I really screwed up this time. Where did my WININET.DLL file go?

Computer Dummy | 7/7/04 | nita nupress

[RightWhale]

Re-install Windows. That is what the IS whizzes here do when things are out of control.

[Nita Nupress]

I have one more question:

His mouse does the hourglass thingy every 15-20 seconds for some strange reason. It stays on the hourglass like it's trying to run something for approximately 4-5 seconds.

I did a CNTL/ALT/DEL to Task Manager and the only thing running was Systray, Internet Explorer, and Zone Alarm.

Any ideas on what's causing that?

[JerseyHighlander]

the WININET.DLL file, on my win98 computer is in the (c:\windows\system) folder. If C drive, if not, D: etc. Try placing it there and rebooting. If that works, great. But I don't believe that wil work. One question, which version of internet explorer is running on your father's computer? You probably damaged the temp folders for IE, or the critical update and the temp file deletion was done in the wrong order.

Check this out:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;160158

[BigSkyFreeper]

I bought a Linksys Network card for my desktop a few years ago, peeled the tape off the box, opened it up, installed the card, booted my machine up, and attempted to install the drivers for the card in Windows. The disc was so screwed up I got a "Windows cannot read from drive A:" error. I ended up downloading the drivers from a 3rd party drivers site, got the card working and made my own driver disc. This after spending $20 on a network card. :)

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

You really should consider getting a Mac/Linus/RedHat/SuSE/eComStation/Opera/Mozilla/Safari/(fill-in-the-blank), you won't have to deal with this. ;->

No they'll have to deal with worse. Dad will be calling everyday asking how the $@#!$@*@ use it. :-P

[Dog Gone]

I have in the past simply put missing .dll files in the proper folder and it fixed the problem, at least until the next one pops up. My main problem is that I'm currently running the horrendous Windows ME which crashes for no good reason all the time.

At the office they just gave us the new Dell flat panel LCD monitors which are simply awesome. When I was merely downloading my mostly spam email on Friday the machine crashed again. That did it. To heck with this crashing computer and the monitor that doesn't really fit on my desk. I ordered out of anger. Not a particularly cost-effective solution, but sort of like Dick Cheney's remark to Pat Leahy, I felt better afterward for doing it.

[grimalkin]

Try running sfc.exe in your c:\windows\system directory. It will give you two options:

"Scan for altered files" or "extract one file from installation disk". Make sure you have the Windows 98 disk in your drive.

[Nita Nupress]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp?vartarget=msdn

this site will allow you to find out what product installs a dll. i didn't check but i believe the dll you're missing is installed by internet explorer on win98. also, norton or adware could have quaranteened the dll in question.

Thanks.  I went to System Information in Control Panel, then to IE --> File Versions.  The "win.com" line said it's "Not available" and the "wininet.dll" line said "File not present."  That sounds like what you're saying above.

[Senator Pardek]

Under the "Processes" tab, look for what's eating up the CPU.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I assume your dad hasn't defragmented the hard drive since he bought the computer. Disk defragmentation can cause programs to start slower and the computer to appear run slower overall.

[Senator Pardek]

Nevermind - it's prolly Zone Alarm. Happened to me and I dumped it.

[Nita Nupress]

I was gonna link to the Google Image Page for "blonde" - but I viewed it and decided it was not such a good idea.

Thank you for your kindness, sir. I'm sure razorback-bert will be here shortly to pick up the slack. I can never hide from EITHER of you when this kind of stuff happens. :-)

[BigSkyFreeper]

Zone Alarm or Nortons. Both resource hogs when they're running in the background.

[JerseyHighlander]

nita, don't do that yet, wait until other options are exhausted, without the windows 98 disk it will cause further headaches.

[Nita Nupress]

Secondly, if your Dad's machine is factory made (HP, Compaq, etc), then the Win98 install files are probably on the hard drive in the Windows folder (Windows\Options\Cabs).

It's not factory made but those cab files are there; I remember seeing them sitting there.  I can't remember what happened when I tried to open them other than it didn't work.  It probably would have helped if I'd known what file type to open them with.

Thank you for the links. That'll come in handy.

[Senator Pardek]

I use Sygate Personal Firewall - it's free also, and has a lot of cool features.

[grimalkin]

You sure about that? She can specify the extraction of a specific file... in this case wininet.dll.

Try your options. There's certainly more than one way.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I use Sygate Personal Firewall - it's free also, and has a lot of cool features.

That's what I use to, and the best part of Sygate Personal Firewall is the user has more control over port assignment for those programs that use oddball ports to function on the internet, particularly VoIP software.

[Nita Nupress]

I assume your dad hasn't defragmented the hard drive since he bought the computer. Disk defragmentation can cause programs to start slower and the computer to appear run slower overall.

Actually, he's pretty good about doing that. He did it again after I left last night, before he shut the machine down.

[red-dawg]

WININET.DLL is used by Internet Explorer and is installed when Windows gets installed.
If the critical updates installation had a SNAFU then this file could have gotten zapped.
If you re-install IE then that DLL should get replaced by the "installer" process.
That "hour-glass" thing makes me think you still have spyware resident.