A 2 year old problem

[TuaphaiWolfy]

I have an old Windows 98 computer sitting in my room with a load of documents in Word Pad, they're timelines and other such stuff that I have been writing that needs to be printed off but the problem is that every time I try to open the program, it says that I'm doing an illegal opperation and shuts me out. I am able to look at the document file but not able to get into them or type anything.

The problem started two years ago when I let me my nephew play on Paint. I only left the room for five minutes and when I came back there were nothing but pop-ups all over the screen so I shut it down, not thinking too much of it. Later that day when I wanted to type more information into those files I found that I wasn't able to get into any of them.

The computer has been unhooked and has been collecting dust for two years now and I'm really frustrated that I can't get into any of the files... I've been told there is a way that I can retrieve those files, but I don't want any of them deleted.

Any suggestions?

And no, I'm not going to just throw the computer out.

[PawwwL]

USB stick to copy the files off it, then throw it out and buy something new.

Hang on, was usb even out back then? Floppy disks...

Maybe use gmail to transfer them.

[TuaphaiWolfy]

Originally Posted by PawwwL

USB stick to copy the files off it, then throw it out and buy something new.

Hang on, was usb even out back then? Floppy disks...

Maybe use gmail to transfer them.

Never even thought about trying it like that.

Win '98 = Floppy And back then they were just as useless as they are today.
(I only say this becuase I have bad history when it comes to them being whiped clean...)
*sigh*

[Smeggle]

remove hard drive - slave into a newer computer {IT MUST SUPPORT IDE !!!) recover files

alternative is to get a hard drive docking station that does both IDE/SATA 2.5"/3.5"
remove hard drive
plug into docking station
recover files to new pc

option 3
get someone who knows how to do it for you

[i_didnt_do_nawtin]

Just email them to yourself, or use another program to view them such as notepad. There'll probably be a load of crap in there but you might be able to recognise some text.

Sounds like your machine is infected with something

[irishmonkey]

I would go with smeggles plan.
but networking the PCs would be another option.
not sure how good 98 is with networking long time sense i used it.

also if it has a usb port and its just the poor support 98 has for it use ubuntu live cd.
boot into ubuntu connect your usb drive to it and copy the stuff off.
as its more likely usb 1 it will take a long time. so leave it running overnight.

[TuaphaiWolfy]

Weeell, thanks for the advice guys, I thought i could do the thumbdrive thing, but as it turns out... the computer is doler than I expected. Win '98 does not accept thumbs... which is a major problem for me, so I'm going to try and use a floppy... -Oi Vey!-

The computer is not hooked to the net world, I have to use other comp. to get online which sucks majorly. I'm still going to try and get the stuff off of it before I even try to get rid of the damn thing. In truth; my grandpa gave the computer to me, he owned a lot in the past and used to build them, the problem was that he couldn't do it properly, and each one of his computers ended up being faulty... like the one that's currently sitting in my room. I haven't touched it in two---almost three years now.

[Smeggle]

Originally Posted by TuaphaiWolfy

Weeell, thanks for the advice guys, I thought i could do the thumbdrive thing, but as it turns out... the computer is doler than I expected. Win '98 does not accept thumbs... which is a major problem for me, so I'm going to try and use a floppy... -Oi Vey!-

The computer is not hooked to the net world, I have to use other comp. to get online which sucks majorly. I'm still going to try and get the stuff off of it before I even try to get rid of the damn thing. In truth; my grandpa gave the computer to me, he owned a lot in the past and used to build them, the problem was that he couldn't do it properly, and each one of his computers ended up being faulty... like the one that's currently sitting in my room. I haven't touched it in two---almost three years now.

And how do you then use the floppy's on your new laptop? (If it still has floppys then its one very old laptop!)...

Your new laptop will not be able to accept the floppy dsics so you would need a usb floppy reader...

thereason I said to usean enclosure is
1. you get all your old files back
2. erase the old windows stuff etc (windows folders etc) and you have a spare hard drive to use as storage...

best of both worlds...