> I have been advised to reformat and reinstall OS, Win98. on H.D. that has
> three partitions. First has OS and only those programs where there was no
> option to install to another drive. Second has programs, third has data.
>
> Can I just format and reinstall OS on first partition, and not lose data?
No, programs that aren't keep in the C: partition of your drive will have a
.dll link to the OS. This is especially true of some programs like M$
office. Some programs will function fine without a .dll to the OS but that
be a lot of work reasearching which ones. There is a sneaky little trick you
can try. Before you reformat the C: make a copy of it to a CD, Use more than
one if nessacary. Reload your windows on tour C: and access your programs.
If the .dll is missing it will ussually tell . By saying file such and such
not found. Ok now remember that CD you burned a copy of. Well that is where
a copy will be and not only that it's location of where it goes. Warning
some programs have more than one file associated with the OS. This can be a
time consuming process but it sounds like it might be what you need.
> If not, can I do it if I first uninstall all programs on second drive
> that have registry entries?
Programs should be able to be easily reloaded if you have copies of them
with their setup.exe program. If you have copies of all the programs you
should remove the programs. The programs may be causing the problems with
the computer not operating properly. You do not have to erase the files you
have created with these programs just keep them in a folder that is not in
the drive that is being formatted or within the program that is being
removed. Example I write a word document called "Shopping List" I can save
that anywhere I usally put stuff like that in a folder called "My Documents"
( note before flaming me ) that I keep on my D: which is not where my OS is
kept thus not subject to formating nor is it directly part of any program.
Now if I remove Word from my computer I will not be able to read that file
untill I reload it. But at least it doesn't vanish.
Thanks,
Brendhan

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