Can I Fix This Problem Without Reinstalling Windows?

MrControversial

Senior member
Jan 25, 2005
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I sometimes work on people's computers where I work. This lady gave me a computer with Windows 98 that she complained was "slow". Of course that could be anything, so I just ran a few spyware scans and cleaned out all of the spy/adware and I also cleared the IE cache and cookies. Secondly, I went into msconfig to stop unecessary programs from loading at startup. I even went into IE to download the latest Win98 patches. The system was much faster. However, it still had a problem where it would go to the Windows 98 splash screen and then stop with an error that basically said ndiswan.vxd was missing.

After a little research, I found out that this error was due to the Windows VPN plugin not being installed/uninstalled completely. So I basically go to Add/Remove Programs, clicked on Windows Components (or something like that) and installed the VPN plugin, restarted, and then uninstalled it. The error went away just like I expected. However, what I didn't expect was that Internet Explorer no longer works. It gives me the "This program encountered and Error would you like to send a report" error box. So the first thing I did was to uninstall IE6 SP. It still didn't work. I then did a repair on IE and it still doesn't work. I then rolled back to IE5 and it still doesn't work. So finally I reinstalled IE and it still doesn't work. Yes, Win98 is crap, I know that, but it isn't my computer. Yes, IE is crap, that's why I use Firefox at home and at work, however this isn't my computer, so please don't use this as a Windows/IE bashfest. Due to the fact that I can't access the Internet from the computer, I can't download Netscape or anything else.

I thought that maybe it was a network card problem, but the loop-back ping and pings to other computers worked fine. I tested the computer at work, but I didn't want to go through the hassle of adding it to the domain and transferring setup files that way. It's a problem with Internet Explorer and I was wondering if there's a way to uninstall it completely or do I have to reinstall the entire OS which I would have done in a heartbeat, but she has all kinds of sh*t on there that I didn't feel like installing. I do it for free, so I don't want to spend too much time with it. Any solutions or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
 

imported_ecosoft

Junior Member
Dec 23, 2004
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Whether your "tech-moochin'" friend uses a VPN connection, or not, would make no diff to the OS day-to-day, so why not reinstall ndiswan.vxd and be done with it? While you're at it, why not tweak BIOS and check system.ini settings.
 

nweaver

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2001
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some ISP's take over your browser, and VPN/Proxy to filter content (you pay for filtering). Stuff doesn't work when you try and get around it (kid/husband proof, lol)
 

MrControversial

Senior member
Jan 25, 2005
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It's not my computer and she uses Earthlink dial up. Earthlink then redirects her to IE. The problem may be related to IE or something that IE uses. I can't find out what it is.
 

MrControversial

Senior member
Jan 25, 2005
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Originally posted by: ecosoft
Whether your "tech-moochin'" friend uses a VPN connection, or not, would make no diff to the OS day-to-day, so why not reinstall ndiswan.vxd and be done with it? While you're at it, why not tweak BIOS and check system.ini settings.
I tried that the other day and IE still doesn't work. I also uninstalled and reinstalled the Dialup plugins. She lives a few miles away and I'm going to have to work on this thing on my own time which friggin' sucks.