Windows 98 Bugs and Fixes

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Windows 98
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Windows NT 5

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Windows 98 Bugs and Fixes

Y2k Bug

Microsoft Corp. announced that it has identified and addressed minor year 2000 issues in the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system. The identified issues pose no risk of data loss or PC damage, and customers would be unlikely to encounter the issues during normal, daily use of their computer. Nevertheless, because these minor issues can potentially result in the inaccurate display of dates in 2000 in certain areas of the operating system, Microsoft is making the Year 2000 Update widely available so its customers can obtain and install it easily. Customers can download the free Windows 98 Year 2000 Update from the Windows Update Web site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ or call (800) 363-2896 to receive it on CD-ROM.

Dotless IP Address problem

The "Dotless IP Address" issue involves a vulnerability with how Internet Explorer 4 determines what security zone a target server is in. This issue could allow a malicious hacker to misrepresent the URL of an Internet Web site, causing the site to be treated by Internet Explorer's Security Zones feature as it if were located on an Intranet. Customers who follow safe Internet computing practices are extremely unlikely to encounter this issue during the course of normal Web browsing. A hacker must purposefully misrepresent the URL of a site and then create malicious code for a user to be affected by this issue. This vulnerability could also affect any software that uses Internet Explorer 4's security zones functionality even if Internet Explorer is not used as your default browser. Microsoft highly recommends that you install the patch (Windows Update also has it) to protect your computer. There have not been any reports of customers being affected by this issue.

Untrusted Scripted Paste/Cuartango Vulnerability

The "Untrusted Scripted Paste" vulnerability in Internet Explorer 4.01(also referred to as the "Cuartango" vulnerability) could make it possible for a malicious hacker to create a web site that, when visited, is able to use script to read a file on the user's system if the hacker knows the exact name and path of the targeted file. This vulnerability could also affect software that uses HTML functionality provided by Internet Explorer 4.01, even if Internet Explorer is not used as your default browser. Microsoft highly recommends that you install the patch (also available from Windows Update) to protect your computer. Customers will not encounter the Untrusted Scripted Paste issue as part of their normal Web browsing of popular sites. A skilled hacker has to purposefully create malicious script on their site in order for a customer to be affected by this. There have not been any reports of customers being affected by this issue. Update: On November 18, 1998 Microsoft re-released an updated patch which fixes a bug in the patch.

Laptop Problems

One of the very sticky problem's found when running Windows 98 on a laptop is when the book is placed in Standby or Suspend Mode, it may crash or fail to respond when re-activated. There is a tool on the Windows 98 CD that can help. Located on the CD under - Tools\Mtsutil\Pmtshoot\ look for pmtshoot.exe. This tool, when loaded, will load during the startup process and assist you in trouble shooting the problem. However, MS recommends you download and use the new version of pmtshoot.exe from the MS FTP site. This new version is activated when the book is placed in standby or suspend mode the program will identify the program or driver that's causing the problem. The new version may also be able to solve the problem in some cases.

Internet Explorer "Cross Frame Navigation" Security Update

This is an update to Microsoft Internet Explorer which resolves an issue with cross frame security. Downloading this update will prevent possible unauthorized access to your computer. Internet Explorer includes safeguards to prevent a script running in one browser window from interacting with content from a different domain in another browser window. The "Cross Frame Navigation" issue could allow a malicious Web site content creator to circumvent these safeguards to view files from your computer. You can download the fix from Windows Update. For more information you can visit Microsoft Security Bulletin.

Fix for Outlook Express File Attachment

This is a fix for an issue that can cause Outlook Express to terminate unexpectedly when you open a message that contains an attachment with an extremely long file name. It is difficult but possible for an individual to cause malicious code to run on your computer as a result of this problem. Go to the Windows Update Site to download. Click here for more information.

Fix for 'Window.External' JScript Vulnerability Issue

This is a fix for a security issue that may affect Microsoft Internet Explorer 4. When Internet Explorer encounters a Web page that uses a JScript script, Internet Explorer could close unexpectedly.
This problem does not occur accidentally on Web pages, but rather must be intentionally created by a Web site administrator with malicious intent. A skilled hacker could use such a script message to run arbitrary code on your computer. Go to Windows Update to get the fix now. Click here for more information.

Microsoft Word 97 Bug

This bug occurs in Word 97 running on a Windows 98 computer and involves the popular "AutoCorrect" feature. If a user attempts to save a document anytime after inserting a word or phrase into the text by double clicking on it from the "AutoText" tab in the AutoCorrect dialogue box, Word 97 will crash, and users will lose all unsaved data. Microsoft will be providing a fix with the upcoming Office 97 Service Pack 2. Click here for more information.

Windows 98 Date Bug

Reports of a date-related bug in Windows 98 have been confirmed by both Microsoft and the millennium specialist Prove It 2000. Both companies stress there is little risk to users but concede that data loss may be a problem in a "tiny number" of cases. The "bug," which Microsoft opts to call an "issue," appears when Windows 98 is rebooted at a time between 23:59 and 00:00, causing Windows to either leap forward two days or fall behind a day, depending on when the computer is rebooted. Fortunately for Microsoft, the bug can only manifest itself during a "split second" on Dec 31 of any year, effectively making the bug a negligible threat. For more information click here.

Right-Click New Bug

Right-click on any shortcut on the desktop. Click on Properties. Click on the Shortcut tab and then on the Change Icon... button. Double-click on the already selected icon. Click OK to exit to desktop. Now, Right-click on any blank space on the desktop and select New. Notice how long the menu takes to pop-out? The results very on different systems. Some will pop out a new menu with only the word New instead of a bunch of new items for you to select. Others will take a very long time for the menu to pop-out for no apparent reason. The worse, if you have a slow system or doing multi-tasking, Explorer might crash.(From- Active Windows)

Windows 98 or Windows 95

Since we know that Windows 98 is actually an updated and modified version of Windows 98, the programmers actually left out something that belongs to Windows 95.

1. Right-click the taskbar & select Properties.
2. Click on the Start Menu Programs tab.
3. Click on the Add.. button.
4. On the Create Shortcut window, look carefully at the image of the start menu.

Hey, wait a minute! Observe and you will see that it actually says Windows 95 instead of Windows 98!(From- Active Windows)

Rooted Explorer

Click on Start, Settings, Taskbar & Start Menu... Click on the Start Menu Programs tab. Next, click on the Advanced... button. An Explorer Windows should appear. If you notice carefully, you will find that there are only a few places to go to from the Address Bar. If you type a location other than the ones specified, such as C:\ on the address bar, you get an error message on a rooted explorer!(From- Active Windows)