back & still wrking on PC

Hi everyone,

Haven't checked when my last post was, but I was going to have my Win98 re-installed to fix some major and minor problems. Well I've had the re-install, have no more minor irritating problems, however, two of the main reasons I took it in was because I was also getting illegal functions and windows errors every day. After taking my PC back in today because it continued to give me both the errors after the re-install, it didn't happen at the shop, go figure. I think my PC and car are in cahoots together, you know, those little bothersome problems you always experience in your car, EXCEPT when you take it to the mechanic, then it runs like the day you drove it off the lot. So the tech says only connect the mouse, if no errors, connect another piece of hardware, if no problems there, go to another, ect. It seem to be fine with just the mouse, no problems where I normally get them, so I hooked up my keyboard and got 1 illegal function, changed keyboards, and it seemed fine, but decided not to hook up anything else tonight. Now the bummer. One of the main places I always had the problems was clicking on my windows explorer icon, which was doing ok up until about 20 minutes ago, when it once again gave me a windows error. When I clicked on the error box to close, the only program that shut down was my Norton. The tech had said he was having a small compatibility problem with my Norton (which I just bought) and my ZA. Now I'm wondering if either one of those programs, or both, are causing this problem. Has anyone else out there had this kind of problem? I wouldn't have a problem un-installing Norton, but don't want to be left without protection. Any ideas?

Thank you for your help.

Kathy

 

You every thought about upgrading to windows xp?

I have no idea whats going on but just a suggestion

 

yes I had Brent, but with lots of my programs that are over 10 years old and still very functional and important to me, I'd rather stay with Win98 for the time being

 

I know that Zone Alarm 5 was having lots of problems with compatibility with many programs. If you are using v5, you might want to try going back to the last v4 until they get it fixed.

 

Hi Kathy, nice to see you back......Just a suggestion...dump ZA! and get Agnitum Outpost or some other less zealous Fire-wall.....when I had ZA on my 98se it would give me all sorts of odd messages and denials and errors etc., the damn thing had a mind of it's own....I kind of got the impression it was a mentally disturbed Guard-dog, anyway, after I had it put down ......my OS ran like it was supposed to with no further problems...maybe worth a try...


Cochise,

 

ZA Pro 4.5.594 works well with W98SE and Avast Home AV. Avoid ZA 5.x. Also avoid Norton 2004. It's a big resource hog and can be a big drain on your system. I would give Avast Home a try. Remember that W9.x has limited amount of system resources. Therefore, it is very important to disable those unneeded programs from MSCONFIG's startup tab. Generally, you only want to auto load the firewall and the AV programs.

Never load a bunch of programs at one time. Start with a clean installation. Add one program and run it for a few days. If the system is stable, then add another software.

If your PC is 5 years old, then you may not have sufficient power to run WXP. W2000 is much better than W98. Some W98 games will not run properly on W2000. Your old programs will probably run on W2K unless they are DOS only applications. Another suggestion is to set up a dual boot PC (with W98 in one partition, and W2k in another).

 

KATHY..

Well hello there again......an before you ask "who is this guy".....I am the fellow who helped you with ZA way back when....but I was posting under a differant NIC..........lets see, you were concerned about the "scans" if I recall........anyways, I had to have surgery....an just getting back here...but only for a very brief visit.

Seems you are having problems again..,...you are receiving very good suggestions.....hope one of them works. If you decided to un-install Norton....before doing so at the very least download one of the free anti-virus programs and install after removing Norton.,...I am not suggesting you remove Norton.....just making sure you have some back-up protection if you do.
I have also remained with 98SE.......but have tweaked it.....the computer this reply is being made on must be a zillion years old.......an runs like new....well, except for the fan...which moans....not all the time LOL
Sure hope you can get your problem fixed......that tech guy seems to be having his share of problems....
I'll try to drop back......seeya

 

Have two programs that you should down load and run.

(1) TuneUp Utilities 2004 (This is shareware) (One month free trial). Identifies and fixes quiet a few problems.

(2) Big Fix (This is freeware). Identifies and also fixes quiet a few problems.

Both should be available from MajorGeeks.com

Thanks
Wildman

 

Thank you all so much for your replies, and as of this writing, I am first going with un-installing Norton, and installing Avast, which I have done. So far no problems at all where I normally get them. Also the reason I'm going this route first is the tech had mentioned a compatibility problem re Norton, and the last windows error I got only took down one program, and that was Norton. I knew Norton was a hog, but had only d/l the AV, none of the other utilities.

Thanks for the info Wildman, I already had MajorGeeks site bookmarked as a good one, and will check out those programs you mentioned.

Thanks TheSnowGuy, yes I do remember, and sorry to hear about your surgery, hopefully your recovery will go smoothly and quickly.

Thank you Cochise, good to finally be back. You're not the only one who's told me to dump Z/A-5, and that is my next move if I don't continue to run smoothly. I still have my printer, scanner and external back up to connect, so if all goes well there, I'm hoping to be ok and back out there "cruisin" with no bothersome illegal functions or errors.

Again, thank you all for your input and help.

Kathy