Jeanette writes: << Last week I got the = message: WINDOWS PROTECTION ERROR. IT IS NECESSARY TO RESTART YOUR = COMPUTER. It happened for a day or so, sometimes three or four times in = a row before I was able to select option 5, confirm each command. It = was okay for a few days and now it is doing it again.>> Possibly a registry corruption. This could have been caused by an improper shutdown/restart. Try running syscheck which will check your system files. Try a registry restore (see my tutorial if you don't know how). This will usually fix these minor probs. If you don't have registry backups, the solution may be a little more difficult. The inbuilt Win98 backup system may not be sufficient here, unless you have stored some old registry backups. You will have to go back to a registry saved well before this problem started. Otherwise try reinstalling Windows over itself. You shouldn't lose any settings or data by this. Boot errors of this nature need to be fixed fairly early, usually by a registry restoration, or they may tend to compound on themselves, which may be happening here. Alternatively, you could run msconfig/startup, and untick everything in the startup chain that's not absolutely necessary. (Only Explorer and systray are essential). If this fixes the problem, it means that one of the programs in the startup chain is causing problems. Then it's educated guess-work plus trial and error to identify the culprit. It helps if you can recall any unusual events immediately before the problem first surfaced, such as any general instability, performance slowdown, serious crash, new software or whatever. Often these events are a pointer to the cause of the problem. An outside possibility is an overheating problem, which will cause W98 to show erratic behaviour. Check for any sticky fans (especially the one attached to the CPU chip) which might not be starting immediately when you power on. Ensure vents are clean. Don Penlington Free computer tutorials at: http://www.geocities.com/donaldpen/ Also Fractal Galleries, free icons, poetry, and beautiful Queensland beaches. The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech support at our newest website: http://freepctech.com