Deepak Info's FAQs on common Windows based problems

This message could indicate a configuration problem or just a minor glitch
in Windows thinking. If the error repeats after restarting, then you'll have 
to dig for it. To track it down, hit F8 during bootup and select "Logged 
(BOOTLOG.TXT)" as the startup option. This will create a hidden file called 
BOOTLOG.TXT. It will log everything that happens as your system attempts to 
boot. You will have to use the EDIT command to view it, as it is unviewable 
with the DIR command. Go into Windows 95 in safe mode and view the file. The 
last line of the file will indicate the cause of the problem. 
You want to use the Boot Previous Version of MS-DOS option from the F8 menu, 
and you get a "Previous Version of MS-DOS Not Found" error.
It might be that there was never a previous version of DOS on this system. 
In this case, change the BOOTMULTI= line on the MSDOS.SYS file to BOOTMULTI=0. 
If you HAVE booted fom DOs before, then look to see if IO.DOS, MSDOS.DOD, and 
COMMAND.DOS are in the root directory. If not, then that's your problem. 
Replace them and it should work.

A "shortcut" is a path from the icon to the actual location of the program 
files for that program. If this path is absent of invalid, you will get this 
error. This is usually caused by having deleted or moved the program. If this 
is the case, delete the shortcut. If you moved the program, just create a new 
shortcut to the new location. Another common reason is that you added a second 
hard drive or another drive that kicked the CD-ROM letter up to a new letter. 
In this case, you will have to re-install the CD-ROM software in order to 
point to the new letter. 

Windows 95 almost always requires space on the hard drive for system 
files such as DLL's, even if you are installing the program on another drive. 
These files must be placed into the /WINDOWS directory. You have simply run 
out of room. The only way around it is to free up some space. Common ways of 
doing this is to delete old unused programs, move the Windows TEMP directory 
to another drive, or move the Windows swap file to another drive. Details on 
swap files are contained in the system optimization section of the site. To 
change the location of your TEMP directory, add "SET TEMP=D:TEMP" and "SET 
TMP=D:TEMP" to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Then create a directory called TEMP 
on your D: drive and reboot. 

In this case, you have a few choices. You can hit Cancel and wait. In 
some cases, programs are temporarily halted in order to wait for hard disk 
activity to stop. This activity is often caused by the use of the swap file. 
This can happen often if you are running many programs and have less than, 
say, 32 MB or RAM. Second choice is to hit END TASK. This option will force 
the program to halt and close. You will lose any unsaved work. Last Option 
is to shut down the system. This option is really drastic and you really 
don't need to do this. 

Well, OSR2 users get the option to use Scandisk. Previous versions just 
get the error. This happens if Windows was shut down prematurely on the last 
session. When shutting down Windows 95, there is a lot of disk activity while 
Windows saves changes, deletes temporary files, etc. If this is not allows to 
happen, there is a potential for lost drive space. It is best to run Scandisk.

This seems to be one of the most common error messages. We can blame it 
on an imperfect operation system. It is caused by many different things: 
(1) Your computer lacks enough RAM to complete everything, so it stumbles. Add RAM. 
(2) Your software may be conflicting with another program over shared DLL's. 
(3) Your video driver may be interacting with the program very strangely. 
    Look at the combination of programs that usually cause the errors. Then, 
    see if the manufacturer has provided a patch on their web site for it. If 
    it mentions your video drivers, download updated drivers. Unfortunately, 
    there is not much troubleshooting to be done here. This error is purely a 
    result of the way Windows handles your files. 

You will be asked to shut down the system, but you can't. This is 
usually caused by a faulty Kernel.dll file in The first version of Win95 and 
OSR1. It is a major memory leak. The best way is to force a reboot to free up 
resources. Then, go to the Microsoft site and download the free patch for 
fixing the Kernel.dll file. 

This usually points to duplicate or incompatible DLL files being called 
into memory. Hit ENTER and try to get back to the Desktop. Save your work 
under a different file name and reboot. In the future, try to notice patterns,
particular combinations of programs that cause the error. Look for software 
patches at the vendor's web sites. Could also be a problem with your memory 
or its settings in CMOS. You might want to try setting your memory settings 
to default. Other than that, there is not a whole lot to be done. 

This is usually caused by having other programs running in the background 
during installation. The install routine requires that nothing else be running 
to that it can perform all the system detections. Common programs that are 
running would be Virus detection programs, any crash guard software, or even 
the MS-DOS undelete program which tracks what you delete. These programs must 
either be shut down or removed before you can install Windows 95. Windows will 
only tell you one program at a time that is in its way. As you get to them, 
so to the AUTOEXEC.BAT and REM the line out that loads the program. Another 
common cause of this error is the Write Protect Boot Sector feature in many 
BIOS's. Go into setup and temporarily disable this feature.