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Windows 98 Support Tools |
Dr. Watson Diagnostic Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q185/8/37.asp
Dr. Watson helps solve problems with system error messages such as General Protection Faults and Invalid Page Faults. It collects information on how to reproduce the problems if Save is selected.
Driver
Files Created by Microsoft System Information Tools
When you use some of the tools in the Microsoft System Information
utility, the necessary virtual device driver (.vxd) files may not be created
until the tool is used.
Files with .vxd extensions are 32-bit, protected mode, Windows-based drivers that manage a system resource, in order to allow more than one program access to the resource at the same time. The ActiveX control (.ocx) associated with the utility creates and updates the file with a .vxd extension in the <drive>:\<Windows>\System folder, where <drive> is the drive letter and <Windows> is the folder where you installed Windows 98. For the Dr. Watson, Hardware Info, Microsoft System Information, and Windows Report Generator tools there are 3 files created with the .vxd extension:
Drwatson.vxd
Hwinfod.vxd
Msisys.vxd
The files are created by the tool's associated .ocx file the first time the tool is used and updated each time the associated tool is used. The .vxd files cannot be extracted from the Windows 98 CD-ROM or diskettes.
The DrWatson.vxd is deleted when Dr Watson is exited. A new one is created each time the utility is started.
Automatic Skip Driver Agent
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/5/88.asp
ASD identifies dangerous failures known to hang Windows 95 and flags
them so they are bypassed at startup. It also identifies hardware that
fails to respond when tested during Windows 98 Setup. You can use this
tool to troubleshoot system lock ups on startup after installing a device.
Windows Reporting
and MS-DOS Reporting Tools
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q188/1/04.asp
The Windows Reporting (Winrep) and MS-DOS Reporting (Dosrep) tools
are used to gather system information to assist support providers in troubleshooting
issues. The reports are composed in or outside of Windows 98, and then
uploaded to a server provided by the support provider.
System Configuration Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q181/9/66.asp
This tool modifies the boot process, and system configuration for troubleshooting.
This tool is used for troubleshooting System startup or shutdown issues.
System File Checker
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q185/8/36.asp
This tool checks for corrupt or replaced system files, and prompts
you with an option to replace them with the original Windows 98 files.
Registry Checker
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q183/8/87.asp
The MS-DOS version of this tool restores, fixes, and backs up the Windows
registry. The Windows version scans, backs up, and compresses registry
files as well as the Win.ini and System.ini files. You can use this tool
for troubleshooting Registry corruption, backup, and restoring previous
registries.
Maintenance Wizard
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/1/57.asp
Use this to view and restore versions of files that are newer than
the files that came with Windows 98 and may have been replaced during Windows
98 setup. This is useful in troubleshooting possible version conflicts
with devices.
Maintenance Wizard
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/1/86.asp
You can use this to schedule Scandisk, Disk Space Manager, and Disk
Defragmenter to help prevent some hard disk problems and low disk space
notifications.
Disk Defragmenter
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/1/71.asp
Defrag.exe arranges clusters of data on your hard disk drive in an
optimized order. You can use this to help speed up the time it takes to
load files based on frequency of use.
Disk Cleanup Manager
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/0/99.asp
You can use this tool to automatically free up some free space on your
hard disk, by removing Temporary Internet Files, files in your Recycle
Bin, and in the Temp folder, that have been untouched in a period of time.
You can also remove some temporary files created by other Windows tools.
Windows Highlights
http://support.microsoft.com/support/default.asp?PR=w95&FR=0&SD=SO&
Fear not:
It's there, just go to :Start, then Run, in the Open box type this:
rundll32setupwbv.dll,IE5Maintenance "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Setup\SETUP.EXE"
/g"C:\WINDOWS\IE Uninstall Log.Txt"
The command line is case sensitive, so be careful and type is just
like it is here.
OR
Download the IE5RepPatch.bat