Windows 98 FAQ

Introduction

The purpose of this file is to hopefully answer as many questions regarding the Windows 98 operating system as possible. Because there are an infinite number of questions that could be asked, I will attempt to keep this page related only to questions that are commonly asked. One of the most common places I have seen many of these questions asked is the IRC channel #windows98 on EFnet. If you have additional questions regarding Windows 98, I would suggest that you visit this channel. If you have any additions or corrections to make to this FAQ page, please e-mail me at bothwell@iname.com. I have written this page in very simple HTML in order to make it viewable by most web browsers (including text only browsers such as Lynx). If you want a better looking FAQ page, I suggest visiting this link: http://zap.to/windows98/.

001 - What is TweakUI and where can I find it?
002 - How can I get Windows 98 to sort my Start menu alphabetically?
003 - How can I get the Windows Updates without using the Microsoft page?
004 - Are there any other hidden utilities like TweakUI that come with Windows 98?
005 - How do I setup a small network with Windows 98?
006 - What is FAT32 and why would I need it?

001 - What is TweakUI and where can I find it?

TweakUI is a utility written by Microsoft that allows you to make many changes to the way Windows looks and acts. Features found in the Windows 98 version of TweakUI (TweakUI 98) are:

Mouse Settings (Mouse menu speed, sensitivity, mouse wheel settings, X-mouse)
General Settings (Animation & other window effects, Special Folder locations)
Explorer Settings (Add/Remove Shortcut arrow, Add/Remove "Click here to begin" and Tip of the day at startup, other appearance settings)
Desktop Icons (Add/Remove certain special desktop icons such as Recycle Bin and Network Neighborhood)
Control Panel Settings (Allows you to pick which items will show up in the control panel)
Network Settings (Allows you to have your computer automatically enter your username and password)
Add/Remove Settings (Allows you to remove items from the Uninstall Program list which no longer exist)
Boot Settings (Enable/Disable function keys, GUI auto-start, Show splash screen, Scandisk options, Boot menu options)
Repair (Very helpful utility that will attempt to repair Icons, Associations, Fonts Folder, Regedit, System Files, Temporary Internet Files, and URL History)
Paranoia Settings (Clear many history settings and last login username. Also has CD autoplay settings and log settings)

TweakUI 98 can be found either on your Windows 98 CD-ROM in the \tools\reskit\powertoy directory or at http://nng.simplenet.com/apps/tui98.zip. To install TweakUI, right click the TWEAKUI.INF file and select Install, reboot, and it will then appear in your Control Panel.

002 - How can I get Windows 98 to sort my Start menu alphabetically?

Windows 98 introduced a feature which allows you to arrange your start menu any way you want. Unfortunately for those who want their start menu to be arranged alphabetically, this so called feature makes it difficult. In order to get Windows to start sorting your menu again, you need to delete a particular section of your registry.

NOTE: Editing the registry can cause severe damage to your computer possibly even making it unoperable. Please backup your registry before making any changes.

In order to get your start menu sorted alphabetically, simply delete the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu
and reboot your computer.

003 - How can I get the Windows Updates without using the Microsoft page?

Microsoft attempted to make it easier on everybody to download all updates by making their windows update site. Unfortunately, if you use Netscape or are concerned about privacy issues, this new site of theirs causes problems. Microsoft has put up this separate link for people wanting to manually download updates: http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp

004 - Are there any other hidden utilities like TweakUI that come with Windows 98?

Yes, there are other hidden utilities in Windows 98. Why Microsoft decided to hide these very useful utilities from us, nobody knows. Here are descriptions of a few of them:

MSCONFIG.EXE - This is similar to SYSEDIT (a leftover from Win 3.1), but much safer. Using a tabbed interface, you can safely view and make alterations to key system files, as well as viewing and disabling specific items non-destructively. When un-checking an option in MSCONFIG, it isn't really removed, it's just made inactive. Making changes therefore are foolproof, since you can simply restore items you may have checked off. The last tab, Run, contains items that the registry stores to be loaded at Windows Startup. These items are not found in the Programs > StartUp group (for whatever reason).
SFC.EXE - This is the System File Checker. This program will check to make sure none of your system files have been damaged, and if they have it will replace them from the Windows 98 CD-ROM. Another useful function of SFC is to extract single files from the Windows 98 CAB files.
DRWATSON.EXE - This is a troubleshooting tool that first appeared in Win 3.1, vanished in 95, and now re-appears in Windows 98. DrWatson intercepts crash errors (like a crash guard). It then looks around the system and tries to make a diagnosis. At the least, it can give you clues as to what is going wrong.
SCANREG.EXE & SCANREGW.EXE - Upon each boot, SCANREGW takes a quick look at your registry to make sure that it is not corrupted enough to prevent a successful boot. Then, once a day for 5 consecutive days, it creates a backup of your system configuration. These are stored on the hard drive in CAB format. This provides for 5 backups of your key Windows files. If you've installed a program that messes up your system, or you have errors that you can't recover from, you can boot TO DOS and run SCANREG /RESTORE. You'll see a list of the 5 backups, their date and if they were successful boots. Pick one of these backups and reboot. Your configuration files will now be restored to the date of the backup.

005 - How do I setup a small network with Windows 98?

Windows 98 makes it fairly simple for even novice computer users to setup a personal network to be used for transferring files back and forth between their computers and/or playing multiplayer games. There are two ways to setup a peer-to-peer network in Windows 98. You can use the Direct Cable Connection software provided with Windows 98 and a parallel cable, or you can get two ethernet cards and either a hub (more than 2 computers) or a CAT-5 crossover cable (only 2 computers). Here are the basics for setting up each:

Direct Cable Connection:
To setup a Direct Cable Connection (DCC) network for sharing files/printers and playing games, you need a male to male parallel cable (Belkin makes good ones) hooked up to the LPT (printer) port of the two computers you want to hook up. Once the wires are hooked up, do the following steps to BOTH computers:

1) Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel and double click on 'Add/Remove Programs'
2) Click on the 'Windows Setup' tab, click on 'Communications' and click 'Details'
3) Make sure 'Direct Cable Connection' is checked and then click 'Ok' (You may need to insert your Windows 98 CD-ROM at this time.)
4) After Windows is done installing the DCC software, go to your desktop and right-click on 'Network Neighborhood' and select 'Properties'.
5) Make sure the following is installed: Client for Microsoft Networks, IPX/SPX-compatible protocol and File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks. If they are not installed, use the 'Add' button. (Client for Microsoft networks is found in the 'Client' category, IPX/SPX-compatible protocol is found in the 'Protocol' category and File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks is found in the 'Service' category.)
6) Now run the DCC program (Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Direct Cable Connection) on both computers following the instructions to setup one computer as the server and the other as the client. Once connected, you can share files/printers and play IPX compatible multiplayer games as if you had a real network setup.

Ethernet Network:
Setting up an ethernet network is just as easy as a DCC network. For an ethernet network, you will need at least two ethernet networking cards. If you only plan on connecting two computers, you will need a CAT-5 crossover cable (wire 1 becomes 3 and 2 becomes 6), if you want to connect more than two computers, you will need a hub and as many CAT-5 cables as there are computers you wish to connect. Follow these steps to setup your ethernet network:

1) Install a network card (NIC) into all computers you wish to be connected by following the instructions which come with the NIC.
2) If only two computers are being connected, connect the crossover cable to both installed NICs. If more than two computers are being connected connect one end of a cable to each computer. Connect the other end of the cable to the hub.
3) Go to your desktop and right-click on 'Network Neighborhood' and select 'Properties'.
4) Make sure the following is installed: Client for Microsoft Networks, IPX/SPX-compatible protocol, TCP/IP and File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks. If they are not installed, use the 'Add' button. (Client for Microsoft networks is found in the 'Client' category, IPX/SPX-compatible protocol and TCP/IP are found in the 'Protocol' category and File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks is found in the 'Service' category.)
5) Under the 'Configuration' tab, make sure the 'Primary Network Logon' is set to Client for Microsoft Networks.
6) Under the 'Identification' tab, make sure each computer has a unique Computer name, and is a member of the same Workgroup.
7) Back under the Configuration tab, select the TCP/IP entry that corresponds to your NIC, and then click the Properties button. Under the tab IP Address, select Specify an IP address. Every computer on the network will have the same Subnet Mask. Go ahead and set the Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0 on all the computers. Then, on the first computer, set the IP Address to 192.168.0.1. On the second computer, set the IP Address to 192.168.0.2. Continue this pattern for the rest of the remaining computers. (192.168.0.*) When finished, click OK.
8) The network settings are now complete and your network should work. To enable file sharing, right click on a folder or drive you wish to share and select 'Sharing'. Change the settings to your liking.

006 - What is FAT32 and why would I need it?

FAT stands for File Allocation Table. It is basically just a way for your operating system to understand what all the raw data on your hard drive is. FAT16 and FAT32 are different versions of this indexing system. FAT16 is 16 bit while FAT32 is 32 bit. By converting your filesystem to FAT32, your computer will be able to store and access your files in a more efficent way giving you a possible slight increase in storage space and access times. If you store a large number of small files, it is suggested to use the FAT32 filesystem because it will take less room on your drive to store each file.

One disadvantage to using FAT32 on your drives is that not all operating systems can read from them. Due to the fact that FAT16 has been around for a longer period of time, many other operating system vendors have built in support to allow you to read data from these drives. FAT32 on the other hand is a fairly new technology so not very many other operating systems besides Windows 98 support it. If you are planning on having multiple operating systems on your computer, FAT32 is not suggested on drives which you will need access to in these other operating systems.

In order to convert your drives from FAT16 to FAT32, Microsoft has included a utility with Windows 98. If it is installed, it will be located in 'Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools' under the name of 'Drive Converter (FAT32)'. If this utility is not installed, you can install it by going to 'Add/Remove Programs' in your Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel), selecting the 'Windows Setup' tab and making sure there is a check mark next to 'Drive Converter (FAT32)' under the 'System Settings' details. (You may need your Windows 98 CD-ROM at this point.)