Well, its an old machine but it keeps having problem either apparently
saying resources are low or some program ha stopped responding, but whatever
it is, the end result usually is blue screen of death and what sounds like a
busy drive.

In the end though, when its in this mood, all is well on the next session
even though you had to turn it off before complete shutdown.

Now i know 95 was very much prone to this, but is there something i should
do to help it out? The machine has 16mb of ram and about half a gig of disc
space free.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 09/10/03

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 20:06:05 +0100, "Brian Gaff"

Start with...

http://users.iafrica.com/c/cq/cquirke/bthink.htm

....as old systems may well have flaky hardware, and old OS code may
well have malware-prous holes.



To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...

I'm pretty sure its not infected with anything, having run numerous
programs over it. The hardware tests I've done suggest all is well too.

What is at that address, as being a blind person, I seldom visit web sites
as many are inaccessible. If its good diagnostic stuff, I'll do my
relaxation exercises and chance some surfing!

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________


"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" <name.goes.here@nospam.iafrica.com> wrote in message
news:u9biov8c42fjnahvva1j3dvh0agb5uoufk@4ax.com...
| On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 20:06:05 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
|
| >Well, its an old machine but it keeps having problem either apparently
| >saying resources are low or some program ha stopped responding, but
whatever
| >it is, the end result usually is blue screen of death and what sounds
like a
| >busy drive.
|
| Start with...
|
| http://users.iafrica.com/c/cq/cquirke/bthink.htm
|
| ...as old systems may well have flaky hardware, and old OS code may
| well have malware-prous holes.
|
|
|
| >-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
| Tip Of The Day:
| To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
| >-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 09/10/03

Brian Gaff <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message news:bmejbs$ls5cj$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...
Are you aware of the DOIT program at the
University of Washington in Seattle?

Disability-Related Resources on the Internet
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/DRR/

UW strives to make the site universally accessible,
by minimizing the use of graphics and photos,
and providing descriptions of them when they are included.

I imagine there are similar programs in Blighty?

That is Chris' own web site that he referred you to, and it should be very user-friendly for you, as he avoids using images and other useless eye-candy. Straight text and links, and good diagnostic stuff....he has quite a few pages actually, check out the whole site:
http://users.iafrica.com/c/cq/cquirke/index.html
-
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems

"Brian Gaff" <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message news:bmejbs$ls5cj$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...

Yup I use a proggy called Web Formater, which is German to help with some
stuff, but you do still get pages that are not easy to follow when you
deformat them, as it were.

One of the main agonies I get are tables and similar things that are really
sighted ways of showing related info that does not transfer well to the
way we view, which I guess could be demonstrated to a sight person by
saying just look throe a tiny hole and then try to remember which row and
column you are in as you move about!

Speech is narrow band, and even Braille displays are only one or two line
and need a mortgage to purchase them

Anyway this is off the subject, don't get me started...

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________


"Hugh Candlin" <no@spam.com> wrote in message
news:eubmbqakDHA.1764@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
|
| Brian Gaff <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bmejbs$ls5cj$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...
| >
| > I seldom visit web sites
| > as many are inaccessible. If its good diagnostic stuff, I'll do my
| > relaxation exercises and chance some surfing!
|
| Are you aware of the DOIT program at the
| University of Washington in Seattle?
|
| Disability-Related Resources on the Internet
| http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/DRR/
|
| UW strives to make the site universally accessible,
| by minimizing the use of graphics and photos,
| and providing descriptions of them when they are included.
|
| I imagine there are similar programs in Blighty?
|
|


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 09/10/03

Brian Gaff <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message news:bmjsrf$nj7ma$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...
You are being victimized. No doubt about it.

The way I have always imagined it is that you read a character at a time,
have to mentally assemble those characters into words,
and the words into sentences, the sentences into paragraphs,
and constantly readjust your mental focus to grasp the context.

Is that even close to the truth?

I have always had a problem of a different nature, which in no way
compares to the difficulty of going through life legally blind. I am
hearing-impaired, although not so much that everyone notices,
so I do sincerely empathize with your difficulties.

It is most definitely not off the subject.

The sole purpose of an operating system is to provide user access
to the computer hardware in order to use it. Nowhere does it state
that you have to be able to see and/or hear perfectly. And while
you were specifically talking about the hostility presented to you
by the majority of web based designs, I need remind nobody
that Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Windows 98 OS.

I have a hunch that Microsoft will concur with that concept.

Hi, back again, well, for the record. The hard drive is fine, no dodgy
clusters, even after the shut down crashes, and to be fair, it does not
crash in use, it merely crashes on shutdown, but only after some programs
have been run, ie Word or Outlook Express.

It appears fine at other times.

I have done a defrag and its worked fine. its now considerably faster with
things like opening menus etc.

My problem at the moment is that by the time it gets into fall over mode,
its played the shut down wav and stopped although sound so i get no speech
to say which error is now afflicting it.

Its a small white box and trying the options tends to make it blink and
return, or the blue screen to appear. The old three fingered salute can get
you a bit further sometimes, but equally give you the loop syndrome of
running drive.

Nothing is overheating, I've been inside.

Besides, the time it is on has no bearing on the crashability at shut down.

I have imported msconfig from W98, and had a poke about but nothing
suspicious, but of course I've no idea what should be there and what should
not.

I've done a basic malware check, but intend to try another product just in
case, though i'd have thought i'd have seen something in there by now.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________


"glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
news:#3kLoUbkDHA.3700@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
That is Chris' own web site that he referred you to, and it should be very
user-friendly for you, as he avoids using images and other useless
eye-candy. Straight text and links, and good diagnostic stuff....he has
quite a few pages actually, check out the whole site:
http://users.iafrica.com/c/cq/cquirke/index.html
-
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems

"Brian Gaff" <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bmejbs$ls5cj$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 09/10/03

It would probably help a lot if you could somehow get the error messages that are
coming up when this happens.

See if the info on this page helps you -
Windows Shutdown Troubleshooter:
http://www.aumha.org/win4/a/shutdown.htm

It is a web page in "frames"....to view just the one page without frames, use this
link instead:
http://www.aumha.org/win4/a/shutdown.php
That may be easier for your screen reader.

--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems

"Brian Gaff" <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bmk7n1$nkoi6$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 20:41:31 +0100, "Brian Gaff"

OK, that's good news.

One would want to test RAM too, though no crashes except on shutdown
points away from bad RAM. I know of two free RAM tester for download;
MemTest86 being my fave, and SIMMtester from www.simmtester.com as
pretty good. You may find SIMMtester more useful, though it sometimes
misses errors MemTest86 catches (esp. motherboard defects that cause
RAM subsystem errors) because:
- it's faster (meaning, less tedious to wait for)
- it makes loud noises when if finds errors

It's technically inevitable that RAM testers will run only from a raw
DOS boot, or even a proprietary non-OS boot. That means you can't use
Windows screen-to-speech tools or similar to read the screen, which
makes it impossible for the unsighted to read the results directly.

So SIMMtester's shorter test duration and noise on errors are cool.

OK. Glad you checked HD first, and that RAM is unlikely to be
defective (defragging through the lens of bad RAM is like carrying
open bottles of gasoline through a forest fire)

OK

A formal av check is definately called for, even though this once
again has to happen outside Windows for technical reasons. Things
that only it may find will bedevil everything else until found.

But excluding that, it sounds like a classic shutdown problem, and
isolated to that. www.aumha.org has a very thourough coverage of this
topic, so that would be my next stop, but in my experience the
following have been frequent offenders:

- networking issues - try with LAN card disabled in this profile
- Internet access factors - disable WINS in TCP/IP on DUN
- WinFax Systray utility (WfxCtrl or whatever)
- NAV if this is killed through Ctl+Alt+Del erlier in the session
- some mouse fluffware that lives in the SysTray
- other underfootware
- malware, including commercial malware

As at Oct 2003, commercial malware does not go "deep" enough to demand
a formal approach as traditional malware may do. The approach of
choice is using Windows-hosted tools specifically written to detect
and manage this class of malware, e.g. AdAware and SpyBot.



To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...

OK, I'll try those things. I doubt I'll get a sightie on it yet though.
Spybot I may try, but it needs to get the latest stuff off the web and its
not on the net just at the moment.

What SHOULD be running if I look with the Msconfig I imported, is it on that
site, I've not looked yet. Its not here just now so i'll have to do it
intheir house.

its certainly working with Word now OK, but even running Outlook express and
cancelling it makes the shut down get into a twist.

Good fun... not!

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
__________________________________________________ __________________________
__________________________________


"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" <name.goes.here@nospam.iafrica.com> wrote in message
news:206vovou779v7qi7cmmkl3kg7sjp90ovjg@4ax.com...
| On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 20:41:31 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
|
| >Hi, back again, well, for the record. The hard drive is fine, no dodgy
| >clusters, even after the shut down crashes, and to be fair, it does not
| >crash in use, it merely crashes on shutdown, but only after some programs
| >have been run, ie Word or Outlook Express.
|
| OK, that's good news.
|
| One would want to test RAM too, though no crashes except on shutdown
| points away from bad RAM. I know of two free RAM tester for download;
| MemTest86 being my fave, and SIMMtester from www.simmtester.com as
| pretty good. You may find SIMMtester more useful, though it sometimes
| misses errors MemTest86 catches (esp. motherboard defects that cause
| RAM subsystem errors) because:
| - it's faster (meaning, less tedious to wait for)
| - it makes loud noises when if finds errors
|
| It's technically inevitable that RAM testers will run only from a raw
| DOS boot, or even a proprietary non-OS boot. That means you can't use
| Windows screen-to-speech tools or similar to read the screen, which
| makes it impossible for the unsighted to read the results directly.
|
| So SIMMtester's shorter test duration and noise on errors are cool.
|
| >I have done a defrag and its worked fine. its now considerably faster
with
| >things like opening menus etc.
|
| OK. Glad you checked HD first, and that RAM is unlikely to be
| defective (defragging through the lens of bad RAM is like carrying
| open bottles of gasoline through a forest fire)
|
| >My problem at the moment is that by the time it gets into fall over mode,
| >its played the shut down wav and stopped although sound so i get no
speech
| >to say which error is now afflicting it.
|
| >Its a small white box and trying the options tends to make it blink and
| >return, or the blue screen to appear. The old three fingered salute can
get
| >you a bit further sometimes, but equally give you the loop syndrome of
| >running drive.
|
| >Nothing is overheating, I've been inside.
|
| OK
|
| >I've done a basic malware check, but intend to try another product just
in
| >case, though i'd have thought i'd have seen something in there by now.
|
| A formal av check is definately called for, even though this once
| again has to happen outside Windows for technical reasons. Things
| that only it may find will bedevil everything else until found.
|
| But excluding that, it sounds like a classic shutdown problem, and
| isolated to that. www.aumha.org has a very thourough coverage of this
| topic, so that would be my next stop, but in my experience the
| following have been frequent offenders:
|
| - networking issues - try with LAN card disabled in this profile
| - Internet access factors - disable WINS in TCP/IP on DUN
| - WinFax Systray utility (WfxCtrl or whatever)
| - NAV if this is killed through Ctl+Alt+Del erlier in the session
| - some mouse fluffware that lives in the SysTray
| - other underfootware
| - malware, including commercial malware
|
| As at Oct 2003, commercial malware does not go "deep" enough to demand
| a formal approach as traditional malware may do. The approach of
| choice is using Windows-hosted tools specifically written to detect
| and manage this class of malware, e.g. AdAware and SpyBot.
|
|
|
| >-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
| Tip Of The Day:
| To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
| >-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.525 / Virus Database: 322 - Release Date: 09/10/03

These web pages can help you with basic info about Startups:

Clean up your startup group:
www.westelcom.com/users/rogersr/clean.htm

Startup Programs Loading:
http://aumha.org/a/loads.htm

These sites have detailed lists of startup items, in table format:

Start-ups:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm

Task List Programs:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm

If you have trouble navigating these sites, just post here with your list from Msconfig>Startup tab, and we can help you sort it out.

--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems

"Brian Gaff" <Briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message news:bmpkou$pbig7$1@ID-105134.news.uni-berlin.de...