win98 hangs up + wipes Netscape history?

[killing_floor]

Yeah it's well known that win98 is not the most stable of OSs ; however I keep getting this problem where it is hanging-up (not 'waking up' after I put it on stand-by), so I'm having to restart it (with the whole 'windows was not shut down properly' etc takes about a million years longer again to begin....) and since I put a new Netscape on I see that the hanging-up also wipes out the History folder contents.

wtf? That never happened with any IE browsers that I can recall. Anyone got any ideas on what is causing that? And why it is also wiping out the Netscape History?

Of course I have contacted Netscape about it more than once but I never get replies on anything like that.

( the machine came preloaded with IE5 and Netscape 4, so none of that twattery about not meant to run both on the same machine, 'thanks' )

[killing_floor]

and - i have contacted the usual help number that came with the PC, but they tend to cause problems in addition to solving them - eg, they give you the right info. on what to remove from 'start-up' to prevent various system errors, but they also neglect to mention what ones you need to leave on if you use the 'standby' option.

the last time i called the Packard Bell helpline the best advice the tech. dept. had was 'just go thru each option on your own until it works' - that's like for about ?3.00 a minute phonecall...........useless.

[pscl227]

simple solution, get your self a new os, 98 is old and nasty

[Magnakai]

Have you totally updated the OS with all the system updates, etc?
It sounds like it could be cause by a million and 1 things...
The easiest yet most difficult solution would be to back up your stuff and reinstall windows from scratch, but there must be an easier solution than that.
Tell you what, try downloading and running Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html).
See if they manage to remove anything and see if that helps.
Also, I'd try upgrading to a newer browser such as Firefox (Netscape's spiritual successor), though any improvement that gives you may be more functionality-wise rather than technical.

[Ginger Tosser]

I remember windows 98 SE had a problem on shutdown which required a patch maybe this would cure your problem as well.

There's a load of patches here that might help

[killing_floor]

I ran a check on what patches I should have, true some could relate to that problem, but none of them descriptively had any connection to what I am getting on the machine here. Unless a "malicious user" is deliberatley targeting my computer. Which would mean they'd be using my phone number to ring my computer up when it is offline, because my IP is dynamic and the fault only occurs offline / standby.

The hanging-up has occured b4, it is that since I got the newer Netscape a few months ago (the site said nothing about any new browsers such as Firefox back then) that I noticed it wipes the History when the hang-up happens, and has made it far more frequent. I am thinking all along it's a cache problem - 1. because it happens during standby or idle, 2. because it seems to be only affecting the History on that browser.........thing is, I don't know how to look up stuff like finding out how the cache is configured to the History and what could be interfering - I notice for example that some websites just crash Netscape altogther and stop it from operating properly - which seems to do with the pop-up ad. blocker and / or java stuff.

As to the new OS - yeah well I'll get Linux next time I get a new PC, if not I'm getting an Apple Mac next time anyway, that's what I wanted all along. I like this now I've got it but - like my car - it wasn't what I was going to buy, it was bought for me / b4 I bought what I would have bought.

[Ciaran]

Why not get Linux now?


You can just download it free(legally) and try it out.

[killing_floor]

Linux runs in addition to some other OS? I don't know about that if it does. If it doesn't, then why are you wondering why I am not about to just lose all the hardfile stuff that currently is of course all tied in with the OS this came pre-loaded with?!

You think I should just lose all the contents of my hardfile to see how Linux is going? What am I going to download it with, since my browser and dial-up would obviously be on my current OS?!

sorry if you mean some version that runs alongside current OS - i just haven't heard of that yet. the options of changing over all my hardfile to configure it for another OS is frankly more bother than buying a new machine. it's cheaper and easier if i bought another computer and put Linux on it.

you can i suppose load as many OS on one machine as you want - if you can choose which one runs at each start-up, like some machines i've used you have to press a funtion key to go to OS-1 or MS-DOS, or you have to choose the network based winOS or it defaults to usual windows. anyway, that is way too much hassle for me to even bother thinking about it anymore than i just did to post this.

[Ciaran]

Yes you can run linux along side Windows XP, I had Win XP and Red Hat 9 (before it was dropped) running on my machine about a year ago. It automaticly set up a boot screen that let you chose between XP or RH9.

I'm not into linux much so someone else should be able to give you more infomon how to do it with other distro's.

[Super Stu]

You can have as many OSs as you please, as long as you have some facility to select which you want to boot.

The win NT boot menu is one, LILO is another (comes with most/all linux distros). Commercial solutions such as Boot Magic also exist.

If you wanted to keep things separate, you could install linux on a seperate hdd (ensuring the bootloader goes here too) and instruction the bios to boot from that hdd instead of your normal drive. This is the least destructive option, as you're making no changes to the main drive.

[killing_floor]

infomon? that's evil.

separate drive - that's true! that could work. i still think that it would be less hassle to get a new machine tho'.

besides, i think i found a way to get around the problem; close any browser windows for when it is on standby, maybe it won't work all the time but it's worth a try.