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Wrong forum. Try here.

omg there was only one small spelling mistake in that entire post

Wow, and here I thought double posts were just a myth used to pharm.

T'is clst7's fault

Edited, Jun 7th 2006 at 8:35pm EST by Pandorra

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHA
AHAGAGAGAGAGAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHASA!!!

windows 98 doesnt download all the information on your computer to microsoft for "analitical research" , read marketing research.

windows xp does.

service pack2? ROFL, it closed a back door microsoft put in the operating system to do just that, get into your computer. they had to close it when someone found it and started plastering it all over the web. you can bet service pack 2 just closed that one and opened another.

how old are you? how many computers do you have? what type of programs do you use most? whats the average balance in your checking account? are you male or female? where do you live?

want to know? anyone with xp has already given it to microsoft, they could tel you.

almost no drivers for a new computer will work with windows 98. PLus 98 is one big security hole waiting to happen now that the the w32 virus variants exist.

No. But windows98 is so rife with security holes that any data you have on it will be accessable to any idiot who can write a simple script and hack your system. Not really an improvement.



Tin foil hat much? Don't get me wrong, Window's is basically one big security flaw from the ground up and is an example of how not to do most things (although their CIFS stuff isn't bad from a file server perspective). The solution is to never put anything you don't want taken on your computer.



Lol. Unless you filled out some registration thingie and actually put your name and address down, they can't get that information. And unless you're stupid and keep unencrypted financial data on your system, they can't get that either. And anyone with a network sniffer can tell how many computers you have (unless you're a decent network admin of course!). Don't need MS to do that. Male or female? I'd love to hear how my computer knows that bit of information...


Running Windows98 in order to avoid the evil data mining that MW may or may not be doing is just plain stupid. It's like insisting on driving an old car because that way the evil car companies wont require you to drive a car with airbags.

If you really don't want MS to know what you're doing, run a different OS instead. And not an older MS OS. Load up linux on your system. Run your financial programs off that one. Do your web browsing there. I use my XP system for one thing and one thing only: I play games on it. Period. And if some evil virus comes along and wipes it out? Who cares? I reinstall. And if some evil MS program comes along and reads my hard drive? Well, they'll find out that I play a handful of games. Not exactly concerned about that...


Pssst. And just for the record? MS doesn't actually do any of that stuff. Because there's a whole world full of IT experts who do nothing but log and check and verify what MS does. If they actually did grab personal data off your hard drive (more then what you give them when you register), it would be much more widely known then in the rants of someone totally unfamiliar with the IT world on a gaming site. While MS is typicall rife with security holes and exploits that can be used to read data off your system, there's no evidence that MS itself steals such data. And it's not like that would be hard to check...

Edited, Jun 7th 2006 at 9:28pm EST by gbaji

just to chime in here a bit.

1. win98 is not worth the hassle as most modern hardware will not run with it.

2. if you fear the spyware from XP, then install 2k pro. that has far more security then win9x, has far better hardware support then win9x and has none of the spyware of winXP.

as for formatting. that is what f-disk is for. you can do that with your win9x CD or from a boot floppy be it from win9x, or win2k (3 floppies for that IIRC), or best yet use Knoppix to format the drive.

if you are so adamant against MS, then why not try out Linux. start with a live CD like Knoppix Live CD or any of the many other Live CDs out there. IIRC SuSe also now has a Live CD vs.

I would be more then willing to help you with linux if you are willing and open minded enough to learn.

as for helping you with the error msg you are getting with win98, the only thing i can say is to boot with a boot floppy that has both format and f-disk installed on the floopy. after that, f-disk and format the drive with fat32 in how ever many partitions you wish.

after that you can then install win98 with less issues, or so you should IIRC my win9x days.

good luck.