Win Me - Behaving Weird !

[Web Gecko]

Hello

I am running Me ( 4.90.3000 ) on a PII based 266MHZ Celeron
(1st generation with 64MB PC66 SDRAM - 32KB L1 and no L2)
Abit AH6 mobo with Seagate 6.4 GB HDD. This version of Me seems to have a few issues like it crashes a lot in Windows Explorer etc.. I'm hoping there are some MS updates to fix this.

Occasionally the system will just reset itself and reboot but I think this is due to software (corrupted HDD image).

But today my Me system started acting a bit wierder than normal.
I run Zone Alarm 2.6.362 when online and I occasionally jump into
MSDOS to check my active connections with netstat -an, tracert and other stuff.

I have a shortcut to DOS on my desktop so today I clicked on it
and my screen blacked/blanked completely and I had a black/white screen just like you would with an old DOS based system. EXIT still gets you back to Me but normally you go into a
DOS window (protected mode virtual real session) and run your DOS stuff. What happened to my window and window controls ?
If I run a program like winipcfg to check my IP and other info
the DOS session exits to Me and the winipcfg window displays over the desktop.

I have not seen any version of Windows do this thus far. Normally if I run a program in my DOS session/window that produces it's own window then this displays over the black DOS window I am in. Without window controls you can't mark, copy, paste text from/into the DOS session etc.

Also, when I ran a tracert on an active connection IP, ZA reported
that netstat was trying to connect to my ISPs POP server ?
This is WEIRD !!!!!!

This may be a simple bug or it may be something else (ZA getting confused ?). I have just fully scanned my drive with NAV 2002
(fully live updated) and I get no infection reports but who knows, there are a lot of unknown bugs out there. The system seems stable generally speaking, no strange processes reported in the program control box.

I want my MSDOS sessions to behave as per normal.

Can anyone help ? Not sure how to proceed here.
Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks

The Web Gecko

[morriswindgate]

I have seen Zone Alarm start causing problems after a period of time if the user is a heavy surfer. Don't ask why it seems to do this or how, but it just seems to screw-up. I uninstalled Zone Alarm and went to SYgatePE which is also free but lets me control more firewall functions and control the logging. All of problems went away.

[GaryRouth]

Hi W.G. . (and morris)

Did you get it fixed up OK?

[and . . . re: your old Vivid NetWave combo card. . . Creative Pacific never answered my e-mail requesting a driver site - the U.S. site didn't have a driver for that card]

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[larry1135]

I think the ZA version you have is one of the more troublesome. There is an update you may want to try.

[pillainp]

For your DOS peroblem, try pressing ALT+ENTER when you have a DOS session open. If there is no other problem, you should go to a window. This key combo switches between window and full screen modes for DOS sessions.

[reboot]

I saw the subject and said to myself, "So? Isn't that normal for ME?"
ME isn't the friendliest OS when using DOS. You'd probably be better off changing OS's (one that can use DOS effectively) or find a Windows app that will do your tasks.

[Web Gecko]

Hey to everyone who kicked in here. Thanks as I now at least know why I was having problems with my DOS windowing.
Basically the property setting for my MSDOS desktop icon got changed to Full Screen (don't know why ! All I can say is NOT ME
but unfortunately Me is the culprit).

Wouldn't it be great if MS decided to design an OS where they don't hide the simplest stuff away (I don't waste any sleep on dreams like that though - just too many daylight hours probably
). I mean you feel like you should know about stuff like this. Life with MS seems to be reduced to ,"Find the Checkbox" most of the time (connect the dots or Pin the ole tail on the Jackass ! [ not that Bill makes me feel that way. He gets to spend his time counting his 70+ billion beans while I get to spend my life searching for check boxes ]). You gotta hand it to ole Billions.

Yeah yer right about Me reboot. It's normally a pain in the butt but strangely enough I have acclimatised to it. Each version of Doze seems to have it's own quirks depending on what apps you run and I usually find there's a workable way round things (yep sometimes it's, load a different version ! I have recently aquired a RED HAT [7.0 or Guiness] Linux is getting better all the time. Last time I tried RH 6.2 it wouldn't drive my 56K winmodem but 7.0 picks up my old Netcomm V.34 winmodem and runs with it to home base. I am getting into Linux and can say it's worth a look see. With Linux, VmWare and all the cross platform stuff around
now, Doze is no longer the only kid on the block.

I hear say that Apple may be planning to move from Motorola CPUs to Intel. From what I've seen of Mac OS it,s reliable and slick so look out Wild Bill.

Me seems to have a lot of problems with Windows Explorer (very crash prone) but it seems to run OK from drive Explore in My Computer. Eudora 5.1 is my fave email client but the install crashes under 981E and SE. 98 was my base OS since 2001 but now I'm running Me a lot as it has all those extra MS updates that the base versions of 98 don't. Eudora runs fine under Me
but I have to admit that Me has it's problems. But you know how
quirky software can kinda grow on you. I'm used to Me by now and can do most things with it.

I am moving over to Win 2K Pro slowly though. No doubt it has many mysteries in store for the future. I want to try out XP Pro but need more memory and probably a more powerfull mobo/processor. Actually, I think I've worked out Wild Bills' cunning strategy to drip feed us in the Doze support info area so we don't get too overwhelmed/stressed out with info overload
). Uncle Bill is working with our interests at heart after all.
I bet having to count all those beans at the end of each month must be stressfull ! It's a tough job but somebodys' gotta do it.
).

ZA is still cantankerous no matter what version you use but it's a great (FREE) piece of wall software. I never go online without it !

Hey to Gary Routh ! Took me a while to get back here but I've had a million distractions lately. Yeah I've drawn a TOTAL blank with that Netwave V.34/90 ISDN card as well. Vivid Technology (originally based in Singapore) seem to have vanished into NetOblivion. I found a company in Oz who advertised a number of these cards on the web and even they didn't respond to my email. They had the drivers supposedly and I offered to purchase the software or at least one card (maybe not enough incentive). But these things are pretty much outmoded being ISA. I thought I might get some use outta them but I might have to let it go.

None of the driver sites I know have any info on that one. If I can locate someone who has one through maybe USENET or somewheres I could get lucky. But I don't have a lot of time to give to it. You know how crazy life gets.

Thanks again to all who contributed here.

cheers

The Web Gecko

[GaryRouth]

Always nice to hear from you, W.G.

Best of luck
. . . Gary