Solutions: 5 steps to removing Windows 2000

By John Torro

© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 5, 2001

Q. I have Windows 98 and Windows 2000 installed on a computer with a 400 megahertz AMD K6-III, a Tyan motherboard and 128 megabytes of random access memory. Using the dual boot option, Windows 2000 offers me a choice of Windows 2000 or Windows 98 at startup. But I want to uninstall Windows 2000 because I haven't been able to get my scanner and modem to work with it. I can't find updated drivers for them.

There isn't an uninstall program for Windows 2000 listed in Start, Settings, Control Panel, or Add/Delete Programs and I haven't had much luck simply deleting program folders from the hard drive. Could you walk me through uninstalling Windows 2000?

A. First, make sure you backup everything you need just in case. The following procedure should remove Windows 2000 from your hard drive:

1. Boot to Windows 98 with a Windows 98 startup diskette.

2. Type sys c: in MS-DOS prompt.

3. Remove boot.ini, bootsect.dos, ntldr, ntdetect.com and ntbootdd.sys (if exists) from c:\

4. Delete pagefile.sys (usually on C:)

5. Format Windows 2000 partition

Make sure you copy all data files you need to a different partition.

Getting a handle on views

Q. I'm using Windows 2000 on an office network. When I open Windows Explorer, I get a pie chart showing disk space used and unused, below some boxy graphics and Local Disk (C:) and Select an item to view its description. This is to the left of the list of files. It was cute, but now I want to free up the screen space and make more room for the details that go with the files. How do I get rid of it?

A. Next time you see this, click Tools, Folder Options, then select Use Windows classic folders in the Web View option box.

Please standby

Q. I have Windows 98 on a Compaq Presario 5610. I can no longer put the computer on standby. A screen comes up stating a device driver or program won't allow it. Windows Help tells me to click on the advanced tab of Power Management properties. When I do, there is no option choice for When I press the power button on my computer . . . click standby. Can you give some direction in solving this problem?

A. Somewhere along the line you added a new device driver or program that is not Advanced Configuration and Power Interface, or ACPI, compliant. You'll need to work backward, checking any newly added devices and their drivers for ACPI compatibility (check the vendor's support Web site). I have run into this problem with various disk controller drivers and also Adaptec's Direct CD software. You may be able to use the Microsoft Power management Troubleshooting tool (PMTSHOOT.EXE). You can find this on your Windows 98 CD-ROM at:<drive>:\Tools\Mtsutil\Pmtshoot\Pmtshoot.Exe with<drive>being the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM. Or I recommend downloading the latest version at download.microsoft.com/download/win98se/utility/1/w98/EN-US/pmtshoot.exe. Follow the on-screen instructions when installing. Once the problem is resolved, make sure you remove PMTSHOOT.EXE by using Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel.

Updates

Several readers wrote about an item Oct. 22 concerning the Enable Fast Shutdown switch and where to find it. The Enable Fast Shutdown switch can be found by clicking Start, pointing to Programs, Accessories and System tools, then clicking System Information. On the Tools menu, click System Configuration Utility. On the General tab, click Advanced. Here you will be able to enable or disable this switch.

For users on Windows 98 Second Edition who are experiencing shutdown problems, make sure you have the Windows 98 SE Shutdown Supplement installed. It can be found at www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/wurecommended/s_wufeatured/win98se/.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright