Thanks, PCR. At 2:30 in the morning this is a little more than I can deal
with right now. Before I look at it again tomorrow, could you post the
update numbers and perhaps give your opinion on just how bad it would be to
uninstall those updates as an alternative means of dealing with this (and
whether that would fix the problem)? What a mess.

PCR wrote:
Two or more separate Windows Update criticals took your
Troubleshooters away, for security reasons.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q188867
Troubleshooting Windows 98 Startup Problems. This article contains a
link to what it says is the equivalent of the Windows Help
Troubleshooters...
http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/tshoot
That's it. But, here is how to get them back when offline...

First, "START, Find, F&F, Tshoot.inf"; R-Clk it & select "Install". If
you still don't have the Troubleshooters...

(1) "START, Run, RegEdit"
(2) Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{4B106874-DD36-11D0-8B44-00A024DD9EFF}

Compatibility Flags 0x00000400 (1024) Dword value 400

by
(a) Clicking plus signs, beginning with "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE",
(b) & ending with "ActiveX Compatibility".
(c) Finally, click "{4B106874-DD36-11D0-8B44-00A024DD9EFF}" itself in
the left pane.
(d) Now, you see "Compatibility Flags 0x00000400 (1024)" in the
right pane.
(e) "Registry menu, Export Registry file".

This will create a ".reg" file of the entire Key that is open...
all the items in the right pane & all sub-keys in the left pane (if
there is a plus sign). Give it a name & location of your choosing,
even to the Desktop or My Documents. Then, to undo the following, you
will be able to simply click that file, to Merge it's contents back
into the Registry.

Actually-- name that one "NoTrouble.reg". It will look like...

...Start.....
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{4B106874-DD36-11D0-8B44-00A024DD9EFF}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

...End.......

(f) Close RegEdit. You now have an "undo" .reg, named "NoTrouble.reg".
(g) Make a copy of it called "Trouble.reg".
(h) Open "Trouble.reg" in Notepad. Change the "dword" to look as
follows... all zeros...

...Start..of "Trouble.reg"...
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{4B106874-DD36-11D0-8B44-00A024DD9EFF}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000000

...End.......

CAREFUL: That "HKEY" is one line, with TWO spaces only. One between
"Internet Explorer", & the other between "ActiveX Compatibility". Make
sure it looks that way in Notepad, before you click to Save. Also, you
must have an empty line at bottom.

Now, "Trouble.reg" gives you the Troubleshooters. "NoTrouble.reg" will
give you security by taking them away. Remember to undo it, after you
are done looking at the Troubleshooters.


(2) By default, when a ".reg" is clicked, it will Merge into the
Registry. To alter the default behavior: "START, Settings, Folder
Options, File Types tab". Scroll to & click "Registration Entries",
click the "Edit" button, select "edit" in the window & click the "Set
Default" button. Now, when you click a ".reg" file, it will open in
Notepad for examination. To merge it into the Registry, R-Clk it &
select "Merge".


When it rains, it pours.

Seemingly out of the blue, my computer can no longer play audio. This
includes sound from audio and audio/video files of all types, either
from the internet or from hard drive, and also audio CDs.

In an effort to try and pinpoint the problem, I typed in
"troubleshooter" in 98SE Help and got a variety of troubleshooters
for various problems. But none of them work - when you select a
radio button and click Next, you get a blank page, or, rarely, an
error message. In the case of one of the modem troubleshooters the
error message reads:

Line 23
Char 1
Error Object doesn't support this property or method
'parent.t1.ApgtsX21.Run Query'
Code 0
URL:

Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?

(The "no sound" audio troubleshooter yielded a blank page)

I suppose the logical order for problem solving here would be to get
the troubleshooter working again and then see if it comes up with
anything for the lack of audio, but at this point any advice on any
of the above is most welcome.

Note: After some trepidation, because the accompanying warnings
concerning the impairment of Help files in certain situations was
not clear, I installed the most recent critical update. Don't know
if that has anything to do with this, but I thought it was worth
mentioning just in case.