Hey guys

Maybe you don't remember it well since I seldom mention it, but I also have a PC at home (when I also have one at dorm). The old PC is running a Win98Se and is already over 3 years old. Right now, my bro who's accessing it is having a problem, and I hope you can help.
My bro's got a Friendster account he always accesses via his email. In most occasions, when he access the site (and some other site he doesn't give the details to me), especially via the links in his email, he gets an error message (illegal operation), which prompts him (and forces him) to close all IE windows. Sometimes, this is followed with the BSOD, and that forces him to restart the PC. As a note, my home PC is connected to the net via dial up 56K modem. I wonder what makes that happen...
As an extra info, I don't install any AntiVirus (as far as I can remember, since when I tried to install and update McAfee 6.02 half a year ago, the programs crashes everytime.... who knows he has asked his friend to install another AV), and I remember having a spyware cleaner (not a popular one).

Please help if you can, thank you.

has dynamite become cool again :)

anyway, reinstall add av program (avast.com, grisoft.com are free) add firewall (sygate has a good one).

The install he has now is proberly so old that he will gain more from reinstalling rather then troubleshooting.

If it's a IE problem, just install Firefox on it.

There are many potential reasons for why IE is crashing that machine, one is that the websites code could be too intensive for IE to load to bufferspace or causes a bufferoverflow. Another is that anything like Flash or SSL (encryption packages) that are used on the site or by the site could be causing the problem from not being installed properly. (Notibly the Encryption level is more than likely to be responsible as older IE versions had something like 40-Bit encryption as aposed to what sites usally require which is 128-Bit or 256-Bit)

Lastly there is just the usual win98se problem of bad memory management, which is why you don't want to be running too much in the background (The icons in the right bottom corner) and usually it's best to get a third-party memory cleaning program like Analogx.com's Maxmem.

Ah, when you mention about possible problem with the resources, I guess I'll need to tell you my home PC's stat:
550MHz, 64MB, 10GB (all I can remember....)
Next time my bro's at home I'll ask him to do those things...

EDIT: With such a low PC stats, I'm not sure if I'll get rid of IE for Firefox... even with my dorm PC (1.7G, 256M, 60G), Firefox often goes sluggish...

Since that system only has 64mb of RAM I would suggest that is where the problem is... Windows 98 uses about 40mb's just for itself, and what ever is left is dished out for your programs. Maxmem will recover the RAM when it's in use, however it's not going to make it run any smoother. What you should checkout is if there is any way of getting some new RAM sticks or even secondhand ones if they are cheap enough. My guess is they will be P-133 SDRAM 68pin non-ECC and at a guestimate your motherboard will probably take two sticks. However you will have to check if I am right with your motherboard since your system might not take P-133 and their might be an upperlimit to how much it can handle. (for instance my A-Bit BH6 v1.0 motherboard had a limit extended to 768mb of RAM thanks to a BIOS flash, otherwise it's upperlimit would have been 512mb [2x256mb sticks])

I remember back in the days I used Win98 with 32mb of RAM and even could play games.

My platform:Built my own PC, mid-tower ATX, 250 watt power supply, 128mb RAM, 1.2gb C hard drive, 2gb D hard drive,2 3½ floppy A and B drives, 10x CD, 56K modem, 500mh Pentium III, 2mb video onboard the motherboard, I don't run games or videos.

I run Win98SE with the usual mix of word processors, Adobe, graphics, and some specialty apps that I run for my wife and her church. I run NetScape 7.2 for online and IE 5.0 only if I really have to. I use only NetScape for e-mail. I run STINGER and AD-AWARE once a week for viruses and spy-ware. I keep Java and JavaScript turned off and limit cookies to "session only" in NetScape. Periodically, I run "Disk Cleanup" and "Disk Defragmenter". I never open e-mail unless I recognize both the subject and sender.

Having said all that, I've never been infected with a virus, had only an occassional buffer overflow and the temporary power outages expected in rural areas. This is the system I've been running for the last 8 or 9 years with occassional hardware/software upgrades. I avoid both the "rusting" edge and the "bleeding" edge in my software.

So far, so good!

To Stryder:
How unfortunate... I wasn't motherboard savvy when I got that PC and I don't spend time to bother checking it at all.... but okay then, I'll think of what to do next..

And marv... hmm, guess some of those are worth trying.....