Here is some info I've just learned that might be useful to others, about how to 
install home networking software on your PC, and where those scary messages about 
missing components come from and how to get rid of them, and how to get 2 or more 
computers networked behind a router.  
  
This information does not seem to be widely available, and when you can find it it's 
often missing critical details, so I hope that anyone who reads this and finds is 
useful, or says "OY!  I wish I'd known that when I tried to do it!", will propagate 
this info.
  
When I upgraded my Win98Se machine to DSL, the first step was to install a LAN or 
Network Interface Card (NIC)on my computer.  There are lots of such cards available; 
I chose a Linksys 10/100 LAN card.  Installing the software was very easy, but the 
first time I booted up after doing the installation, I got a real scare:  even before 
I got to the Windows portion of the boot-up, several scary-looking messages about 
missing components appeared, such as "missing DFS.vxd", "missing vredir.vxd", and 
so on.
 
Also, after I installed the NIC and its software, I did not find on my computer an 
icon or function called "Network neghborhood." 
  
These messages look very scary the first time you see them, because you think you've 
screwed up your computer.  But as you soon learn, hitting return after each message 
gets you to the normal boot-up.
  
After I got a second computer (a WinXP machine), I decided to install Network Neighborhood 
on both, to help in transferring files.  You do this by clicking through various 
screens found at Control Panel | Network Setup Wizard and supplying the info asked 
for.
  
When you finish, you wind up with a file (on whatever media you specify) called netsetup.exe. 
 My version of this file (generated on my XP) is dated 08/04/2004 and is listed at 
322 KB.
  
I ran this file on my Win 98SE machine, and it began asking for one file after another. 
It thought were on the Win98 SE installation disk, and they were--but in the .cab 
files.
  
The .cab files are found in the win98 directory.  These files (Net7.cab and so on) 
are compressed files holding lots of system files.  The individual files are extracted 
using WinZip.
  
A little research showed me that the files that "Network setup" was looking for, 
were stored in net7.cab, net8.cab, net9.cab, and net10.cab. These individual files 
can NOT be extracted automatically by Netork Setup!  It expects to find these files 
under their own names, and it will not search xxx.cab!
  
So I extracted each file in turn using Winzip and moved it to c:\windows\system. 
 Eventually network setup stopped asking me for files and just quit.  It did not 
tell me I had to re-boot.  
  
I re-booted, and this time the process went very smoothly, and I had an icon for 
Network Neighborhood on my machine.  I have not yet started playing with NN, but 
at least I have it on my desktop to experiment with.   
  
NOTE:  The critical step here is to get a copy of that netsetup.exe file. I'm not 
sure how you would generate it natively on Win98SE, but it looks to me like anyone 
running XP should be able to generate it and give a copy to a Win98 user.  And of 
course, you need those netXX.cab files which hold the needed .vxd, .dll, and other 
system files. 

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Here's a link to my post last year about this subject:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/1148661897

People are continuing to upgrade to broadband while keeping their old Win98 PC's in operation (even those with newer 'main' computers may have their old Win98 box connected to the router!). I just fixed one 'non-connecting 98 box last week, and will do another one on Monday!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Athlon 1.1 - 768 MB RAM = 98SE & XP Home

Athlon 3000+ 64 - 1024 MB RAM = 98SE (@768 MB RAM) & XP Pro

IBM ThinkPad PIII 900 - 384 MB RAM = 98SE & XP Pro SP2

Windows 2000 Server in the basement

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