The SWAT Team: Kill Bugs Dead

Windows 95 and NT 4.0

Password Corruption Patch

In the process of beefing up the operating system's password security, Windows 95 Service Pack 1 trashed the password list file, so Dial-Up Networking can't save your password.

FIX Microsoft issued a fix, but to use it you must delete your corrupted password list file so Windows can create a new one. To delete password lists, choose Start, Programs, Find, Find Files or Folders, and then search for .pwl. Delete any files found.

AMD K6-2 Incompatibility Patch

According to AMD, the 350-MHz and faster versions of its K6-2 processor generate the following error message in Windows 95 OSR 2, 2.1, and 2.5: "Device IOS failed to initialize. Windows Protection Error. You must reboot your computer."

FIX Rebooting the computer usually makes the problem go away, but a 284KB patch resolves the conflict as well.

Windows 95 Service Pack 1

Windows 95 was more stable than its descendants proved to be--probably because it wasn't tangled up with a browser. Nevertheless, Microsoft found some obscure networking security holes, bidirectional printer port problems, and weak password encryption that the company saw fit to repair.

FIX Microsoft's 1.2MB Windows 95 Service Pack 1 patches up all of the above and tosses in a few extra fixes, including one for a bug in Office 95 that tacks bits of old deleted files onto your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

Windows NT 4 Service Packs

Though you may find that Windows NT 4.0 works fine without any updates, Microsoft has corrected more than 600 problems--many of them security related--over the course of six cumulative service packs. Some drivers and applications won't install unless you've installed Service Pack 3 or 4.

FIX If you are willing to put in the time, you can download Service Pack 6 from Microsoft's Web site. It waddles onto your hard drive at a bloated 30MB, however, so you may prefer to call Microsoft at 800/370-8758 and spend $20 to order it on CD-ROM.