Neophyte PC user help!

[Auntie Slag]

Transformers, robots in disguise, na na na naaa, do be do be dooo.

I have a problem, and nobody else can help, that’s why I’ve dialled… up!

I’m using this PC, right, and it won’t shut down.

It can restart, but when you try to shut it down, it hangs indefinitely. Here’s the specs:

Pentium III 700MHz
13Gb HDD (7Gb free)
64mb ram
Win98

When the machine starts up, some program extension thingies load up and their icons are shown on the bottom right of the screen next to the time. These icons are:

Roxio project selector
Zone Alarm
Direct scan
Internet launchpad
Task scheduler

If I’m using the machine I will quit Roxio project selector and direct scan (for what little difference it makes. I just want to try and free up ram a bit).

So what allows a machine to restart, but stops it shutting down?

Also quite often when the machine wants to go to sleep after a period of inactivity, it hangs the moment the computer put up a dialogue saying ‘Preparing computer for system sleep’ or something like that.

So there’s a hell of a lot of forced quits and hard restarts going on. Where would I look to remedy this? Bearing in mind:

- Time on the net is extremely limited because of a poncy pay-as-you-go dial-up, so downloading big fat helper programs is a no-no. Also because the connection is so crappy (fuzzy phone lines), it tends to drop out a lot.

Is there a file somewhere that I can trash that will allow it to shut down and go to sleep without having a hernia?

Otherwise I’m going back to the Commodore 64.

[Denyer]

Win98 will eat at least 40Mb of that RAM just for the OS, so anything non-essential should be removed from the boot sequence.

Startup Control Panel:
http://www.mlin.net/

This might get you some better performance. It has wizards, but the most important thing with Win9x is to set fixed VCACHE settings, otherwise the OS doesn't free up RAM effectively once it's done with it.

CacheMan:
http://www.outertech.com/index.php?_cha ... oduct&id=2

For a firewall I'd suggest Kerio 2.1.5 if you can find it. Antivirus-wise, AntiVir (free-av.com) is probably the best bet.

Opera is probably the best choice for a browser... Firefox really needs more memory than you have, and IE is no longer patched for 98, so running any version of it is a major security risk.

Turn off hibernation/sleep features under Power Options in the Control Panel.

Use spyware removers, but don't let them load on startup.

[Legion]

according to good old uncle Bill....

Common Causes of Shutdown Problems
Shutdown problems in Windows 98 Second Edition can be caused by any of the following issues:
• The Fast Shutdown registry key is enabled.
• There is a damaged Exit Windows sound file.
• A program or terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program may not close correctly.
• An incompatible, damaged, or conflicting device driver is loaded.
• There is an incompatible Advanced Power Management (APM) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) setting.
• There is an incompatible Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) configuration setting.
• The computer contains incorrectly configured or damaged hardware.
• There is a video adapter that is not assigned an IRQ in real mode.

the fact you say it has troubles going into sleep mode (tell me a windows machine that doesn't, M$'s power management has always been a bit ropey), i'd say try disabling that in the BIOS and the OS and see if that makes any difference.

[Denyer]

If you feel like forking out a little, stick at least another 256Mb into it, prepare by downloading up-to-date AV and firewall software, get hold of a 2000 CD and reinstall...