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Message: <blockquote data-quote="D+1" data-source="post: 1167159" data-attributes="member: 13654">Rodrigo's advice is far better than I could give but I have a few general suggestions/notes.1) Keep all software for EVERYTHING in the same place.  If there's only one drawer, one rack, etc. for all your game CD's, install CD's, then you won't be tearing your hair out looking.2) Keep backups of any software you download including drivers, patches, updates, etc on your hard drive under a single, chosen directory (of course with labeled subdirectories such as "3Com 3C450 NIC").  Makes uninstall/reinstall an easier, more viable option when you don't have to REdownload such things.  Lack of HD space might make that a problem but only for, a) VERY large patches, and b) very clogged HD's.3) your installation CD is not going to do anything that you can't do yourself except install OLDER drivers than you can get from the company's support page, and possibly try to convince you to saddle your system with software you're not going to need.  All you would need off the install CD is the driver - the rest of the install program is simply saving you a few mouseclicks in installing that driver (and IME, simply providing additional possiblities for screwing things up when non-native installer software doesn't work.)4) uninstalling/reinstalling windows or IE is a VERY EXTREME method of diagnosing problems.  It's far more likely that you've overlooked or mis-entered network settings than for your drivers themselves to have problems - unless you upgraded or changed some part of your system.However,I'd bet dollars to donuts that your original problem was virus or stealthware related, so...5) If you don't have anti-virus software - get it.  6) win98 sucks.  98SE is better, but only just.  WinXP is very stable and handles networking (and everything else for that matter) FAR better than 98.  Move up ASAP.7) <a href="http://www.driverzone.com" target="_blank">www.driverzone.com</a>.  I'd almost always start there.</blockquote>

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