lost cd key

I turned on the computer and before it gets to the windows
start up screen all of a sudden it is telling me that
Norton Antivirus needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled.
After I click ok to that error messagea box pops up and is
asking me to enter my CD key for windows 98. If I click
cancel it tells me that Windows 98 cannot start my
computer and will shut down. I have somehow misplaced my
cd key so I can't even bypass this screen to get to the
deskstop. I located an article on Microsoft.com that says
to perform the following steps, but I want to make sure it
is correct because it refers to Virtual PC in the article
and I have no idea what that is. Here are the steps:

1. start registry editor (regedit.exe)
2. locate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MIcrosoft\Windows\Curr entVersio
n\ProductKey
3. Write down value of key
4. quit registry editor

Please help. I need to get this computer running ASAP.

"Lynn" wrote:

I turned on the computer and before it gets to the windows
start up screen all of a sudden it is telling me that
Norton Antivirus needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled.
After I click ok to that error messagea box pops up and is
asking me to enter my CD key for windows 98. If I click
cancel it tells me that Windows 98 cannot start my
computer and will shut down. I have somehow misplaced my
cd key so I can't even bypass this screen to get to the
deskstop. I located an article on Microsoft.com that says
to perform the following steps, but I want to make sure it
is correct because it refers to Virtual PC in the article
and I have no idea what that is. Here are the steps:

1. start registry editor (regedit.exe)
2. locate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MIcrosoft\Windows\Cur rentVersio
n\ProductKey
3. Write down value of key
4. quit registry editor

Please help. I need to get this computer running ASAP.

Turn on the computer and press the Ctrl key as soon as the first
information of any kind shows on the screen. Hold it down until the
Windows Startup Menu appears and choose Safe Mode from the menu.

When it has finished booting into Safe Mode use Start - Run - REGEDIT
and follow the procedure you described to locate the Product Key.

Also launch your Norton Antivirus and see what the date is for the
virus definition files. I suspect that your problem is being caused
by a virus infection and that means that your virus definitions may be
out of date. They should/must be dated 19 May 2004.

One final thing to do in Safe Mode is to use Start - Run - MSCONFIG
and turn off all repeat all items in the Startup group (temporarily).
Then shut down the computer and restart it normally. It may start up
okay.

NOTE:::::::
Do not be concerned about the appearance of the screen when the
computer is running in Safe Mode and above all else do not try to
change it. Your normal video appearance will return when you do a
normal startup. If you try to "fix" it in Safe Mode all you will do
is to lock the Safe Mode video settings into place for use on a normal
startup.

Post the results back here. If the computer will not start in Safe
Mode or there are other problems with any of the steps I described
above then there are some alternatives available that we can try.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

OK, there is a problem. When I run regedit, I get through
all of the steps except when I go to click on product key
after clicking current version, the heading product key is
not there for me to even get to the numbers I need! As
far as the Norton virus definition files, I updated them
on 5/21/04. I need another solution.

-----Original Message-----
"Lynn" wrote:

I turned on the computer and before it gets to the
windows
start up screen all of a sudden it is telling me that
Norton Antivirus needs to be uninstalled and
reinstalled.
After I click ok to that error messagea box pops up and
is
asking me to enter my CD key for windows 98. If I click
cancel it tells me that Windows 98 cannot start my
computer and will shut down. I have somehow misplaced
my
cd key so I can't even bypass this screen to get to the
deskstop. I located an article on Microsoft.com that
says
to perform the following steps, but I want to make sure
it
is correct because it refers to Virtual PC in the
article
and I have no idea what that is. Here are the steps:

1. start registry editor (regedit.exe)
2. locate
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MIcrosoft\Windows\Cu rrentVers
io
n\ProductKey
3. Write down value of key
4. quit registry editor

Please help. I need to get this computer running ASAP.

Turn on the computer and press the Ctrl key as soon as
the first
information of any kind shows on the screen. Hold it
down until the
Windows Startup Menu appears and choose Safe Mode from
the menu.

When it has finished booting into Safe Mode use Start -
Run - REGEDIT
and follow the procedure you described to locate the
Product Key.

Also launch your Norton Antivirus and see what the date
is for the
virus definition files. I suspect that your problem is
being caused
by a virus infection and that means that your virus
definitions may be
out of date. They should/must be dated 19 May 2004.

One final thing to do in Safe Mode is to use Start - Run -
MSCONFIG
and turn off all repeat all items in the Startup group
(temporarily).
Then shut down the computer and restart it normally. It
may start up
okay.

NOTE:::::::
Do not be concerned about the appearance of the screen
when the
computer is running in Safe Mode and above all else do
not try to
change it. Your normal video appearance will return when
you do a
normal startup. If you try to "fix" it in Safe Mode all
you will do
is to lock the Safe Mode video settings into place for
use on a normal
startup.

Post the results back here. If the computer will not
start in Safe
Mode or there are other problems with any of the steps I
described
above then there are some alternatives available that we
can try.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers
don't eat much."
.

"Lynn" wrote:

OK, there is a problem. When I run regedit, I get through
all of the steps except when I go to click on product key
after clicking current version, the heading product key is
not there for me to even get to the numbers I need! As
far as the Norton virus definition files, I updated them
on 5/21/04. I need another solution.

If you navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MIcrosoft\Windows\Curr entVersion in the
left side panel of Regedit then there should be a long list of items
shown in the right side panel. Scroll down the list until you reach
the ProductKey entry. You should be able to copy it from there.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."