Windows 98 / ME: Windows Millennium FAQ

Why does not Windows Me support Hibernate?

In fact, Windows Me supports Hibernate mode, which allows you to save all the contents on the hard drive and then restore it when the system exits from this mode: this allows you to keep the programs running, and the documents open, and then return to work from the place where You have finished before that. However, the Hibernation mode in Windows Me is very whimsical and will not work on all systems.

First, you need an ACPI-compatible BIOS, as in the case of Windows 2000. However, then the conditions become more complicated - if at least one of the drivers installed on your system does not support Hibernation mode, this system function will not work, and even will not appear In the interface. At the moment, an extremely small number of systems for Windows Me support the Hibernation mode.

To find out which device is preventing Hibernate support, see the NOHIBER.TXT file in the WINDOWS folder.

How to solve the problems with the operation of IntelliMouse drivers for Windows Me?

Indeed, the current version of IntelliType can cause problems when installing under Windows Me. Microsoft promises to soon release a new version of IntelliType, compatible with Windows Me, but now there is an error in the drivers installed for IntelliMouse on the bug.

To fix this error, run Msconfig (Start - Run - msconfig), open the Win.ini tab, scroll the contents of the file to the 'Compatibility 95' section and change the value of the Point32 parameter from 0x00000002 to 0x00080002. Then click Apply, close Msconfig and reboot the system.

What is System Restore in Windows Me?

System Restore is designed to automatically track and remember changes made to system files and the Windows registry. System Restore allows you to undo changes that caused system instability. This is achieved by periodically creating the so-called "Restore Point", which makes it possible to return the system to the state at a time when it functioned stably.

System Restore does not perform the functions of an uninstaller or a backup program. In case the system lost stability after installing any software or driver, you should use the Add / Remove Programs option in the Control Panel (or the original uninstaller of the program) before using System Restore.

System Restore tracks most of the system files with the extensions. Exe, .vxd, .dll, .com, and .sys. System Restore does not track the user created files (for example, .txt, .doc, .xls), My Documents folder, Temporary Internet files ( including History , Cookies , Favorites ), Recycle Bin and Windows swap file.

How can I restore the system using System Restore?

To restore the system, do the following:

1. Start System Restore (Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore)
2. When you first restore the system, a dialog box appears with two options:
   • Restore my computer to an earlier time
   • Create a restore point
3. Select Restore my computer to an earlier time and click Next.
4. On the appeared calendar, specify to which Restore Point you want to return the system
5. Click Next.
6. You will be prompted to close all active applications, because the system will be restarted
7. After the system reboots, a message appears that the recovery procedure has been completed successfully.
8. Click OK to continue.

The next time you start System Restore, you will be able to access the third option - Undo my last restoration . It can be used in cases where your system recovery did not solve the existing problem and you want to return the system to the state it was in before the recovery operation began.

How and when are Restore Points created?

System state snapshots (Restore Points) are created under the following circumstances:

1. Automatic system snapshots (CheckPoints) are created every 10 hours of the system after 2 minutes of computer downtime. If this situation does not occur, then automatic snapshots once a day after 2 minutes of system downtime.
2. Restore Points are created when you install any software that uses the Microsoft Software Installer (MSI) technology, for example - Microsoft Office 2000
3. Restore Points are created when installing any software that uses the InstallShield Pro installation package 6.1 and higher
4. Restore Points are created when the AutoUpdate auto-update program installs an update package
5. Restore Points are created when the System Restore restores one of the previous system states. However, if this operation is performed in Safe Mode, then Restore Point will not be created
6. Restore Points can be created manually using the System Restore program, as described below

All system state images created in the above cases are stored in a compressed format (.cab) and are located in the _Restore folder on the same drive where Windows Me is installed. The contents of this folder can not be moved or modified by Windows. In addition, each disk of your computer will also contain the folder _Restore , which will contain the file Srdiskid.dat .

As already mentioned above, it is possible to create Restore Points manually. This is useful when you are going to install software or drivers, but are not sure what impact the stability and performance of your system will have on the installed program. To create a Restore Point, do the following:

1. Start System Restore (Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore)
2. Select Create a restore point and click Next.
3. Enter a description of the system snapshot and click Next.
4. Click OK to continue.

How do I set the size of the _Restore folder?

System state snapshots (Restore Points) are created in the _Restore folder, also called Data Store . The size of this folder is determined depending on the size of the disk on which the operating system is installed, according to the following rules:

1. The minimum size of the Data Store is 200 megabytes. If less than 200 MB of free space remains after the installation of Windows Millenium Edition, then System Restore will be automatically disabled, and you will have to manually enable System Restore after freeing up the necessary space on the disk. However, if System Restore is disabled automatically after a message appears on the lack of free disk space, it will be automatically turned on after the necessary space is freed.
2. On logical partitions of less than 4 gigabytes, the maximum size of the _Restore folder is 400 megabytes.
3. On logical partitions larger than 4 gigabytes, the _Restore folder can occupy about 12 percent of the total volume of the partition on which the operating system is installed.

When the size of the _Restore folder reaches 90 percent of the disk space allocated to it, the Restore Points are deleted (the oldest pictures are deleted first) until the _Restore folder reaches 50 percent of the volume provided to it. The number of system shots that remains available after this operation depends on the software installed in the system.

To manually set the maximum permissible size of the _Restore folder, do the following:

1. Open the system properties ( Start - Control Panel - System )
2. Click the Perfomance tab and click the File System button
3. Go to the Hard Disk tab and set the desired value using the System Restore disk space use

Be careful - reducing the amount of disk space reserved for the _Restore folder can initiate the above operation to remove old Restore Points.

What should I do if the system does not boot after System Restore?

If the system stops booting, and the last operation was System Restore, you can use the system boot disk to restore the system. To do this, boot using the pre-created system floppy, after which you will see the following message:

System Restore detects that a restore was the last operation completed. It is recommended you now revert the changes to your system made by System Restore and restart before you proceed. If you choose not to revert these changes, this option will no longer be available.

1)Revert the Restore changes made to my system. 2)Do not revert the Restore changes made to my system.

Enter a choice

System Restore reverted the changes made by the last restore operation.

Remove all disks from the floppy disk drives and press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart your computer.

How to disable System Restore?

Attention! Disabling System Restore may cause unstable operation of the system and lead to the impossibility of its recovery in case of failures.

To disable System Restore, do the following:

1. Open the system properties ( Start - Control Panel - System )
2. Click the Perfomance tab and click the File System button
3. Go to the Troubleshooting tab and check the Disable System Restore

To turn System Restore back on, uncheck this box.

Please note that disabling System Restore will remove all system shots taken.

In addition, to further improve performance, you can disable the launch of a resident program that monitors the state of the system. For this:

1. Run the Msconfig program ( Start - Run - msconfig )
2. Go to the Startup tab
3. In the list of programs to be launched, find StateMgr and uncheck it next to it.
4. Reboot the system

What is System File Protection?

System File Protection (SFP) is a new subsystem of Windows Millenium Edition. Its task is to ensure that the files critical to the system are not accidentally deleted or replaced by older versions (or versions not certified by Microsoft). Any software product can replace the system file only if the new file is shipped with a directory signed by Microsoft's electronic signature. If the software product, including Microsoft's own products, tries to replace the protected Windows Me file with an older version, the native file will be automatically restored. If the installer or user overwrites or deletes the protected file, SFP will restore the original version of the file in the background. It should be noted that the SFP does not report any error messages in the case of such operations.

The SFP keeps a log of all operations for recovering protected files. The log is located in the Sfplog.txt file, which is located in the Windows \ System \ SFP folder. If there are any entries in this file other than the one that Windows records there when it first started up after installation, it means that SFP was forced to restore any files.

To determine which files are protected by System File Protection, open the Windows \ System \ SFP \ Sfpdb.sfp file using a text editor such as WordPad. This file contains a list of all system files that are monitored by SFP.

How can I increase the value of the FILES variable in Windows Me?

As you probably already know, Windows Millenium Edition does not pay the slightest attention to the commands specified in the config.sys file. Moreover, at every opportunity, the system carefully erases all the information contained in this file. Thus, in Windows Me it is impossible to change the value of various environment variables, including FILES, using the config.sys file.

By default, the value of the FILES variable (which sets the maximum number of file pointers, that is, limits the number of simultaneously open files for MS-DOS applications) is 30. However, many MS-DOS applications require a much larger number of simultaneously open files.

To maximize the maximum number of simultaneously open files in Windows Me, use the PerVMFiles parameter , which is specified in the [386Enh] section of the System.ini file as follows:

PerVMFiles=<число>

The maximum possible FILES value for each MS-DOS virtual machine is 255. Given that 30 file pointers are allocated by default to each VM-DOS virtual machine, the value of PerVMFiles can not exceed 225, which together with 30 gives 255.

You must restart the system for the changes to take effect.