Thanks, MGDx. The error persists with or without an O2.bat edit; moreover backups can be created, (without edit), upon system restart, so it's not your code. I think it's a problem in my system. Recently I've had sporadic 'frozen' shutdowns, hence the idea to re-install the latest 98SE2ME to try and overcome this. The winoldap error occurs at -- C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\SHELL32.DLL, SHExitWindowsEx 2 -- when extracting or finished extracting from WIN98SE\WIN98_28.CAB I don't know if this is from O2 script or another. But the 'forced' shutdown is 'normal', meaning no scandisk on restart. :-) Sorry to bother you, yet appreciate any ideas I can work on. Update : ‘Frozen’ shutdowns solved by re-installing the network adapter card. My system was not disconnecting from the network when other computers were on line. 8-12-2008 version of 98SE2ME updates, along with those from July, were installed manually, so I’m back with a stable, up-to-date, speedy OS, thanks to MDGx.