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Windows 98 system shell replacement idea.


Sfor

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After playing a bit with Windows 98 and IE 6, I've started to consider switching to Windows 2000. Why?... Because it copies and deletes files without any additional effects (like desktop freezing, explorer locking and other system resources related problems).

Then I started to think about how to make the Windows 98 better. The conclusion is the worst components of the Windows 98 system are the system shell (explorer.exe) and the Internet Explorer.

But, it is possible to replace the system shell with any application. Well,... it is possible to do it, all right. But, it would be good to retain the system shell functionality, in the same time.

Writing a completely new system shell is a bit complicated task. Is there any replacement available, already?

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Well, I do like the Windows 95 explorer. It's seems to be more reliable, than 98 one. There is a problem with the file set size calculation (exceeding 4GB). Yet, it seems to be a good one.

But, I have a problem with 98lite. It is not available in the Polish language version.

I have a few doubts in Windows 98 without IE, as well. Some software, including drivers, requires IE to be installed. It should be possible to tweak with the shell leaving the IE unused, but still available if necesary.

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i know 98lite had a chuby version but that didnt use the 95 explorer, not sure about that, but 98lite isnt an option so it doesnt really matter about that, personaly i cant say that i get much in the way of explorer errors and stuff

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I started digging in the Internet looking for the informations about the 98lite. It looks like, the language versions provided by 98lite are just the installer language versions. Files used in the process are provided by user, so it should be possible to use 98lite with any language Windows 98 version.

Also, 98lite takes 3 files from Windows 95 in order to replace the system shell: explorer.exe, shell32.dll i comdlg32.dll.

I'm curious, if I will be able to replace the shell a by simple replace of these files in an working Windows 98 SE USP2.1.

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I went a bit further. I made a backup copy of the whole system.

I replaced the 3 files with Windows 95 versions. The result is, it works.

The side effects I found so far:

- Start menu displays Windows 95, instead of Windows 98 Second Edition.

- Internet links in Outlook Express 6 stopped working.

(After switching the default browser to Firefox, and then back to IE links are working correctly)

- The Firefox does not switch itself to default browser, correctly.

- Explorer does display the folder navigation column, only.

(the column width was exceeding the screen width. Woks fine, after adjusting)

- File display preferences were set to the default values.

- The "What's new in Windows 98" presentation is launched at every Windows boot. I'm unable to swith it off in the Msconfig.

(looks, like the system shell thinks it is the first system boot after the setup. I deleted the C:\Windows\Welcome.exe and the problem is gone)

- It is not possible to go to the suspend power mode.

- After copying or deleting large amount of files the system works fine. Absolutely no Explorer freezing.

Edited by Sfor
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- After copying or deleting large amount of files the system works fine. Absolutely no Explorer freezing.

i thought this had something to do with shell32.dll and broswseui.dll v6 but it doesnt matter too much

- Start menu displays Windows 95, instead of Windows 98 Second Edition.

that can be fixed by using reshack to change the bmp in explorer.exe

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- After copying or deleting large amount of files the system works fine. Absolutely no Explorer freezing.

i thought this had something to do with shell32.dll and broswseui.dll v6 but it doesnt matter too much.

Well. I'm copying and deleting files quite often. This particular bug is what made me hate the Windows 98 system shell. The problem does exist with the IE 5.5, as well. It is not as irritating, as the explorer returns resources to the system, after a while. In case of IE 6 the resources are never released. Windows 95 does it much faster. The only problem is deleting files to the recycle bin (It takes some time to recover in such a case). In Windows 98 deleting a lot of files files always locks explorer (no matter deleting to recycle bin, or not).

- Start menu displays Windows 95, instead of Windows 98 Second Edition.

that can be fixed by using reshack to change the bmp in explorer.exe

Done. The Reshack worked like a charm.

I've noticed the notepad is not working, so I relpaced it with the Windows 95 vesrsion, as well.

Also, It appears PopTray 3.2 does not want to close itself during the system shutdown. All other applications are working correctly, I think.

Another side effect is the Suspend option. It was possible to remove this option from the Start menu. Windows 95 controll pannel had a proper checkox for it. Now the Suspend option is useless, and it can not be hidden.

Yet another problem: IE does not see the favourite links. The folder the links are kept in has a System attribute enabled. I removed the system attribute with a disk editor. But, it would be simpler to make a copy of the folder before switching to Windows 95 shell, then delete it and create a new folder with the same name. As, it is a bit difficult to remove a system attribute from a folder. Anyways, without the system attribute, the favourite links are working fine.

Edited by Sfor
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Some of the side effects can be repaired by giving explorer private dlls. Use an hexeditor to change all references to shell32.dll and comdlg32.dll in explorer.exe to shell95.dll and comdlg95.dll. Rename the dll's also. Now the '95 explorer will use the '95 dll's, and all other programs will use the '98 ones (which you'll have to put back).

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I'm not sure if it is a good idea. The 98 explorer is the one responsible for the most annoying problems. So, bringing the 98 dll's back can bring the 98 explorer problems back, as well.

Also, It appears PopTray 3.2 does not want to close itself during the system shutdown. All other applications are working correctly, I think.

Well. I decided I went a bit too far during my experiments, so I restored the system from the copy I made before this whole system shell replacement. I did everything from the beginning, but this time I left IE 6, as it was. And, the PopTray closes correctly, now. I do not know what was the cause. Perhaps this problem was related to IE uninstall, or perhaps it was not.

I encountered yet another strange problem. This particular system was clonned from another computer. Then I changed network name and a license number (all my Windows 9x systems are legal, I have a few certificates of athenticity). Anyways, there was a .LNK file created when the computer had a different network name. It appears at the first run of the Windows 95 explorer the links in the start menu were processed in some strange way. One of the links was changed to point on the original file on the computer with the old network name. In other words the link was changed to the original file it was created from, so it points at the file on the other computer in my LAN. Then I replaced the link with the one I extracted from the system copy. And, it remained unchanged from that time.

Looks like the Windows 95 explorer at first run does believe it is the first system start after an upgrade or installation. So it does some sort of the Start menu link conversion (or something). It is a little low possible someone else will encounter a similiar problem as I did, but this particular case gives some information about what is going on in the system. I think it should be possible to persuade the Explorer to not to do the "first run conversion". But, is it a good idea? Will it work better without it? Perhaps it will, but perhaps not.

Edited by Sfor
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"After playing a bit with Windows 98 and IE 6, I've started to consider switching to Windows 2000. Why?... Because it copies and deletes files without any additional effects (like desktop freezing, explorer locking and other system resources related problems)."

Uhm... did you even try the updates from

Here ??

There's one fix in particular that will fix the Explorer lockups...

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Well. Not from there, but I did.

First of all, the amount of unofficial updates available to me is limited, because I do use a Polish language Windows 98 SE. There is a Polish language version of USP 2.1 available, so I'm using it. I've been working both with IE 5.5 SP2, and later with IE 6 SP1 with the Browseui.dll and Browselc.dll fix. I used updates from the Microsoft, as well.

The .dll fix does help, indeed. But, the explorer locks without IE 6, as well. The Explorer with IE 5.5 locks for shorter amount of time, then it works fine. In case of IE 6 the explorer is unstable till the system reboot (with the dll fix it works just like with IE 5.5).

(A note. Explorer locks are related to file operations on a large amount of files. A few thousand, at least)

Windows 95 explorer is faster and locks for short amount of time only after deleting files to the recycle bin. Windows 98 explorer version locks after all file related operations (copying, moving, deleting without a difference with recycle bin or without it).

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I've encountered a BIG problem with Windows 95 explorer. I copied, then deleted a few thousand files. The files were deleted completely, without putting them to the recycle bin. The explorer was working as usual. But then I deleted a single file to the recycle bin. The explorer froze for good. It's quite possible this problem does not exists in the 98lite. But, it makes such an explorer replacement in an working system a bit useless.

So, back to the drawing boards.

Edited by Sfor
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