Mysteriously Missing or changed system files

[hankduck]

I'm running Win98-sec. ed. OEM which came on my new Dell desktop a couple of months ago. Started having problems when using USB 35mm film scanner plus a USB flatbed scanner. Problems are not continuous and usually subside with reboot only to return surreptitiously.

The problem is getting to a point where clicking on an icon on the desktop,a radio button or the start button: the system doesn't respond. Sometimes, the three finger salute (C-A-D) will get me back to normal, sometimes not. I don't get any error messages.

I checked Device Manager and there are no conflicts. I used System File Checker and the result gave me a list of several system files that have been mysteriously deleted or changed. All but 2 of them are .dll's.

I tried to find these files to no avail on my system CD, both using Find and also opening every cab and visually searching.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Hank

 

[paulwood]

How long is the list of files, can you post it here?

 

[spacekowboy]

reinstall the op system over itself.

then copy win98 to the c drive,
so you have the cabs on it available

if you can, before this or after it immediately,
check for viruses or who/what would have removed files from windows

good luck

X-)

 

[hankduck]

Thanks for the thought. I do have Network Assoc. Virus Scanner which scans system files every time I boot. Shouldn't that be capable of ferreting out any virus-like code? If I reinstall Win98 over itself, are all the files relating to applications in partitions other than the C drive conserved? How much space on the C drive will a copy of Win98 occupy?

Hank