I have ran sfc in safe mode.
I used this setting: search for changed files and search for deleted files. I also included the whole WINDOWS folder.
Internet Explorer works now (at least at the moment), but I had to restore the settings to default. The "search in adressbar" option still restores itself to "dont search in adressbar", but now IE also works w/ this setting. Maybe a different setting caused the problem. I also have tried to reboot my PC, but IE still works.
Outlook still doesnt work and reports the same error.
Details about what I did w/ sfc:
At first I must explain the date convention: I use the German version of win98, so I the file dates are displayed German version: 11.05.03 means May,11th,2003.
sfc found a few files which were replaced by newer versions, and also a few which were replaced by older versions. Some files were also replaced by the a version same version-number but w/ a different change date. I didnt replace files of the first kind, but I replaced files of the second and third kind. sfc also found a possible damaged mouse driver file, but I didnt restore it, because I dont have any problems w/ my mousedriver because of the same reason I also didnt restore a deleted mousedriver file. I didnt restore C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT.DLL because there were differnt versions of this file on the win98 CD (=the folder to which I copied the CD). The version number and size of this file didnt change, but the changing date changed from 04.05.01 12:05 to 19.03.03 09:50. The files C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\drivers\Entech.vxd and C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\drivers\PciBus.vxd changed, but the file-informations (version, date, size) didnt change. I didnt restore the files, because I didnt find these files on the win98 CD (I also used searched for files w/ text containing the filename). I also searched the HDD and the text of the .cab files in my nForce drivers setup directory, but I also didnt find these files there.
I will write the file information of the restored files in the following format:
path\filename//previous file version/previous file date/previous file size//actual file version/actual file date/actual file size//restored file version/restored file date/restored file size//file description from properties -> version window
Actual file version is the version the file had before I restored it.
I restored 3 files because the actual version older was than original version:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\vidx16.dll//?/11.05.03/10KB//?/17.08.98/10KB//?/05.05.99/10KB//none
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QUARZ.VXD//4.00.501/12.12.02/6KB//4.00.501/17.08.98/6KB//4.00.501/05.05.99/6KB//quartz Virtual Device (Version 4.0)
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MCIQTZ.DRV//4.00.96.072/12.12.02/12KB//4.00.96.072/05.05.99/12KB//4.00.96.072/05.05.99/12KB//ActiveMovie MCI Driver
I also found out, that there are still a few files from Gator left in the C:\Program Files\shared Files folder, but I already deinstalled that program. At least 2 folders which contain these files: C:\Program Files\shared Files\GMT and C:\Program Files\shared Files\CMEII
I have searched my registry for Entech.vxd and PciBus.vxd. Here are the registry keys I found:
Entech.vxd
My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU\
Contains a String Value named f w/ the value "Entech.vxd".
My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
Contains a DWORD value named C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\drivers\Entech.vxd w/ the Value "0x00000002(2)".
My Computer\HKEY_USER\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU\
Contains a String Value named f w/ the value "Entech.vxd"
PciBus.vxd
My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU\
Contains a String Value named h w/ the value "PciBus.vxd".
My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs
Contains a DWORD value named C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\drivers\PciBus.vxd w/ the Value "0x00000002(2)".
My Computer\HKEY_USER\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU\
Contains a String value named h w/ the value "PciBus.vxd"
What I recognized: the values of the two files are in exactly the same registry keys. Also all registry keys w/ this two files also contain a value for the MSVCRT.DLL file, but there are also values for the last file in other keys. Another thing is, that the string values for both files are identical.
AMD Athlon XP 2700+
Epox 8rda+
Thermaltake Volcano 7+
2x256 MB PC2700
Creative GeForce 4 Ti 4800 (4600 Chip)
Chieftech Case
WD 80GB/8MB HDD
16x48 DVD-ROM
20x10x32 Burner