suspect nowhere as Grub is there and simply hands things over instead of using any Microsoft boot loader.

This is better than the Microsoft way of having XP boot both and them both seeing each other. You like the OS's seeing the files in the other but I don't (except for Linux). But perhaps not as good as your boot loader that lets you format any partition you want (except for the primary that the boot loader is on, which is likely on a single small primary, right?)

I tried that with BootIT NG and couldn't get it to work properly. You've had success with XOSL.

But as long as I don't need to format Windows I'm fine as Linux distro's just install their own Grub replacing the last one that was there. I'm nearly all the time in Linux anyway. I think the 98SE partition is the most dangerous for me to format as that might lose everything as that's where Grub is.

Hopefully, the installs of Windows are there to stay. They are only there for occasional use of Windows only things and I really don't want to mess with them much.

Hi soporific,
A reminder of the OLE update failure (several complaints previously), and the Q891711 version checking of two dlls to prevent back-dating.

EDIT: Okay, looks like MDGx has fixed the Q891711 issue...

COMPNTS.BAT now has more changes than just the little bug i found. Looks like you'll have to download the UPDATE when its available.

Latest News:

The September 2007 FULL beta is available. I know its a big download, but for those where this doesn't matter, please try it out. It says Beta but this version is heaps better than August 2007. Trust me!

September 2007 FULL Beta is now available - 255 MB

The link will work in about 2 hours ... its uploading as i type.

EDIT: oops, the link works while its still uploading, please wait for 2 hours after the time of the last edit of this post, otherwise you'll just waste bandwidth on a broken version.

An much smaller UPGRADE version will be available tomorrow. I'm off to bed.

change log:

new: TriEdit - Cumulative TriEdit & DHTML Edit Control Vulnerability Fixes
new: kb932590 - Unofficial TZ Environment Variable Errors Fix
new: MSPaint - Unofficial MSPaint Update and Graphic Filters Pack (optional)
new: Contrl98 - Unofficial Control Panel Applets Lockups Fix
new: Revolutions Pack 7 by Tihiy
update: 98KrnlUp - Unofficial Update for KRNL386.EXE (4.10.0.2000)
update: RichEd9x - Unofficial Rich Text Controls Update (Sept 2007)
bug fix: the q329048 hotfix wasn't installing due to wrong file number check value
bug fix: the PNGFIX in the Manual Installs folder was broken.
bug fix: HTMLHelp was looping, should now be fixed.
bug fix:rootsup was looping, should now be fixed.

Hey soporific,

Java 5.0 Update 13 is out (http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp).
Is it too late to include it in the September 2007 release?

Also, are you going to include MDGx's August 27 release of 98MP10?
Your one is February...

Keep up the good work!

Java 5.0 Update 13 made it in, but the latest 98MP10 hasn't as yet. See details below.


Latest News:
Oct 15:
The final September 2007 UPGRADE is now available:
September 2007 UPGRADE - 31.2 MB
MD5: BBF60F778688E7DB98FA36D08C163A97

Please Note: There are a few changes to the final September Upgrade release which will make your Auto-Patcher slightly newer than the FULL release. Changes from the UPGRADE version and the FULL (beta) version are listed below.

Change log: September 2007 Final

new: Backup4all 1.3.0 (file & directory backup) (optional)
update: AutoSYSTEMini Tweaks Installer version 1.5 (the original version was 1.0)
update: Sun Java 2 Runtime Environment 5 update 13 (optional)

Change log: September 2007 beta

new: TriEdit - Cumulative TriEdit & DHTML Edit Control Vulnerability Fixes
new: kb932590 - Unofficial TZ Environment Variable Errors Fix
new: MSPaint - Unofficial MSPaint Update and Graphic Filters Pack (optional)
new: Contrl98 - Unofficial Control Panel Applets Lockups Fix
new: Revolutions Pack 7 by Tihiy (manual updates folder)
update: 98KrnlUp - Unofficial Update for KRNL386.EXE (4.10.0.2000)
update: RichEd9x - Unofficial Rich Text Controls Update (Sept 2007)
update: Q891711 - Unofficial Fix for Newer Cursor & Icon Format Vulnerability (updated INF code)
bug fix: the q329048 hotfix wasn't installing due to wrong file number check value
bug fix: the PNGFIX in the Manual Installs folder was broken.

I currently have the Unofficial Win98 SE Service Pack 2.0.1 on my computer. Shall I then further install the Auto Patcher for Win98SE? If so, shall I first install the large 248 mb August/07 main file, then the Sept/07 upgrade? If I attempt the large install, are the instructions easy to follow? I am not of the computer generation so please make your reply easy to follow. Thanks.

Yes to all your questions.

Seriously, i consider very carefully the question of user friendliness and i think the installation and usage of Auto-Patcher for Windows 98se is very user friendly.

Thanks Soporific. The main + update installs went perfectly. My next step is to Norton Ghost my "C" drive again with your complete package intact. It was quite revealing just how much was missing on my Win98SE configuration. A Network Status icon (two flashing monitors) has shown up in the systray near the clock which I can't seem to remove (like to keep that section simple), originating from C:\Windows\System\iptest.exe, also shows up in "Start", "Accessories", "System Tools". Is there some easy way of removing this icon? Again, Thanks very much for your invaluable contribution to us non-techie Win98SE users.

Yes there is. Those flashing network icons are part of Tihiy's Unofficial Improved Replacement Tools, so open up Control Panel, open "Add/Remove programs" and look for "Unofficial Improved Replacement Tools". Choose to uninstall, reboot and it will all be gone. You can always re-install via Auto-Patcher if you want it back. Thanks for the feedback.

See below...

Tried the September Final Release, works great!

Just two things I noticed, though:

Any patches that require Windows Installer (e.g. Sun Java Platform) and are run directly from the .msi files tend to loop or have problems installing. However, these installers worked fine as long as I called them using msiexec.exe. You may want to change how you call the .msi installers in the future.

Also, the CD/DVD Burning software you have doesn't want to install. It says my computer is missing an "OLEDLG.dll" from the system directory. However, I found an "OLEDLG00.dll", and I made a copy and renamed the copy as "OLEDLG.dll" and it worked fine. You may want to adress that too.

Soporific, just a final point of clarification. Will you continue to supply updates to the main AutoPatcher for Win98SE software? I am current as of now. Are these updates monthly or just when new material becomes available? I just completed the task of burning an ISO image of my "C" drive using Norton Ghost, WHAT A RELIEF that everything is there, safe. Again thank you for your brilliant contribution to the continual use of Win98SE. With much appreciation, Ken.

soporific - for your to-do list sometime, could you look at http://www.msfn.org/board/Enable48BitLBA_B...st&p=702190 which is a post about the 48bitLBA patch failing when a "disk address translation program" was used. I replied to North of Watford on that thread, but maybe you want to include a stronger warning about disk access management software or something.

Hey again,

Yeah guys, isn't this thing the greatest thing since sliced bread? Not only is it a stable time saver that helps out a new installation, but can ensure just about any system has whatever is available to keep the 98SE as secure as it can be (as far as the operating system, browser, media player, Direct X, etc) in these days of these forums really being the only way for keeping up as much as is possible without Microsoft support.

And isn't it nice that this forum and the folks therein have continued to patch up anything they find that it is possible to improve upon?

And I don't see soporific retiring from this. No sign of it anyway. So I'd expect that if the other gurus keep pushing out improvements, fixes and upgrades then he'll keep the Auto-Patcher going so we can all partake in the goodies without hassling trying to figure out what order, what to replace, how to do it, etc. Just run the latest Auto-Patcher and you're all set.

I just applied the latest Update version and it all went completely smooth. Yeah, I'm still having it give me the list first and checking it, as well as toggling things off or on as I see makes the most sense for me. I never just hit go until I run through all the sections and set it up how I want to use it. Especially for the things that are always set to install but have a toggle available and that I know I don't want.

But I've gone through two update packages on top of the original and all have installed and ran nicely on the current system. 98SE is available and ready to run whatever I want to on it with a whole lot of improvements over how it ran in the years everyone was using it.

I mean, no copy large files or freezing My Documents folder hassles. No mysterious breakage in Internet Explorer, though I only open that to see whether it's still working. I use Firefox and Thunderbird for real work, and anyway I'm in Linux for that kind of thing and return to 98SE for older Windows 98 era games and programs.

So I agree that we should thank soperific, MDGx, Gape, Maximux-Decim, Tihiy, and yes a thank you to LLXX (oh boy, was that the right forum name for her? Still sorry we can't still have her around. Some really important contributions from her there), Eidenk, and all who have and still work on this stuff for us. We're a small group now, we keepers of the 9x alive type of thing. It really was a nice operating system and never really got many of its bugs and kinks dealt with by the manufacturer during its official lifetime. The Ladies and Gentlemen around here have really fixed things up as much as they can be without source code. Incredible job, really.

i remember very clearly my transformation from a local Windows 98 updater (you know: friends, family, the guy down the street, etc) to the guy that puts out Auto-Patcher and UBCD for a wide international audience and it was DEFINITELY because of this forum. I was sick and tired spending hours and hours on re-installs of Windows 98 and i was sure there was a way to 'automate' it. I searched and searched and the web pages that always seemed to come up were from this place called MSFN. So I lurked for about 2 weeks, got all the info that i needed, and went to work. When the first version of UBCD was working and it did the job, i was SOOOOO over-joyed that i had created this enormous time-saver that i immediately stopped lurking and basically posted the instructions of how to do your own UBCD. That was version 1 way back in 2005 and hasn't it come a long way!?! The first UBCD had 33 hotfixes which was all that Windows Update said i needed. Boy did i have no idea how worthless what Windows Update reported was !! LOL.

Anyway, if this forum wasn't filled with the sort of passionate DIY computer engineers like i am, i wouldn't have hung around.

And Eck, "greatest thing since sliced bread"? Oh shucks dude, how does a guy kept a semblance of modesty when people talk about his projects like that?

Still, thanks anyway. But like you said, the real credit goes to the team working together by providing feedback to each other using this forum. Yay!

Thanks for your kind words Eck. I don't think I deserve them actually as besides hanging around and insult someone from time to time I haven't done that much if anything at all really.

I think you forgot to mention three very important contributors, Petr, erpdude and the_guy, who are all in the top ten IMO.

A big round of applause to everyone.

Thanks again Soporific. Just a suggestion from this non techie, not of the computer generation. After installing AutoPatcher for Win98SE + the September/07 update + cleaning up my computer files (defrag, scanning for viruses, cleaning up the registry), to make sure that I maintain my entire Win98SE in tact, I made an ISO image of my"C" drive (took 9 cd) with Norton Ghost 2002, so if I have to format my "C" drive for any reason, I can just copy my Win98SE ISO back to my "C" drive, without having to re-install anything, just carry on as if nothing went wrong. Now I think I can relax + wait for your further updates Soporific. As with the others, I congratulate your efforts. Thanks again, Ken.

Thanks for the explanation. I avoided that - for some reason (maybe going way back to mainframes lol) I like to keep OS types separated as early as possible. Therefore, I use XOSL to control everything. You might find it useful and it is so easy to reinstall with previous settings and then update with a couple or three files you can keep on a thumb drive. The trick I found was to keep whichever bootloader a Linux distro prefers (usually GRUB or LILO) with that distro so that it will automatically update to point at the latest kernel. But to GET that distro booted, I have to point at the bootloader from XOSL. That way, despite many OSs having their own boot managers (whether Windows or Linux), there is a master boot manager in front of them which I can restore if they remove it and which can find the partition to point to without difficulty.

If I move, remove, add, change location on disk etc of any partition or partitions, I simply need to stop at XOSL and tell it where they are if it doesn't know already (not bad for freeware ). Of course, I am controlling the moves/resizes etc manually using a combination of Ranish Partition Manager (my primary partition control as it really is manual!) and a DOS bootable thumbdrive with GParted on it (don't ask - it just works out faster that way) so there is never a time that some boot management or partition software will do something I didn't intend it to - again not bad for freeware.

As many other users, I do NOT consider that Windows installations are there to stay - I regularly wipe the partitions and reinstall Windows and Linux versions from scratch. Naturally, that is a good time to reconsider partition sizes, positions etc. The same applies to Linux distros - I manually create the partition table before installing them and I put GRUB or LILO wherever I want it but not as the primary boot manager.

Now how all that applies to AutoPatcher is simple. Whenever I am going to run Autopatcher, I first reboot into XOSL and set the default boot to the Win98 partition being patched. That way, if Autopatcher reboots (and more especially if it does so more than once), it can do so unattended.

And how it applies to your situation as guru should be obvious. If you have some kind of Master boot manager at the front of the line and point it at any other bootloaders such as Grub which you need to have there, you can be all things to all men AND use beta versions of patchers etc. It would also mean that your Grub would be where a more restricted user (say a user with only one OS and that being a Linux distro) would have it. I am not sure Autopatcher will affect your MBR anyway even if you were worried that a beta version might, you could have GRUB (or another bootloader/manager) pointing at a GRUB NOT on the Win98 partition. That would isolate the "real" GRUB you need to protect from the partition you would be using beta updaters on.

Just a thought. Sorry - a little off-topic but my first response was because I understood your previous post to suggest that Autopatcher was changing things on partitions other than the Win98 one it was working on.

Once again, soporific, you have released a superlative update pack!
Some nice core updates.
The install since August 2007 release went mostly without a hitch...

I did however have two issues.
1. 98KRNLUP update looped - It ran okay when I manually ran the update after Auto-Patcher.
2. MSPAINT update had errors:
Click to view attachment
This update spawns it's own DOS session that does not benefit from your enviroment 'out of space' fix...
After Auto-Patcher, I ran msconfig to reduce startup environment variables, and ran MSPaint update without errors.

However...
It appears that this update has actually back-dated MS Paint and some of my filters...
MSPAINT.EXE - 5.00.1740.1 -> 5.00.1523.1
BMPMP32.FLT - 2000.10.02.0 -> 99120800
PCDIMP32.FLT - 2003.1100.5510 -> 98110900
PCXIMP32.FLT - 2000.10.02.0 -> 99120800
TGAIMP32.FLT - 2000.10.02.0 -> 96091600
TIFFIM32.FLT - 2000.10.25.0 -> 98112600

Aside from MSPAINT.EXE, the *.FLT files' dates mostly matched their versions.
I will probably restore these files from backup soon...

Yes, the Paint update hit me with an error as well, about some files not being able to be replaced. I only had it install it because I remember I used to install that update all the time. Perhaps users of stuff like OfficeXP already get some of those file formats? Maybe some older versions are in the Paint update and aren't exactly intelligent. If they can overwrite they do, and where some Office, Microsofty type of thing prevents it, they error.

Don't know. Try a bunch of files in Paint and see if they'll open, edit, save to different formats. I hardly ever used Paint except for a simple change of something from bmp to jpeg or backwards.

Thanks for the details, briton. I guess I bought the wrong boot manager when I was just starting out with Linux and wanted to try something like you're talking about. I bought BootIT NG, which a bunch of folks seemed to be praising at the time, and saw XOSL as an alternative but BootIT appeared to be more feature filled so I went with that.

It worked fine for my 98SE and XP mix, but when I started trying to install Linux (OpenSUSE 10.2 at the time, when it was new), I just couldn't get it to use the partitions I had made for it, or have it create partitions (on a second hard drive or included on the first with the other OS's) and preserve the shared data partition I wanted to keep. It always wanted to format that. It was just a hassle that I couldn't get working.

For me, who enjoys operating systems but generally likes only one version of such type (98SE and XP aren't that different except for a few things that were broken for me on XP and so is still nice to have), I saw Grub as an easy one stop shop for only one Linux distro and a couple of Windows versions. It's performed nicely for me once I figured out what configuration works for mixing Linux and Microsoft. I had just Vista and either OpenSUSE or Debian Lenny for a while (now using Debian Lenny with 98SE and XP) but Vista churned my hard drive incessantly and not just when doing its indexing. I'd install a program or move some files around and the computer would be nearly impossible to use as Vista would be usurping the hard drive to write all the changes to its Previous Versions crap. Just about the worst part of using the old GoBack and Vista included it without the ability to go back to the XP style of only making Restore Points for its operating system files once in a while. Couldn't stand it and went back to XP and added back 98SE to the mix.

I just didn't see that the hassle, which it was during my BootIT NG experience, of messing with a boot loader was necessary for 2 or 3 operating systems. But the advantage of the boot loaders I lose it the ability to easily format any Windows and install fresh. Reinstalling Windows boot sectors and/or Grub SOMETIMES works okay but often times things get messed up. So you see that I'd like not to have to mess with Windows all that much. Changing Linux distro's is easy. Just install one and it'll replace Grub with its own version of the same. Just make sure the Windows things are mounted properly and tinker a bit with the automatically included Windows sections in Grub and I'm back up and going. The auto settings distro's use work fine for one Windows and one Linux but need to be adjusted for other combinations.

You'd thing I'd be pretty much settled in now, but just a few days ago I replaced a very impressive new OpenSUSE 10.3 with a return to Debian Lenny. I just felt in the mood for messing with Debian, with all the talk of the new release of Ubuntu. Heh, I feel no lure at all to install Ubuntu even though I burn it to a cdr to take a look at it Live. What do I need that for when I can have the real thing (Debian)? If I used the boot loader method like you, I could just shrink, stick its Grub in its own partition and keep everything. But then, there I go again not liking mostly the same software needing attention on both systems. Too much to bother with.

Hmm. I wonder what I'm going to do when I receive the boxed set of OpenSUSE 10.3 I ordered in a fit of thankfulness for a job well done on the distro? Unless I'm peeved at something in Debian I'll likely store it away for a rainy day.

Ha! Eidenk, I know even we had our encounters here. But that takes nothing away from when I've seen something written by you that applied to something on my system as well, when I've lurked around reading various threads. Don't sell yourself short, but yeah, you can be pesky at times. But that's great because you add color to the picture of the forum. Without characters of many kinds life gets boring.

Plus I was ROFL when reading some of your, shall we say, stronger exchanges with some other posters. I'm always grateful for a funny.

Soporific. I just installed the Revolution Pack 7 from the Manual Install folder in AutoPatcher, just like re-inventing 98SE, but can't seem to locate the install folder for RP7, just where is it? Also, even after clicking "Show System Components" in A/R, I still cannot seem to locate the listing for RP7, where is it, just in case I have to uninstall RP7 for some reason. Thanks, Ken.

re: Paint error stuff: sorry, that's most likely my fault ... i put it together pretty quickly and its really something i should leave to MDGx. i will post him what i have and ask him very nicely to fix up my mess.

re: Revolutions Pack 7 in the manual installs folder: its a silent install package that cleans up the installation files after its all done. IF you need access to them, just extract the contents of the package as opposed to running the installer. You may need to install WinRAR to be able to extract the files.

Thanks Soporific. I was able to extract the main RP7 file with 7Zip, but none of the files say uninstall on them so how can I , as a non techie, perform an uninstall, if necessary. Ken.

Whereabouts is the link for the September FINAL release please ?

I tried to use the September UPGRADE on top of the September BETA and ran into many Out of Memory errors
Lorraine

There is no FULL September 2007 FINAL out and i don't think i'll be doing one. I'm getting October 2007 together so that will be the next FULL release. But if you installed the FINAL September UPGRADE then this is virtually the same as if you had installed the FULL final version anyway (which no-one except me has)

Re: your "out of Memory" errors, you will need to apply the "Environment Space Fix" --- have you already tried to apply this? It is available from the full main menu -- the option letter is "F" (for Friedrich Engels).

The "Out of memory" errors only happened with the MSPAINT update. Your in-script environment fix works fine for everything else...
Just not MSPAINT. I think this update needs a complete overhaul and update of some of the 'updated' files.
I did not want to make the CONFIG.SYS environment changes just for the MSPAINT update...

27 October Update: The MSPAINT update also puts a copy of MSPAINT.EXE in the root of C: with the name "Accessories" like the folder it's in...

Um .... ooops. For some unknown reason, when i compiled the install package i left all the switches as they were listed in the readme.htm file and this means i used the /nobackup switch to install Revolutions Pack. This is NOT good. Anyone that has used the install package in Auto-Patcher can't uninstall it! Well, actually, there is a way, but it doesn't excuse my mistake. Profuse apologies to any who are in this position. If you would like help to fix this problem, just PM me.

[quote name='soporific' date='Oct 26 2007, 05:03 AM' post='704889']
Having a problem with the site TOYOTA.COM and Flash Player, after installing Auto Patcher
when going to that site, it ask for adobe flash player and directs you to the Adobe site for a install which I did, but it still asked for the player every time you try to enter the site. Have removed and installed adobe flash player now several time and can not accessed the site still. I think its something with version it sees as the OS. HELP--Charlie

I've just tried the same site and get the same message and redirect.
I had already installed the latest (9.0.47.0) Flash Player from Adobe before I installed the update of Auto-Patcher that has 9.0.47.0 of Flash Player.

charly, Could you get into the site before installing Auto-Patcher?

I just went to the Toyota.com site with Firefox 2.0.0.8 + the same Flash Player, you guys are using, no problem, perfect connection, although I had the same problem on Paltalk but just with an opening advertisement which is fine because the advertising intrusion is bothersome.