I am trying to help my father to get his computer working properly, and he was informed by some cc phone tech, to re-new, re-set, or something or another by running the 98se CD to correct the problems that he was having, and that he would not lose any information. We have done that, and somehow while it appears that no information is lost, the machine will only boot in safe mode, or it shows a screen asking for user information. It can also boot from the CR-ROM, however, it doesn't recognize the CD-ROM if we try to save information to it. Has anyone any idea exactly what this process is called that restores 98se and yet retains your information and what is the best way to perform it?

I'm afraid that the Telephone Technical Support guy has given you some very bad advice there

The process is referred to in many ways but is generally understood as "re-installing Windows 98 over the top of an existing installation". It basically means that, rather than wiping everything off of your hard disk and starting from scratch (which is, by far, the most reliable method of installing Windows), you are actually trying to fix an existing installation of Windows 98 by installing it again in the hope of replacing any damaged files with original working copies from the CD. However, it's not for the faint-hearted and is a method generally only used by the desperate or the badly advised!

What you need to do to re-install Windows 98 over the top of an existing copy is boot from the CD-ROM as you have done. Follow the Setup process and install Windows 98 into the same directory that it was previously installed into, which is almost always C:\Windows. If booting from the CD-ROM isn't working, you can boot from a Windows 98 Startup Disk (a bootable floppy disk) and that will load up your system to a state where you can run the CD.

However, BEWARE!! Here's why it should only be attempted as a last resort:

1. You will normally lose some driver files as these were installed in your old copy of Windows 98 but not the new one. Driver files are like mini-programs that you have to install in order for Windows to understand how to use different bits of hardware inside your PC. Some drivers are automatically included with Windows, e.g. monitors, old printers, USB ports, etc. However, graphics cards, sound cards and modems, for example, normally have to be installed separately using the separate driver installation CDs or floppy disks (or downloads from the Internet that you have obtained BEFORE re-installing Windows or that you have saved from another PC onto a disk or CD). If enough critical hardware cannot be loaded properly, Windows will only boot into Safe Mode, not normal mode.

2. In exactly the same way, many of your programs will be broken by re-installing Windows because they were linked into the old installation but not the new one. This leaves you with a right mess because you have to try to uninstall programs that Windows no longer realises are installed before you can install them again properly!

Incidentally, you cannot save information onto a CD unless your PC is fitted with a CD-writer drive, which is installed and configured correctly.

I hope that that helps to explain what has happened and answers some of your questions about how to go about sorting it out. Please do come back to us if you need any more advice