[GWats]

I've got a P3 650 with Win98se. There's so much crap on it, we've battled viruses over the years, and god knows what else is wrong with it. It's running so slow that it's either time to trash everything and reinstall Win98se or throw the freakin' thing away and buy a new one. It freezes up solid constantly, Cntrl-Alt-Del usually does nothing and I have to kill the power and start fresh at least 5 times a day (often more). Being the cheapass I am, I feel as though I have to attempt to purge what's there and try to reinstall. I have the disk, the product key, and the time. But not the knowledge. I've tried it once before, assuming I would lose all the old programs and start with a nice efficient clean slate. However, when I was done, most of my programs were still there. I've seen the tutorial at the top of the page. It looks easy enough even though I have no idea what all this fdisk, partition, etc. stuff is.
Here's the deal. I need to clean out what's there and start fresh. I also need to preserve some of what is still there and be able to put it back where I need it when I'm through. Which is the tutorial for me and how much of it do I follow (there were Skip to Step 7 instructions but I'm unsure if they apply to me and proceeding when unsure usually leads to disaster).
Any input would be greatly appreciated as I'm about to lose it with this thing.
Thanks

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This will rebuild rather than restore the registry and also replace missing or corrupt system files

Boot the PC and keep tapping F8 right after the beep until you get options, select command prompt only, type scanreg.exe /fix then press enter, it will run through a few screens then say registry repaired. Press enter then press ctrl + alt + delete keys together to reboot.

When it has loaded, click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools, system information, tools then run system file checker and replace any files it asks for from the 98SE CD then reboot.

After the reboot, click start then programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then after this run disc defragmenter from system tools

The PC should be quicker and more stable now

[Retired Tech]

This will rebuild rather than restore the registry and also replace missing or corrupt system files

Boot the PC and keep tapping F8 right after the beep until you get options, select command prompt only, type scanreg.exe /fix then press enter, it will run through a few screens then say registry repaired. Press enter then press ctrl + alt + delete keys together to reboot.

When it has loaded, click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools, system information, tools then run system file checker and replace any files it asks for from the 98SE CD then reboot.

After the reboot, click start then programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then after this run disc defragmenter from system tools

The PC should be quicker and more stable now

[Tyger]

Six easy steps:

Go into Add/Remove programs and make yourself a boot floppy.

After you've made the floppy take it out of the machne and go Start>Shutdown and choose "restart in ms-dos mode".

When the dos prompt comes up type in "format C:", w/o the quotes, and hit Enter. That will wipe the drive clean.

Put the floppy and your install cd in and hit crtl-alt-del to restart.

When the prompt comes up choose "with cd-rom support".

When the A:\> prompt comes up type in "E:\setup" or "E:\win98\setup" or whatever the cd rom drive letter is.

One question is, do you have the computer maker's disk or a Microsoft issue of win98? And what make/model is it?

[GWats]

I have the actual Microsoft issue of Win98se. The make and model of the computer? Other than being a P3 650, I'm not sure. It's not a Dell or any name brand if that's what you mean.
Thanks

[Retired Tech]

Boot the PC and keep tapping F8 until you get options, select command prompt only, type format c: then press enter, type Y to confirm then press enter, the PC wil format the drive, then stop at Volume, press enter for none, press enter, then keep tapping the delete key until you enter set up, change the boot order to CD ROM then hard drive, press F10 to save and exit, type Y to confirm then open the CD ROM DRive and load the 98SE CD, press enter and it will reboot, look for the option to load from CD