"Eroica" wrote in message
...
The relevant computer (not this one!) is an older HP laptop with
Win98SE, 650 MHz PIII and (I think) 256MB of RAM. I bought the system
several years ago as a used item (not a good investment -- I wouldn't
do it again).

I installed a program that has unfortunately corrupted the operating
system. The message I get is:

The OLE32.DLL file is linked to missing export ADVAP132.DLL:
DuplicateEncryptionInfoFile

The system then says it can't use Windows Explore.

The problem is, I can't get into the system to fix it. I don't have a
boot CD ROM, and I tried creating one from an .iso file I downloaded
from the web, but it created nothing I can use. I can't boot from the
resulting disk. I'd be happy to just reinstall Win98SE on the
computer, but I can't get anywhere without booting from the CD ROM.

Suggestions?


Before you even attempt to reinstall,
your system may very well be repairable...especially if the problem just
happened.

Turn your machine back on...
but just after the bios messages, slowly tap F8 a few times
and you should get a boot menu..


then select: command prompt


now type and enter scanreg /restore


next choose to restore a registry from a date prior to the problem
then reboot and hopefully your system will work again