MCSE : Security Specialist
Applications don’t install
How Windows 9x Accommodates Application Problems
Some
Windows-based and MS-DOS-based applications may not run well under
Windows 9x because they were written to take advantage of
characteristics of older operating systems. For example, certain
applications use a portion of the title bar to include items other
than the title, such as a Quick Help button. Because Windows 9x
title bars are not formatted in the same way as Windows 3.x title
bars, some information may be overwritten when you run these old
applications.
In
addition, some applications use interrupts that are not
automatically supported by Windows 9x. Others do not handle long
file names well, or they incorrectly check for the operating
system’s version number.
Windows 9x provides the Make Compatible utility to make compatible
an application that is initially incompatible with Windows 9x. You
can use this utility to troubleshoot if you have trouble printing
from an application, or if an application stalls or has other
performance problems. This utility provides the means to increase
stack memory to an application, emulate earlier versions of Windows,
and solve other common problems that cause an application not to run
with Windows 9x. Click the Start button, click Run, and then type
mkcompat.exe.
Running Terminate-and-Stay-Resident Programs
Some
older terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs) rely on MS-DOS
interrupts to monitor everything that happens on the system.
However, because of its protected-mode file system, Windows 98 does
not use MS-DOS interrupts. If Windows 9x detects that a TSR is
trying to monitor these interrupts, it will accommodate the
application and send all system information through MS-DOS
interrupts. In this way, the TSR can monitor system events
successfully. However, doing this will significantly slow the
performance of the operating system.
Fixing Version-Checking Errors
Some
applications incorrectly check the version number of Windows 9x.
Incorrect version-checking techniques sometimes invert the two bytes
that record the version number; thus, version 3.10 would be reported
as 10.3. Windows 9x tries to accommodate this possible
version-checking error by reporting 3.98 as the version. In this
way, if an application looks for a version greater than 3.10 or its
inverse, 10.3, the new Windows 98 version proves to be greater.
If
the application looks for an exact match for the version number,
such as Windows version 3.10, it may not run under Windows 9x. To
resolve this problem, add the following line to the [Compatibility]
section of Win.ini:
compiled_module_name=0x00200000
To
determine the compiled module name, right-click an executable file
in Windows Explorer, and then click QuickView. The Module Name line
provides this information. After you have obtained the module name,
the section you add to Win.ini should look similar to the following
entry for cc:Mail:
CCMAIL=0x00200000
Running Applications That Replace System Dynamic-Link Libraries
Some
setup applications do not check the version of the system files they
are installing and overwrite the newer Windows 98 versions of those
dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). Windows 98 restores its original DLLs
after every setup application runs and for the first three startups
thereafter. If an application stops running or behaves erratically
after you install it, you may need to obtain an updated version of
the application that does not overwrite Windows 98 system files.
If
your application must run with a replacement file, you can add that
file to the \Windows\System\Vmm32 directory (which is initially
empty after you set up Windows 98).
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