I keep getting messages that my disc space is almost full and I have to remove some files,this just started a few days ago,but my system is 82% resource free,but almost all my memory is gone.I tried to troubleshoot it,in windows help,I was prompted to go to Start>Find>Files&Folders and in named box,type in win386.swp and in look to click my computer then find now,but it's not in my computer it's in my Ms-dos_5 (C:) is that what's wrong? Can I fix it? Also I have Cox cable service and when they dropped excite,I paid that James kid money to install the Cox C.D. for me and everything was fine,then I had trouble with my outlook express e-mail,called cox support and some jackass there told my to remove my cox program and I did and we got my e-mail back,but now everytime I start up my computer,I get a message that says my Windows registary or SYSTEM.INI file no longer exists.Can I fix that? What's a mother to do? I'd appreciate any help.

what is your Operating System, Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP?

Windows 98,second edition.

OK. I have a few more questions: 1. Total Hard Drive Space 2. Total hard drive space used. 3. Amount of Physical Memory. 4. Page (swapfile) file size. 5. Can you boot the machine anymore at all?

By boot you mean turn it off and turn back on,yes.I have on windows managed swapfile on drive C is 17MB free,available space on driveC 17 MB of 2047 MB (FAT). I don't know where to look for where it shows the amount of physical memory or the Page(swa[file)file size.

Do you have an additional hard drive? Or Partition? A drive Floppy Disk C drive Hard Disk Partition D drive Hard Disk partition E CD rom? If you upgraded from 95 to 98, then your max hard drive size would be 2 gigs (2048 mb).

No I didn't upgrade from 95. How can I tell if I have those other drives?

right click on your "my computer" icon on your desk top and choose "explore". it will show you the drives listed on the left column. To check your page or swap file, right click on the My computer icon again, and choose properties. your ram will be displayed on the first screen. to get to page file and % free, click on the performance tab I am working from memory, all the machines here are w2k

Your memory is fine Spunky,here goes, a 3 1/2 Floppy (A)> Ms-dos_5(C)> (D:) C.D.>File system 32-bit>virtual memory 32-bit>128.OMB RAM>no disc compression or PC Cards(PCMCIA)no PC Card sockets installed.

OK. You need a bigger hard drive. For now, there is not much else you can do other then clear your internet cache, delete anything you downloaded that you do not need or uninstall any software you do not use.... I would suggest you consider this hard drive at least -$99 for a 40GB West Dig HD is not bad It is easy to install.

did that help???

rusty kuntz

wd40 will help

J, have you tried deleting your .tmp files? They can use up a lot of space. And most of them will show zero K. But, they still use valuable space on the hard drive. Also, remember to clear your recycle bin. And, finally defragment your hard drive.

Defrag is great for restoring drive efficiency, but you have to have 25% free space to do it. It is re-arrangeing the file table to a better structure, but it needs space to temporarily move a file to before defrag moves it to the final destination. I had forgotten about the tmp folder, if you have installed a lot of programs as of late, that folder can get pretty full. Bottom line, 2 gigs just ain't enough for today's apps.

What do you mean clear my internet cache?? Will it ruin anything? Clearing those tmp.files really helped and now I have 472MB.I still think it's more than running out of disc space, I've had more files on my computer in the past than I do now.Thanks you guys,it's bought me some time. Also when I try to use the disc scan utility it doesn't work.

Good. It sounds as if there has been a lot of programs installed, that it usually gets dumped into the tmp folder. What error message do you get when you try to run scan disk? Also, is that md dos floppy disk still in your floppy drive?

J, I forgot to mention the cookies. These little buggers can take up a lot of space. Just do a find on cookie and be careful about deleting all of the files in these folders. But, the ones you know you don't want or need blast them to the Recycle Bin.

LIAR!

How can I tell if the md dos floppy disk is in my floppy drive? When I try to scan disk I get a message Scan Disk has restarted 10 times because windows or another program has been writing to this drive.Quitting some running programs may enable ScanDisk to finnish sooner.Do you want to continue receiving this warning?

When you listed the contents of your computer, you listed a 3 1/2 Floppy (A)> Ms-dos_5 That sounded like there was a disk in the floppy drive named ms-dos_5. What that message means, generally, is that there is a program that kicks on that writes to the hard drive. It may be a screen saver, or maybe you are surfing the net or something else while scan disk is trying to run.

No I don't have any programs going,not surfing,just my desktop.My ms-dos are in my C drive and I think they are suppose to be in my computer.

And I just tried diskscan now and it worked,go figure.

good deal

Here is what I think happened,but I can't figure how to fix it, I have a drive converter FAT32,that was installed then somehow it got uninstalled,now when I try to use it,the screen goes dead,black but the green light on the tower is on,like it's on. I can't restart in MS-DOS mode.Am I just truely fucked?

A problem with existing Ndis2 driver code=2 (0x2)

J, you say that "the screen goes dead,black but the green light on the tower is on". Does this mean that you never see anything on the screen? Or do you see the Dell/Gateway/IBM whatever logo & memory test at the beginning when you turn on the PC? If the latter, when exactly does the screen go black? Also, is there anything at all on the screen like a flashing cursor up in the top left hand of the screen? If you never see anything, then either your video card has gone bad, or the monitor has died, or the video cable might be bad or loose where it hooks into the PC. Also, you say that you have a FAT32 drive converter that got uninstalled, but if you've converted your drive from FAT or FAT16 to FAT32, you only need it that one time when you converted the drive -- I don't believe it runs every time you boot into Windows. Ndis2 is a network card driver. Do you have a cable or DSL modem? Your ethernet card in your PC would be plugged into the cable or DSL modem, and the driver for the ethernet (NIC) card is probably corrupted. Can you boot into safe mode at all? If so, delete as much crap as you can first (usually in C:\Temp and possibly C:\Windows\Temp), any extranneous files (but not programs) that you don't need to clear up some disk space again. Then, if you can get a copy of the driver for your NIC card (it might be from 3com, Intel, SMC etc.) or it might be on the CDs/diskettes that came with your PC (assuming the NIC came with your PC) I can help you reinstall the driver. If the NIC card came with the cable/DSL modem, you might call up your provider and have them help you rip out all the networking from Windows (TCP/IP, NIC card drivers, and probably something called WinPoet) and start fresh. Let me know if I can be of any help.

When I boot up my computer all the test come up fine on my screen except it does say that my SYSTEM.INI file no longer exist then I can hit any key and I'm finally on,I have tried to install that file from disk,but it just kind of grinds and never kicks in.When I try to use the drive converter FAT32 thats when the screen goes dead and it just goes completely black and dead and I have to re-boot.I have Systematic desktop firewall and under system it says Nam service NISSERVE started as Windows 95/98 service and then the error, warning,information,alert,and system boxes are all checked,I can't reboot in MS-DOS mode for some reason.

Ouch. I can't remember which key it is, either F5 or F8 which you can keep hitting after the memory test & logo screen comes up which will give you a menu for how you want to boot (safe mode, dos prompt etc.) One of them, I think it's F5 will just boot you to a Dos prompt, so try both. Maybe you can get into Windows in Safe Mode without networking support, and possibly from there, you can fix a few things. Also, why are you trying to use the drive converter at this point? Or is this where you ran into problems in the first place, trying to convert your drive, and it crapped out in the middle of conversion?

I was trying to convert my drive because I was getting low on memory messages,and I think at one point they had been converted and then uninstalled because there use to be uninstall under the FAT32 and now there isn't. Thanks Dougie I'll try that.

I think the SYSTEM.INI file is used for 16-bit applications. If you have a friend with Windows 98 second edition have them copy their file to a floppy for you. Then you copy that onto your hard drive. In the same folder theirs was in.

No, system.ini files are customized to your system. I have gotten the NDIS error message before as well. It refers to a NIC card and the ndis driver that is installed on your machine. The only practical advice I can give at this point is to whipe it all out and start over. Set your bios or cmos to boot off of cd-rom, put in your windows 98 cd, then reboot. You can try and repair current installation, or format the hard drive and start over, you should be given options. Just make sure you have the drivers for all of your hardware (modem, nic, video, sound cards, etc)

Yeah J, the spunkman is right, do not use anybody else's system.ini -- it's customized to your system. There should be a system.cb file in c:\windows directory which is a generic system.ini file. Basically, safe mode uses that file when it boots if it can't find a valid system.ini file. It's also something that you can rename/copy over a corrupted or non-existent system.ini file if you can boot only into dos. If I were you, try my ideas (booting into safe mode) as a last ditch effort to get your system back before wiping your system and starting fresh.

"....do not use anybody else's system.ini -- it's customized to your system." (i.e. as usual Watcher has no fucking clue as to what he is talking about.)

Well, he's half right -- it's a throwback to Windows 3.1 that allows for customization of 16 bit applications. I'm sure Microsoft decided when they were creating Win95, "Hey, let's create something totally unwieldy called the registry to store configuration info, but while we're at it, let's keep the good old system.ini, win.ini, autoexec.bat, and config.sys, which don't need to be used, but can be used, just to confuse the hell out of everybody about what's exactly needed to make this fucker run."

True. Microsoft totally confused me when they created Windows 95. What else is new. They tried to confuse everybody. But, I still think a working SYSTEM.INI file can be created. Since Microsoft created all these registries. Check a good Windows 98 book. We're all guessing here.

My Commodore 64 won't power up Mister Watcher. Can you help?

Yeah. Plug it in.

How'd you make out with your PC, J? Nice one, Marty. Has anybody tried those Lindows PCs that Walmart's selling for like 200 bucks?

lindows is a scam on stupid people. make 'em pay for free software that doesn't work very well to begin with. i'd just format and install whatever i felt like. $200 is a hell of a deal, though. i want one of these for the house: http://www.directron.com/ss50.html it's about as big as a 6 pack. throw in a 1ghz p4 and a gig of ram, plus a 40gig hard drive and a dvd/rw and i'd have a tight little system.

I was thinking about buying one and installing 98 on it for Hayley.

I'm not so sure it's a scam, dave -- true, it's an early release of an OS that has its problems, and they've got some sort of click 'n download subscription thingie for $99/year that isn't any great shakes (*that* might be a scam), and it's supposed to run any Microsoft app (which it's reported that it doesn't) but would you say RedHat or Mandrake distribution on CDs is a scam? I downloaded the latest RedHat full version a couple of months ago, and it took me a couple of tries -- got ftp timeouts etc. when I left it running overnight. I think some people would rather just fork out the cash to have a pre-printed manual and the CDs ready to go than deal with downloading.

the click-n-download thing is what i'm talking about. that's all free stuff you're paying 99 bucks for. if the software isn't free, you still have to pay for it in addition to the $99/year. and, i'll bet it still doesn't work as flawlessly as they say it does. undoubtedly, you'll be missing some glibc or gcc or gtk library or some other supporting library that the uninitiated will be hard put to figure out. besides, isn't that the sort of subscription model that m$ is getting reamed for in the open source circles?

Ok, I thought you were talking about the OS itself. Do you *have* to sign up for the click & download to purchase the PC from Walmart, or is it optional? Is it like those cheap PCs a couple of years ago where you'd get a rebate only if you subscribed with an ISP?

And what's going on with streaming radio? I don't listen very often, but I tried WBGO out here and a couple of others today, and they were all off the air and had scrolling banners saying they'd be off the "air" until further notic. Is there some sort of legal action going on against online radio recently?

Yes, big time. Copyright issues.

i guess you don't have to sign up for it. i think they're still trying to work out advertising on the net. here, the local newstalk would mute the commercials because most of them were for local clients but it made for some startling radio when the audio would suddenly come blaring back on, usually mid-sentence. they finally gave up, basically citing that they couldn't figure out how to work the advertising angle into a viable business model that was contractually tight for all parties. of course, i say to that, "who cares?" -- but that's why i'm such a loser.

I'm going to go to the library and get that book.

f8 invokes safe mode

i thought f8 invoked a boot menu from which you could choose safe mode among other options. step by step is also helpful if you have the patience.

corrected. thanks dave

i'm so smart. i'm so good. i'm so smart. look at me. la lala lala la la.

You have been in rare form lately:)

i'm on vacation.

bring me back a present, please. something pretty.

I've gotten back some of my memory it's between 650 to 710 and my printer and scanner are working.I'm starting to suspect somebody of tapping into my computer somehow.I have a cabel connection and sometimes pass out at night and leave it on.Last week this symbol just showed up on my desktop ~ I deleted it and didn't think too much of it,I've been tring to get rid of some adware files like gator that Ryan downloaded.Anyway I just happened to go to my start menu and went to find files or folders and entered ~ and everything I think I ever had on my computer came up all my programs,everything.I don't get it and I'm not sure if I should delete it.Can I delete it?

J, usually files with ~ in front of the name are temporary documents, used especially by programs like MS Word. They get left behind if Word closes unexpectedly, and those you can delete. If you've got a Word document open though, called for example Jdocument.doc, if you look in the same directory that Jdocument.doc lives, there will be a file called something like ~$ocument.doc, and you can't delete that while it's open. Once you close Jdocument.doc, the temporary file should go away.

I'm not sure Dougie,there are files on there from 1997 and I didn't even have a computer then,so you think it's alright to delete them?

What are some of the files' exact names J, and what directories are they in?

what version of windows? the files dated 1997 are likely files installed when windows was installed.

go to downloads.com (or whatever its called these days) and get AdAware 6.0, and Spybot Search and Destroy. run these two (you will get a compatibility warning, but click OK and ignore it) and they will do almost everything you need to clean, and keep, crap off your PC (if its a PC you use that is..) also you really should run somekind of firewall software.... but thats just my opinion, and unsolicited advice.

Thanks BigKev,I got that adaware and now I'm gator free.I have windows 98 second edition,here are some of the things that come up on this~ file.My Documents,program files,my music,WINDOWSWINHI,temporary internet,application extensions,HTML documents,PKCS #7 certificates,file folders,icons,configuration settings,Gif image,application,realmedia file,bitmap image,shortcut to MS-DO,screensaver,text document,log file,shell favorite folder,MTX file.OCX file.class file,tmp file J script script file,outlook express,etc.It's everything I have on my computer.If I knew what it was I'd delete it.

Jeez J, not sure what to tell you, especially if it's "everything I have on my computer." Do you mean that every file on your computer has a corresponding file with a tilde at the front of the name? Do you have decent virus protection which you keep updated with the latest virus definition files?

No,when I go to start,then find files or folders,the find all box comes up and when I put ~ for file name that's what I get. I have virus protection.

Oh, I think I know what's going on. I did similar on my Win2000, and there are a lot of files which come up as SECURI~1.CL_ That's a throwback to DOS days, when a filename could only be 8 characters, with a 3 character extension, such as "FILENAME.DOC" When Microsoft came out with long filename support, they had to have a way for computers which didn't support long filenames to still be able to read those files, so they would keep the 6 first letters of the long filename, and replace the rest with a ~1 etc. J, when you do your search, is the tilde at the front of the filename, like "~$ceptance Paperwork.doc" or is it embedded into the filename similar to "SECURI~1.CL_" ? If the latter, then no problem, you're all set -- don't delete them.

neither? It doesn't show up in the file name.

My computer died and I got an emachine with windows xp,it was pretty cheap at costco,I'm pretty happy with it,but it's only been a little over a week.I'm still trying to figure out some things.

Hey I'm from Norway and Love McFly and Busted