Strange happenings during bootup

My OS is 98SE. I use a bootup that is verbose - it always gives me the option to load step-by-step, bootlog, safe mode, pure dos, etc. I know the routine that appears on my screen, but sometimes it's different. Sometimes the information suddenly spreads out with a lot of geek symbols, and on occasion the symbols are in COLOR! Which should never happen.

I have to assume this is malware, but when I do a scan after it happens, I never find one.

This has happened for a long time - not often, only a few times a year. But today's malware is nastier, so I worry.

When this does happen, what should I do?

There are also times during bootup when I get the notice that Windows is adjusting my system settings, yet I hadn't installed anything the last time I was using my PC. Of course, sometimes I realize that I had installed something, but there are other times when I KNOW I hadn't. Which tells me something was installing itself.

Where and how can I look to learn just WHAT Windows had just installed? Is there a way to thwart the install while it is going on? Like turning off the PC real fast?

There is a problem that has occurred several times over the years, where something erased the TTFontDimensionCache in System.ini. It makes windows load defective or not at all. I now keep a copy of that cache, so I can insert it into the System.ini file whenever I find it missing. Could it be anything BUT malware causing this? I never have found it, no matter how hard I searched. But it still happens sometimes.

What's doing that? How can I find where it's hiding?

 

Windows 9x was a strange beast! While I loved it, I was much happier once I installed Windows 2000.

The main thing I remember from Win9x is that you had to regularly repair it; it slowly deteriorated, then after 3 to 6 months you had to do a repair run. I even made a web page at the time how to easily reinstall Windows 95: http://www2.gol.com/users/pbw/jkeyb.htm#w95_rein

At the time disk space was rather expensive, so a repair was cheaper than backup/restore. Today I would probably make a full backup when the system is running fine, then restore when it's starting to fail.

P.S. the Batch utility for Windows 98 is BATCH98.EXE

 

Thanks! I've downloaded the batch file and will try it later. Just one question: can you be SURE that these things I mentioned that screw up the bootup process are NOT malware? If it's just a problem of W98SE getting old, that's minor, since I plan to format C and resinstall soon. Later, I want to install Ubuntu, but am having trouble learning HOW. I have the stuff on a CD, but it doesn't do much. So until I have a clear battle plan for using Ubuntu, I'll keep using W98SE.

If I can use the batch file to reinvigorate my OS, can I be sure it won't mess anything up? Its name doesn't say if it's good for my specific OS. It'd be great to have if I keep using W98SE much longer. Would it mean I wouldn't have to do an "overlay" reinstall, as I've had to do at times? That usually results in some screwups, like reinstalling some programs, but I know how to deal with those by now. It's a nuisance, but if the OS itself can be rejuvenated without the overlay reinstall, I'd be tickled.

Do you have such an app for use in ALL the Windows OSs? And maybe even Ubuntu?

I've never had W95 on my PC. It would probably be disastrous to try to revert to it.

I want to make a full backup of at least my software programs and data, but am having a problem (I wrote about it in the Hardware forum) with a message in bootup that often says it has failed the R/W Ram test, and I just learned it refers to my DVD-rewritable CD ROM disk. So I'm not sure I want to trust it to back up important data.

I'd appreciate your thoughts about these things.