Artist wanting cable 'net service needs your help!

[Angie_DRTemp]

No, I'm not asking you to pay the bill <P>I want to get cable connection not only 'cause of the faster speed than my current 28.8 modem, but because I would like my phone to be free once in awhile!<P>Problem is, I'm still running Win95, and I need Win 98 to get cable.
So if any of you guys know where I can find a cheap (legal ) copy of the Win 98 upgrade, please lemme know! I'd really appreciate it!

[SpiritWolf]

I'll see what I can dig up Ang.<P>I don't advise you use any 'upgrade' version though as they're all bad karma. They tend to mix up DLL and EXE versions which can mean your new OS might turn out BSOD and GPF happy. Which is really not good. It's better to just back up your stuff, delete your C:WINDOWS dir then install fresh. If you do want the upgrade version though, I'll see if I can find that too.<P>Can't see why you'd want to leave 95 though to be honest, to be frank, 98 after all is only 95 with window dressing (no pun intended). If you install Win95C and the IE4 desktop you almost have Win98 right there, hell, you even get the Task Scheduler from 98 with that and the DX upgrades, the only thing it wouldn't be able to do off the bat is the multi-monitor stuff but there's drivers for that even. Then again, I'm just pro-95, been with it for years.

[Angie_DRTemp]

Thanks SW! <P>I like Win 95, but I guess they don't support anything lower than Win 98 or something. That's what they told me. Bleh.<P>Plus I'd like the upgrade version 'cause I don't have Zip discs available TO back up, and I don't want to lose everything *L*

[SpiritWolf]

Erm. They're BSing you frankly, what they're <I>really</I> saying is that they can't afford to train tech help people to deal with any problems that occur on Windows 95, even though the systems are nigh identical. All I'm advising though is that before you actually buy a new OS (I'll provide a link as soon as I find one cheap enough), try the drivers on Win95. Five'll get you ten that they'll work.<P>You do realize that you don't have to format your drive to reinstall, right? ;> Again, this is a lazy tech help person's solution to everything, people may tell you that a reinstall is best but that's bull too, all it does is deletes all the data on your drive and defragments it, you can do the same amount of good by running defrag after installing your fresh new OS. How can you install a new OS though if your old OS is still there? Simple, you drop to DOS and you back up your stuff out of C:WINDOWS then you delete C:WINDOWS, no format needed. After you've done that you can reinstall and all your data will still be totally intact because you didn't delete it, you only deleted C:WINDOWS.<P>If you need instructions on how to do that, I can provide them for you. That's no trouble either.<P>[Edit]<P>Note, where I say 'back up' above, what I mean is that you move the stuff out of your C:WINDOWS dir to a temporary directory on your hard disk, so you can say move your fonts dir from C:WINDOWSFONTS to C:TEMPFONTS, same with your favourites folder, your IE5 history and all the rest.<P>[Edit 2]<P>Ah, damn. Hang on. If you were to do that, you'd need to know someone with a Win98 machine, you'd need to use SYS C: A: to get their system boot from their system (onto a disk) and then use SYS A: C: to get that back off the disk onto your system so you can fool it into thinking you have a Windows 98 system. That may be a bit fiddly if you're new to this. Although I could easily write batches (automated files) to get you through most of it, I'm just thinking of the upgrade, that's just a world of hurt and useless if you ever format (won't install on a clean drive, you have to install 95 first).<P>Hrm ... well, I'll leave this up to you as to what you want to do, make your decision and all but rest assured, if you do need to upgrade and you want it without Windows being all buggered, then I can instruct you how. If you don't, I'll have to find an upgrade edition. Most importantly though, test your drivers with 95, as I said, I'm 90% certain they'll work, the only reason they wouldn't is if the company programmed them not to work on 95 (put in an OS check) which is plausible but I doubt it (they'd be cutting out part of their userbase).<P>[Edit 3]<P>... and if you can see this, you don't have eyestrain and you won't sue me, yay!<p>[This message has been edited by SpiritWolf (edited 07-07-2001).]

[Angie_DRTemp]

*sees computer techie stuff* *brain shorts* <P>Eh, I found a cheap copy of Win 98. I figured whatever I lose I can easily DL back once I get the cable modem *L*<P>Only thing that bothers me is how many MP3s I'm gonna lose. *sigh*

[SpiritWolf]

I have an idea! It's a really good one too! I'm literally <I>stunned</I> I didn't think of it before honestly, I mean <I>damn</I> this should've occured to me, I'm slow. Anyways, enough exclaiming, more explaining.<P>What you can do basically is firstly, free up enough space for a Windows install and then about 100MB more (just to be safe) and then partition that space plus 50MB (for temp files, swap files, etc) more to a new drive. You can use something like Partition Magic for this. Swap your drive letters so the new, small empty drive is C: then install your Windows 98 to that. Once you've done that, go to your drive , copy your stuff out of WINDOWS (which will be your Windows 95) to another location as I mentioned above. Once you have all your stuff out of WINDOWS, delete it. Then rename your Program Files dir to something like Programs Old. Then what you do is you recombine the partitions so your C: and become just C: again. Then, ta-da, you have all your stuff without the need to back up and you have a fresh 98 install there too.<P>Groovy, eh? If you don't have a partition program, then <A HREF="http://mailto:s.box@ntlworld.com" TARGET=_blank>mail me</A> and I'll see what I can get to you.<p>[This message has been edited by SpiritWolf (edited 07-08-2001).]

[Arno]

This seemed like the most appropriate topic... *l*<P>*Produces a scroll from behind his back, unrills it trying to look official and starts announcing* Hear ye, hear ye... It is hereby announced that our comic artist Angie has been deprived of internet access and locked in a deep dark dungeon of offline life by the evil beast Microsoft. *Shoves the scroll in people's faces* Here, see!?<P>---------
I finally got to install Win 98 lastnight, and unfortunately,it lost track of my internal modem and doen't want to find it.
SO. I called Roadrunner up and they're installing my cable modem tomorrow *L* But that means I gotta go net-less for two days! I could barely stand it last night! (Not to
mention I wasn't able to get my comic up) But my Dad's calling later today and hopefully he can help me get my modem back up *L*<P>And even if my modem worked my scanner program doesn't want to. It's taking away my
most important stuff!! *sob*
-------<P>It was this message that was retrieved july 25th of the year of our lord 2001, 3:34AM New Zealand local time (don't ask). Heroes from all four corners of the lands have been summoned, and a grand reward for our artist's freedom has been offered. We ask that you all wish our heroes and our artist well in their battle with the mighty beast.<P>*Puts the scroll away* I'm going to bed now...

[ZOMBIE USER 4232]

The reason for going with Windows 98 for use with a cable modem is the built-in software for it that wasn't included in Win95. I'm sure you can get your cable service to work with 95, but Win98 is the more stable from my experience anyway.<P>Here's hoping you get upgraded and hooked up via cable soon. I've been on the Roadrunner Cable Internet service for about a year and have been completely pleased with it.

[ZOMBIE USER 4232]

Poor, poor artist...
Being Net-less is a terrible feeling!

[Andrick]

Win 95/98 (aka Windows version 4.0/4.1) was what drove me away from the IBM clone platform altogether. Though I have made my old computer run with a cable modem on Win95 it still required both the installing technician and myself to scratch our heads for a half hour before it was up and running (though for some reason my trackball refused to work while my modem was on). Not exactly what I'd call "seemless Plug n' Play".

I'd've sold you my copy of Win98 but I packaged it together with my PC when I sold it last year and bought a Mac. Look through computer store listings and see if there are second-hand software stores around which may have a copy or check on Ebay. Something's bound to pop up on the cheap.