Hi, please help, I'm in serious trouble! Windows 98 computer won't even boot now...
Last thing I remember was that I'd loaded the latest definitions and made sure the programme was up to date. Then I went into the extended configurations menu and checked a few boxes there (I no longer remember exactly which ones), then changed my mind and decided to return to default settings. But as soon as I pressed the relevant button every froze... and I mean everything! Not even Control+Alt+Delete would work anymore, so I had to manually reset the computer by holding down the power button.
This happened every time I tried to run Ad-Aware. Meanwhile, in-between repeats of this, I checked to see if other programmes were working ok, and everything seemed fine.
Then I checked the Support section here and found this post which pertained to W98.
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=218
I decided to give it ago and followed the instructions. I opened autoexec.bat with Notepad and removed the line "set temp=c:\", rebooted, then tried to run Ad-Aware but once again everything froze. I then repeated the procedure, this time also deleting the line "set tmp=c:\", but the same thing happened all over again.
Then I decided to do some more troubleshooting of my own (I now wish I hadn't...) and tried to go into Safe Mode by pressing F8. Instead I got a message saying:
"Windows has detected a registry/configuration error. Choose, Command Prompt Only, and run SCANREG". However, when I try to do so, I get a message saying: "Program too big to fit in memory".
Alas, no matter what I do I'm stuck at this screen. If I try to boot into Windows normally, the computer switches itself off.
I don't know if any of this is relevant, but for troubleshooting purposes I should perhaps mention that yesterday I updated to the latest version of IE and then ran windowsupdate and installed all the critical updates for my system. Not too long after doing this I ran Ad-Aware and found 8 critical objects (all tracking objects, and Alexa-related) which I duly removed. That was the last time Ad-Aware worked for me...
Another thing, which may or may not be relevant: some time ago (about 2 months) I upgraded the memory on my system. The instructions in my Dell Inspiron manual said that in such a case I needed to delete the old suspend-to-disk file using a certain phdisk command and create a new one. I remember trying to do this, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work, so I gave up. As I said, I don't know if this is relevant or not, but I thought I'd mention it just to be on the safe side.
Please help if you can!