Recovering from uninstalling spyware

I was removing Sidefind from my girlfriend's computer and it apparently
removed some drivers. It's got a pentium II with only 64 megs of RAM but ran
quite fast on broadband. The computer was preloaded with Win98, in 2000, by a
company in Louisiana which no longer exists. It boots up at the installation
point where you enter the product key. If there's a way to locate the key, in
DOS, please confirm. But even if I get passed that, what's the likelyhood of
the installation completing without a Win98 CD? Yeah, I warned her several
times about not backing up that important information, and about not having
spyware/adware protection. Thanks to Sidefind, I went from Hero to Zero, in a
Nano-second. Can someone help me become a hero, again?
--
The ONLY Stupid Question, Is The One That Has A Stupid Answer!!

The W98 ProductKey is generally found on the Windows user manual, the
certificate of authenticity, a sticker on the PC or a sticker on the sleeve
or jewel case the Windows CD came in. The 25-digit key is 5 groups of 5
alpha/numeric characters. The Key might be available from the system:

If the system is working in either safe or normal mode:

Open regedit.exe to this key and look in the right pane for the entry
ProductKey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion

If the system is not working, start the computer with a floppy startup disk.

At the A: prompt, type: C:\Windows\Command\Find /N "ProductKey"
C:\Windows\System.dat
(Note: ProductKey must be typed in upper and lower case letters as shown
and there is a space after: "Find" after: "/N" and after:
"ProductKey"

If the hard drive has been formatted or replaced, US customers can contact
Microsoft at: 1 800 642-7676. They will issue retail and OEM product keys
after verifying data located on the W98 CD.

I suggest writing the ProductKey on the CD with a Sharpie marker.
***********

The installation files may be located on the hard drive

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"MrDEA" wrote in message
...
I was removing Sidefind from my girlfriend's computer and it apparently
removed some drivers. It's got a pentium II with only 64 megs of RAM but
ran
quite fast on broadband. The computer was preloaded with Win98, in 2000,
by a
company in Louisiana which no longer exists. It boots up at the
installation
point where you enter the product key. If there's a way to locate the key,
in
DOS, please confirm. But even if I get passed that, what's the likelyhood
of
the installation completing without a Win98 CD? Yeah, I warned her several
times about not backing up that important information, and about not
having
spyware/adware protection. Thanks to Sidefind, I went from Hero to Zero,
in a
Nano-second. Can someone help me become a hero, again?
--
The ONLY Stupid Question, Is The One That Has A Stupid Answer!!

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:38:27 -0500, "Ron Badour"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

At the A: prompt, type: C:\Windows\Command\Find /N "ProductKey"
C:\Windows\System.dat

(Note: ProductKey must be typed in upper and lower case letters ...

The "/I" option ignores case, so the following also works:

C:\Windows\Command\Find /N /I "productkey" C:\Windows\System.dat

I don't understand why you need "/N" though.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

I confirm "/I" appears to work & "/N" appears to be unnecessary. I don't
know, but Badour I think goes way back-- pre-WWII even! Could be there
was a time it had to be done his way, or he'd drop a dam-buster on your
head, airman that he was, Zabkar!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
| On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:38:27 -0500, "Ron Badour"
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
| At the A: prompt, type: C:\Windows\Command\Find /N "ProductKey"
| C:\Windows\System.dat
|
| (Note: ProductKey must be typed in upper and lower case letters ...
|
| The "/I" option ignores case, so the following also works:
|
| C:\Windows\Command\Find /N /I "productkey" C:\Windows\System.dat
|
| I don't understand why you need "/N" though.
|
| -- Franc Zabkar
|
| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

If the system is not working, start the computer with a floppy startup
disk.

At the A: prompt, type: C:\Windows\Command\Find /N "ProductKey"
C:\Windows\System.dat
(Note: ProductKey must be typed in upper and lower case letters as shown
and there is a space after: "Find" after: "/N" and after:
"ProductKey"

Hello Ron,
I got another version via this group, (dont know when) and was wondering
what is the difference between the two switches; "I & N"?

C:\Windows\command\Find /I "ProductKey" c:\windows\system.dat
C:\Windows\command\Find /I "ProductKey" c:\system.1st

also the last bit of the second one 'c:\system.1st'.

cheers

...Rex..

Guess my question has been answered.......
Also guess I got a slow server.

...Rex..

"PCR" wrote in message
...
I confirm "/I" appears to work & "/N" appears to be unnecessary. I don't
know, but Badour I think goes way back-- pre-WWII even! Could be there
was a time it had to be done his way, or he'd drop a dam-buster on your
head, airman that he was, Zabkar!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
| On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 11:38:27 -0500, "Ron Badour"
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
| At the A: prompt, type: C:\Windows\Command\Find /N "ProductKey"
| C:\Windows\System.dat
|
| (Note: ProductKey must be typed in upper and lower case letters ...
|
| The "/I" option ignores case, so the following also works:
|
| C:\Windows\Command\Find /N /I "productkey" C:\Windows\System.dat
|
| I don't understand why you need "/N" though.
|
| -- Franc Zabkar
|
| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

If you have a "System.1st', it is your very first "System.dat", which is
one of two files that comprise the Registry. System.1st was made during
the install of Windows, but, IIRC, it was made before you input the
ProductKey. So, it may be useless for retrieving that (or anything).

It could actually be different in True DOS (direct boot to Command
Prompt Only), but enter "Find /?" at the DOS Prompt to see something
like...

C:\FIND/?
Searches for a text string in a file or files.

FIND [/V] [/C] [/N] [/i] "string" [[drive:][path]filename[ ...]]

/V Displays all lines NOT containing the specified string.
/C Displays only the count of lines containing the string.
/N Displays line numbers with the displayed lines.
/I Ignores the case of characters when searching for the
string.
"string" Specifies the text string to find.
[drive:][path]filename
Specifies a file or files to search.

If a pathname is not specified, FIND searches the text typed at the
prompt
or piped from another command.

....That is what shows in Windows DOS (in a box), which does have some
updated files & differences.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Rex" wrote in message
...
|
| If the system is not working, start the computer with a floppy
startup
| disk.
|
| At the A: prompt, type: C:\Windows\Command\Find /N "ProductKey"
| C:\Windows\System.dat
| (Note: ProductKey must be typed in upper and lower case letters as
shown
| and there is a space after: "Find" after: "/N" and after:
| "ProductKey"
|
| Hello Ron,
| I got another version via this group, (dont know when) and was
wondering
| what is the difference between the two switches; "I & N"?
|
| C:\Windows\command\Find /I "ProductKey" c:\windows\system.dat
| C:\Windows\command\Find /I "ProductKey" c:\system.1st
|
| also the last bit of the second one 'c:\system.1st'.
|
| cheers
|
| ..Rex..
|
|

If you have a "System.1st', it is your very first "System.dat", which is
one of two files that comprise the Registry.

Actually, it is the system.dat file of the most recent installation of
Windows which is not necessarily the first one. I think the file is created
after the product key is entered but I am not 100% sure.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinf

On Wed, 5 Oct 2005 22:16:46 -0500, "Ron Badour"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

If you have a "System.1st', it is your very first "System.dat", which is
one of two files that comprise the Registry.

Actually, it is the system.dat file of the most recent installation of
Windows which is not necessarily the first one. I think the file is created
after the product key is entered but I am not 100% sure.

The following is what I see in a true DOS session (not a Windows DOS
box).

regedit /l:c:\system.1st /e prodkey.txt
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion

find /i "product" prodkey.txt

---------- prodkey.txt
"ProductType"="115"
"ProductId"=""
"ProductName"="Microsoft Windows 98"

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

I use a MS program called Hive that allows the user to add the system.1st
file to the registry. The user can then use the registry editor to view the
system.1st file. In my case, I am running W98SE in Virtual PC and the W98
installation was a clean (single) installation. The ProductKey and
ProductID are both reflected in system.1st.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 5 Oct 2005 22:16:46 -0500, "Ron Badour"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

If you have a "System.1st', it is your very first "System.dat", which is
one of two files that comprise the Registry.

Actually, it is the system.dat file of the most recent installation of
Windows which is not necessarily the first one. I think the file is
created
after the product key is entered but I am not 100% sure.

The following is what I see in a true DOS session (not a Windows DOS
box).

regedit /l:c:\system.1st /e prodkey.txt
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion

find /i "product" prodkey.txt

---------- prodkey.txt
"ProductType"="115"
"ProductId"=""
"ProductName"="Microsoft Windows 98"

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.