hello all. don't know if this is the right area to post or not, but didn't see a thread for '98. I bought an older computer at a thrift store the other day (I can still return it, but would like to get it working for the kids to play on and go on internet). It said system disk error, so I borrowed a friend's Compaq start up disks, wiped the hard drive and reinstalled windows '98 (this took forever and I don't know much about computers, so I'm not sure I did it right). Now, though, when 98 boots up (which it seems to do fast and well) , I click on start and then the programs, but nothing happens. For instance, I click on Microsoft works and nothing pops up. I can go to start, run program files and then click on the works.exe file from there and it does pop up and start working (although I haven't tried all the programs this way, just works and media player). So I think the programs are in there, just the start menu can't seem to pull them up. thanks in advance, and plz reply soon if you can - i'm going to take it back if I can't get it working.

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Seems like your shortcuts to these files arent setup right...

Try going to works.exe,right clicking and making a new shortcut,then placing it in the start menu and see if it works.... If it does,you need to redo your shortcuts :)

Good luck.Welcome to daniweb :)

Did you try booting from windows 98 setup CD? They are bootable.

It seems that your windows installation didn't finish properly. Creating shortcuts is one of the last things that happens during installation. Maybe you should consider reinstalling windows, or repair current installation. Avoid using Floppy boot disk, for it slows down process considerably. Instead either boot from CD or HD with f8 startup menu option "command prompt only" (then type D: <enter> setup <enter>).

To reinstall Windows 98 without formatting the HD, you will need to either rename or delete "win.com" file in windows folder. Otherwise, setup program will refuse to reinstall.

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