"Mike Rivers" wrote in message news:znr1118782896k@trad...
In article RDFre.2630$kj5.2370@trnddc03 writes:
My recollection of SFC is that it works a little differently in Win98
than in 2000 or XP, at least it's more informative and tells you what
it's doing. I did run it on the Win2000 computer (that's how I found
the missing AUTOEXEC.NT file) and it just runs. It doesn't tell you
what it found out of whack, if anything.
No advanced options for displaying the results or notifying along the way?
You're aware that the first time it runs it reports nothing, yes? The first
run is for building a data base; which is why folks should run it the minute
the OS install disc is first taken out, and then run after every update or
install of software so as to keep up with all changes that occur.
I had some issues with the Microsoft security patches from March...
Security Update for Windows 98 (KB888113) and Security Update
for Windows 98 (KB891711) seemed to cause scripting errors when
surfing the web. Turns out that something happened to both my IE
preferences and to the manner in which Zone Alarm looked at web
sites.
What does SFC do when you've installed a patch or update to the
operating system? It asks you to put in the original installation CD,
so it's possible that it would replace a missing updated file with the
old version. Is that what happens?
I run it so often, that the only time it asks me for the install disc is in
the event of a corrupted file. I created a directory for backing up all
files that get booted, and directed SFC to backup any files it was
replacing (98SE). But yes, it would be easy to replace a newer
version of a file with an older version if one wasn't careful or simply
wanted to go backward for some reason. The newest file would be
backed up as well before the old one would go in it's place.
This new version has become bloated and invasive, something that I
used to praise ZA of *not* being.
I'm just using the free version. I figured it was working but just for
kicks I went to the Gibson Research web site (grc.com) and played with
their Shields Up test. It trys to probe all the ports (or the first
1000 or so) and tells you if they're open, closed, or stealth (the
probe gets no response from your machine). With Zone Alarm turned on,
it showed stealth for all of my ports. So I shut down Zone Alarm, ran
the port probe test again, and it still showed them all as stealt. So
maybe my router is doing that, or my ISP is. I figure that if there's
really a problem, Gibson would want to show it in his test since he's
trying to sell stuff that seals up computers.
I'm not so sure any more. Version 5.xx (pro) is simply not acting right.
Active program icons never dissappear from it's display even though
they've been shut down for hours.... many more funny anomalies, too.
The computer my friend brought over was running the free version of
ZA, and it has locked up tighter that a drum after getting 4 of the 6
updates (the last two only came out a week or so back, and he was
already dead in the water.
As the days have passed, problems have again begun to rear their heads
with me changing nothing. Once again, ZA is not allowing simple .gifs
and a great deal of scripting to load from web pages.
Honestly, I'd feel more comfortable if it blocked something now and
then. I do get pop-ups when some program or Windows service that I
have't put on the "good guy" list tried to access the Internet. Real
Player is one example. If I want to use it to play a non-downloadable
file, I'll anser the pop-up with "allow" but won't tell it to always
allow that program to access the internet. I want to know when it's
"phoning home" and then don't let it.
Same here. I don't even use an exceptions list. I tell it to ask me
for approval on every piece of software, even those I access the
net with quite often (FTP, AdAware, etc) except IE and OE.
But I've been disappointed. It
hasn't tried to access the Internet other than when I sent it there.
Do you use Real JukeBox? It tries every time it's opened, just like
Windows Media Player.exe and Setupwmp.exe do when you launch
the MS media player.
Call me paranoid or delusional, but these patches seem to me to be
compromising security rather than fixing it. Zone Alarm no longer
reports to me when my IP address changes, and a few other little
anomalies that don't make any sense.
I don't recall that I ever saw that (I'm sure it changed now and then
when I was on AOL dial-up) but then I've only been using the program
for less than two years. Maybe I never got an old enough veresion.
I don't think the free version has that warning, and even in the Pro version
it's fairly peculiar to just DSL/cable dynamic (changing) IP addresses.
Lo and behold, today there are two more security patches for Win98...
Who says Microsoft doesn't support old versions. G
My point exactly. Two years ago Microsoft Windows Update site claimed
that support for 98 & 98SE would only be available for a few more weeks.
I think it was discussed here as a reason to move on to newer OSes.
However, now here we are in 2005 and MS has offered 6 new "patches"
since Christmas. Since I got them two at a time, I can't tell you which
ones caused the problem; but each time, they caused my formerly reliable
firewall to crash wildly. Why should Windows patches for an 8 year old
operating system be alienating a stable and reliable firewall?
So now, I'm thinking both MS *and* ZLabs are digging too deep.
Anyway, I only mentioned this because your temporary problem sounded
a little like a couple I'm privy to.
Your conspiracy-minded acquaintance,
DM