Earl Taylor

A: You don't have to pull out the Windows 9x CD-ROM every time you add or remove a Windows component. Copy your \win98 (or \win95) folder to your hard drive so that Windows can find the files there. Windows still looks for the CD-ROM when it needs one of the files and gives an error message when it can't find it.

Getting Windows to look for its installation files in the right place involves editing the Registry. As always, back up the Registry before you touch it (refer to the June edition of PC World for the procedure). Once your Registry is backed up, select StartòRun, enter the command regedit, and press <Enter>. Navigate the left pane of the Registry Editor as if it were Windows Explorer until you get to My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup. In the right pane, double-click SourcePath, enter the appropriate path (for instance, c:\win98) into the dialog box, and press <Enter>. Close the Registry Editor. Windows will now look for its files on your hard drive.