Upgrading Win98 again after a crash-- YAU-PC
by Alan Zisman
(c) 1999. First
published in Vancouver Computes,
July
1999
Laurent Cas asked:
Is there a way to install the win98 upgrade pack
with nothing else?
After a crash, a hard disk has gone with everything inside. Do you know
how to have again a full win98 system running?
Alan answered:
The Win98 upgrade version WILL install onto a clean
hard drive-- as
long as you have a Win95 or Win 3.1 disk or CD handy to prove upgrade
status.
That assumes, of course, that you can access the CD
drive, so your system
can read the W98 CD!
Lorraine Phillips wondered:
I have W98 and was wondering how to hook up a
BARBIE digital camera
on a com port if I have a mouse on com 1 and an external modem on com 2
so that I wouldn't have to keep switching. (I am trying to get
into
digital photography without spending a LOT of money).
Alan replied:
Get a 2-way switch to enable you to have two things
plugged into COM
2... then instead of switching cables, you merely have to flip the
switch.
Dennis Haddox questioned:
If I install Win95 on a drive that already has DOS
6.22 and DOS applications/programs
on it, will it harm anything already on the drive? Does Win95 need to
be
installed on a fresh drive?
Alan responded:
The Win9x installation will update your DOS version to
MSDOS 7-- with
the exception of utilities that don't understand (and can damage) Win9x
long file name structures, your DOS programs should continue to work as
advertised-- and in some cases, better, as you can set up different
DOS
settings for different programs.
Dave Giunti wrote:
I just made the mistake of going to the Microsoft
update site and
picking up the latest version of the Media Player. It said it
worked
with Mp3 files and I thought that would be nice.
The problem with this is that whenever I try to
download a midi (.MID)
file for later listening, media player intercepts the file and tries to
play it. The sound isn't bad but there is no way to save
that
file to disk (that I can see). One of the sites I visited
to
download suggested right clicking on the player while it's playing to
bring
up a save menu... alas this new version has no such option.
Alan wrote back:
Instead of right-clicking on the player, right-click
on the link on
the web page... that will bring up a context-menu in both Netscape
Navigator/Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, allowing you
to
save the file instead of playing it.
(Works with graphics as well?and Mac owners with can
Control-Click to
do the same thing).
Jason Lamb wondered:
I have this program (DOS), but it also runs under
Win95. It has a
cool startup screen. I would like to print it. I have tried using the
'Print
Screen' button, but I get a fatal error. It is not the printer's fault
though. I can't print is DOS mode because the drivers are
Windows-based.
Like I said, I can run the program in Windows. Is there I can use to
accomplish
this? I have heard there is a way to capture thescreen (snapshot) to a
file. I thought I would try it and then see if I could print the file.
Any idea? How do I capture the screen? I know this isn't a real serious
problem, but I thought it would be cool to do this. I have
considered
that if I can print the screen, I can scan it into my computer and use
it as my wallpaper.
Alan answered:
1) Run the program from within Windows, running in a
window. Press Alt-Printscreen.
This SHOULD copy a picture of the DOS window (complete w. Windows
titlebar)
to the Clipboard.
Open a graphics application, such as Windows Paint.
Edit/Paste. This
will
give you a picture of the screen, which can be printed. You can also
save
it as a BMP file to use it as wallpaper?which would be a lot clearer
than printing it and then scanning it.
-- alternatively--
2) Locate the DOS program in My Computer/Explorer.
Right-click on the
file, and choose Properties from the popup menu. Switch to the Misc
tab,
and remove the checkmark next to the PrtSc key... this will allow the
PrintScreen
key to print to the printer, rather then the Clipboard, when
running this program.
Note however, that this will not, typically, properly
print a DOS graphical
screen.