It depends on the setup disk, but generally running setup from DOS will
replace the existing files and settings while running setup from within
Windows will preserve the files and settings. Depending on where you have
stored your personal files, they should not get overwritten when you do a
setup from DOS, but be careful of some OEM setup CDs which will format the
disk regardless. A setup from DOS will remove installed drivers.

Trying to replace files using setup is not a good idea. If your system has
been updated over the years you will end up with a mixture of versions for
different components of the operating system, and that will create
instabilities and errors.

If you know the specific files you need to replace you can extract them from
the cab files on the setup disk, but that still leaves the problem of
mismatched versions.

The only really reliable way to refresh the system is to backup everything
you need to keep, install a fresh copy of Windows, update it, and then
re-install your applications and settings.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"John" wrote in message
...
i have windows 98 first edition installed on a computer. i am wondering, if
i
use the setup disk to reinstall the system, in dos, after it has installed
itself again, will i lose any customizations to my old system?

specifically, i am wondering if i will lose a desktop background image,
system drivers for installed hardware, etc. i dont want to have to
reinstall
drivers for my hardware, or reinstall other software. i just want setup to
replace some corrupted files, and be able to find my personal files still
in
their same place. can i do that, by running windows setup in dos, without
losing the items ive mentioned here? i just want to replace windows files,
not my own created files and installed drivers.

thank you