The programs listed in the other section should help you through most of the problems during the installation and use of Windows 98. Listed below are some other tips for problems that may occur.
1. Make sure you create an emergency startup disk. If there is a problem, this disk can at least get your system booted.
2. Make sure you have enough disk space. Running low on disk space is one of the most common reasons problems develop when using your system. Programs often use temporary files to store things, if you are low on disc space, this can cause problems. Also, Windows 98 uses your hard drive for Virtual Memory, so if you are low on disk space, slowdowns can occur because of frequent disk swapping of virtual memory. You should try to keep at least 150 megabytes free or more at all times.
Sometimes errors occur when saving files, for example a power failure or just an unexpected problem happens. The file might not be saved properly which may result in a lost allocation unit on your hard drive. These units are taking up space. By using Scandisk you can recover them. Scandisk allows you to save damaged files to your disk so you can attempt to review their contents. These files, usually with a .chk extension and in the C:\ folder, can usually be deleted to free up more space on your drive.
3. Problems can occur that damage your master boot record, boot sector, file allocation table or system files. If you are having a problem booting up your system, one or more of the above areas might be corrupted. To check this, restart your computer and press and hold the CTRL key while the "Starting Windows 98" appears. This will give you a menu of boot options - choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only option.
Change to the \Windows\Command directory, then type scandisk at the prompt. This will run ScanDisk and it will try to repair the corrupted sections. If there are bad system files, you can use the System File Checker to restore them.
4. You can use the Automatic Skip Driver Agent program from the MSInfo Tools menu to help pinpoint a device that is not loading properly. If Windows 98 will not boot, press and hold the CTRL key at the "Starting Windows 98" message and choose the Step-By-Step Confirmation option to determine which device is not loading properly. You can then reboot, press and hold the CTRL key and choose the Safe Mode Command Prompt Only option and remove the bad driver.
