Mary writes:

<<The past couple of weeks, various programs freeze up, and after I do
CTRL/ALT/DEL, get to the menu that lists running programs.   Usually it
indicates that Explorer (Not Internet Explorer) has stopped responding.>>

Unfortunately, this is symptomatic of deeper problems.  Simply restarting
Explorer won't prevent the prob re-occurring.

<<This may be a dumb question, but is there any way to just reload the
"Explorer" part of Windows 98SE?>>

Yes you can. Find Explorer.exe in the Windows folder, and put a shortcut on
the desktop.  Won't help you much, though.

Usually these problems are a result of regular housekeeping neglect, or
some software conflict.

How long since you did a registry restore, for example?  The registry tends
to accumulate much rubbish over time, and eventually will slow the system
down to a point where it starts to become unstable, which is what you're
experiencing here.  Ideally, you should keep a known good copy of the
registry which should be regularly restored---this will keep your system in
good running order.

You will almost certainly find that the problem will get worse if you don't
take immediate remedial action, and will eventually get to the stage where
suddenly Windows will refuse to open at all.

W98 does have a very limited system of automatic registry backups---if you
catch the prob in time, you may be able to go back to a good
registry.  Sorry, I don't recall exactly how to use the W98 registry
restoration---Help should assist, or a Google search for "restore windows98
registry" or similar should turn up plenty of tutorials.  If you happen to
have the Microsoft backup utility ERU, there's a tutorial on my website on
registry backups and restoration.

You may be lucky--it may simply be a software conflict.  Reboot holding
down the shift key, and don't open anything that's not absolutely
vital.  Particularly any Norton software.  See if you still get these
errors.  If things are now stable, then it's trial and error to see what's
conflicting. It may not be just one program---it may be 2 or more
interacting badly.  Can you recall doing anything unusual immediately
before this problem first started? Like installing or removing anything?

Run sfc to ensure that all system files are in order.

Or you could try reinstalling Windows over the top of itself---that may fix
minor conflicts, but won't do much for deeper computer malaise.

Next step would be to remove Windows completely (best done in dos using
deltree) and reinstalling anew.

Better still, if you can, reformat and start all over
again.  Unfortunately, computer systems don't last forever.  Many people
reformat every year, to keep their systems clean and up to scratch.  You
may be surprised to see how much faster it will run after a reformat---and
how much more free space you have.

I'd be starting to backup all vital files and data, just in case you
suddenly lose the lot.

Which reminds me---I assume your hard drive is not too full (at least 300
Mb free space is needed).  That would certainly cause those problems---as
will some purely physical causes such as overheating (check that all fans
are running all the time, leave the case off for a while) or memory going
bad or bad connections. Sticking fans are common on older computers. You
could try re-seating memory sticks.

I always found with W95/98 that a registry restore back to a known good
registry backup invariably fixed the sort of problems you're having.

Don Penlington






 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html