Weird "info" at start of System.ini

My OS is Windows 98 First Edition.

I recently had a problem which occurred due to an entry missing in System.ini. When I first inspected System.ini to look for anything missing, I saw this at the very top:

ýȱBÀEwÞåØåĆU _ K ©··Ãú.â„¢wœÄ俣Û@/ÞåØåó xT¹â„¢*mÑŠ9ë&qÆ’$ ,?Å¡NߘN<*Å IëÕ—>ëÕ—>ëÕ—>m yù

[drivers]
msvideo=gfxnull.drv
MSACM.imaadpcm=*.acm
MSACM.msadpcm=*.acm
wave=mmsystem.dll
midi=mmsystem.dll

[boot]
*DisplayFallback=0
fonts.fon=vgasys.fon
fixedfon.fon=vgafix.fon
oemfonts.fon=vgaoem.fon
386Grabber=vgafull.3gr
display.drv=pnpdrvr.dr

etc., etc., etc.


What is that gibberish at the very top and can I simply delete it? [I wonder if it's just some bit or part of an *.exe that in some strange way was entered into the top of my System.ini. Yes, is this what it is or not?]

I looked at my older System.* files and don't see that weird stuff at the top, so I'd like to just delete it in my present System.ini. [The older System.*'s are really old so I don't think it smart to use one of these to replace my current System.ini. My computer seems to work fine even though I've not tested everything since I fixed yesterday my recent sound card problem (which was due to "drivers=mmsystem.dll" being missing from the [boot] section of my System.ini. I added that line to System.ini and the ability of my sound card to produce sounds was restored.]

Tell me what you think about that jibberish at the very top of System.ini and if I can just delete it from my System.ini.

[My OS is Windows 98 First Edition.]


Thanks

 

I would delete it. System.Ini is meant to be readable text, and that is ASCII gibberish.

 

No unrecoverable harm can be done from experimentally deleting this, (unless you have already done harm to your system.ini. A risk one always takes, editing system files. Granted, in my opinion and personal experience, a small risk but a risk never the less.) The backups that scanreg does includes back ups of system.ini. Ordinarily I would have suggested renaming this system.ini and extracting a good one from the cabs. They are usually in a folder named "sysbckup" located in the c:\windows but you've explained that these are old. How old and why are they old? Do you allow registry checker to run? Unless you have changed the defaults, or infrequently or never shutdown your computer, they shouldn't be to old.

See:http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...kb;EN-US;183887
SUMMARY
Description of the Windows Registry Checker Tool (Scanreg.exe)
When you start your computer successfully, the Windows Registry Checker tool (Scanreg.exe) creates a backup of system files and registry configuration information (including user account information, protocol bindings, software program settings, and user preferences) once daily. Files that Windows Registry Checker backs up include System.dat, User.dat, System.ini, and Win.ini. This article describes the Windows Registry Checker tool.These backups will be stored in the \windows\sysbackup folder as rb***.cab files where *** is a number between 001 and 005 (5 days/dated backups are kept by default). If you have a regsitry problem all you normally need to do is to boot to a DOS prompt , type and and enter the command scanreg /restore and then choose from the 5 available backups, one that predates the problem.

This information is also handy: "how to add additional critical files via sredit ":
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showpost.php?p=19854&postcount=24

A perk of having these backups is....
You can extract individual files from these, either manually yourself or via system file checker (sfc.exe). This can also be done using dos commands at the c prompt, should you find yourself having to do this.

If they are old and your relatively certain you have no current problems, use registry checker now and make fresh a backup or two.
From the start button>runline type scanregw.exe and hit enter. Then check the folder where the backups are stored and make sure there is a new backup. At least you will have an updated backup of your current system.ini and another alternative for restoring it. While not an ideal form of backup, this can be handy (in many cases) and in a pinch will pull your tush out of a bind. It's saved mine on occasion.

Things to be aware of........
I could type more on the subject for example:
* "when to use it ".
* "what you may risk losing should the backups predate any new installations or updates" you have done.
*what you risk restoring should these hold viral/malware or corrupt files.
*When they should be dumped or deleted and new current ones made.
But, I'm unsure if your not already aware of this and would find this useless. In any case, the archives have this type of information in them.

If feeling uncomfortable editing your current file, you could be cautious and copy your current system.ini (to a floppy) prior to any editing. At least this will be available should the need arise.

To sum up....
A current bootdisk or win98 emergency bootdisk should always be kept on hand.

==============
To Mark62,
I saw that you had responded while I was still busy typing my response. I seem to have fallen into some form of weird pattern lately and my fingers are taking on a life of their own. I can't seem to stop myself from writing these excessively long responses. One topic runs into another and another and so on. Members are just going to have ride this out with me but I do apologize to all who find this a nuisance. Perhaps I should lay off the coffee for a while and try hot milk.....

 

You can also copy SCANREG.EXE from the C:\Windows\Command folder to the Startup disk. And then you can do ( and I have done ) a restore
by booting to the SUD and typing scanreg /restore.

That as bailed my backside out of a jam a couple of times.

BillyBob

 

Thanks Mark and Goddez1 for your help. I don't mind at all the long explanation and the tips-- very helpful!


Stan

 

Today I did examine C:\windows\sysbackup and found a CAB file that held a System.ini that was 13 months old. This was the best I could find. I had older ones which were from 2000 and 2001 but didn't want to use one of those to replace the System.ini file I edited yesterday. So today I replaced the System.ini (of yesterday) with the one dated April 04. All seems OK though I've not tested everything. One happy benefit of using the April 04 one was that I regained the nice mouse wrap-around feature I liked so much. That feature was lost when my System.ini had changed for some odd reason.

Yes, my MSCONFIG says that in Startup I do have Scanreg always starting up. The entry is ' Scanregw.exe /autorun ' after the MSCONFIG Startup entry so I suppose that's what I want it to be. Yes?

And yes, I do shut down my computer after daily use-- I never leave it running for days and weeks.


Thanks again for your help.


Stan

 

When I get email from Korea, it looks just like that, different than Japanese email though.