I have a Win 98 PC that is on the bench for the fifth time this year. The first three times, the majority of the problems were caused by the client insisting on running Norton System Works and a number of other background apps. We uninstalled all but the antivirus portion of System Works and all three times the client reinstalled and was back with the same problems (would not complete boot into desktop). The forth time he completely hosed the computer and we ended up formatting and doing a clean install. We sent it back with the usual advice about avoiding installing background apps and a short lesson on MSConfig (easiest way, this guy did not need to be messing with the registry, sysedit, ect) to remove them if they were installed. All was well for a couple months until he walked in the door this week and said the PC would not boot to the desktop again. Same stuff, Norton System Works and the full assortment of junk apps, AOL, realtray, gator, kazaa, various "internet speed programs" and the list goes on... He had some files in quarantine also, but did not know which viruses they were. I managed to get by the various issues the computer was having and uninstalled Norton System Works and unloaded the background apps. Ran scandisk and it reported a damaged FAT which was repaired and several damaged files that it removed. I also ran a surface scan, but did not show any bad sectors. The computer is functional now with the exception of System Properties, Add/Remove Hardware and the Network Properties. I have replaced the .cpl files with no change and am at a loss. I really do not want to format and reinstall again, but that may be the best option to help this guy understand when we say certain apps should not be installed on certain configurations, we are not kidding. Anyway, rants aside, any input?