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.
 
 
 



Google
Search WWW Search www.zisman.ca



Alan Zisman is a Vancouver educator, writer, and computer specialist. He can be reached at E-mail Alan