If you can get Windows98 to start in the "safe" mode (pressing the F8 key as mentioned above), open the "recycle bin and look to see if the deleted files are there. They should be if these have not been removed from the recycle bin. If the files are there, merely highlight the file and click on "restore". This will put the file back from whence it came unless you have deleted certain part of the operating system. However, if you deleted files using the old DOS commands, I'm not sure what happens. They may be gone. In any event, you could re-install Windows. I've had to to do that a few times back when I had Win98 SE. Before reinstalling, copy down all of your browser settings. You may loose these on an re-install. It doesn't happen every time, but it is a good practice just in case. I'm not sure what happens to the Windows updates upon a re-install. If you are lucky, Windows will recognize the update copies on the drive and install these. If this does not happen, the next time you go in-line, the Windows updater may begin, or ask to begin downloading a bunch of updates, and this can be a lengthy process over a 'dail-up' connection. Of course, you are aware that MicroSoft stopped supporting Window98 and there will be no new updates save the ones already available. If your equipment is suitable for Windows XP, I recommend moving up to that operating system. It's much better that Win98. One caution, however: Make sure that you have plenty of disk space be you begin the upgrade. A big mess is created if XP fails to finish loading due to not enough disk space. Read the requirements carefully. Upgrading to XP requires a huge temporary file during the upgrade, much larger than one might imagine. Also, a large amount of space is neded to store the old system if the option to retain 'retore old system' is chosen. If your disks are formatted for FAT 16 bit, convert up to at least 32 bit FAT. BUT WAIT! If you need to run old DOS programs, find out how to set this up under XP before you convert. That may be more trouble than its worth. It would be best if you could move away from these if possible. I've had no problem with older software written for Win95/98 when run under XP. I do have an expensive old DOS based finite element analysis program that I can no longer run with XP. If I find that I really need to run this program (for consulting purposes), I'll refresh an old computer and install Win98 SE and this program on it.

Mikie you beat me to it. Sorry about that - I shoulda lookt at it closer.... Well I sort of thought the hype about RegCure looked a bit contrived - suspected it might have been self serving so I messed around with it some and.. You have to buy RegCure - I didn't see that right off. I tried it and it found 487 problems of which it fixt 3; the rest if it got registered. They haven't sent the KEY yet. Maybe you get one free run, ie one free fix w/o money. I ran Abexo and got 33 errors which I left. I ran RegSeeker (Same outfit ?) which got 115 errors which I eliminated. I re-ran Abexo and got 11 errors which I eliminated. I reran RegCure and got 473 errors. I reran Regseeker and got 6 errors which I eliminated. I re-re ran RegCure and got 477 errors which remain unfixt. What a crock! The mind boggles. For sure the RegCure ran way faster than tuthers. Perhaps it would be worth the money vs buying another printer but I spect it would be a gamble.

That sounds like Virut virus lets hope not though..... Unfortunately, the virus infects every .exe and .scr (actually an executable) file on your system, and when you scan with a virus scanner, it will normally delete it as uncleanable. Eventually you end up loosing more and more files. The only viable alternative is to format the system. You will need to backup your important files before a format and reinstall, but you can not backup any .exe or .scr files, because they are infected. Good luck...

We must share some of the same windows updates. I have it too,, .bak files dated 12/24 for the most part, both OE and Newsgroups. So I went snooping for the why. It was one of the new microsoft updates that started doing that for OE, I guess Outlook too. You might recall seeing a windows system popup asking if you want to save space by compacting your mail database's ? When you said OK - It's backed up all your .dbx files to the recycle bin in case something goes kafluie when compacting those files - Which could cause you to lose your messages. You might want to search with the advanced feature checked for one of the main file names like inbox.* and see if it turns up in addition to inbox.bak - hopefully with a file of approx same size probablfy named inbox.dbx . before you clear your recycle bin.