Windows Update

[trinitro]

I have a peculiar problem I can't seem to solve. Every time I try to run Windows update on my work machine (Win98SE, 128Mb of RAM, IE6) Internet Explorer will crash during the search phase. It gets up to 66%, then crashes. Only IE seems to be affected, all of the other applications work fine after the crash. I can do it every single time. I removed IE, repaired IE, even installed an older version and no change.
Reinstalling would definetely fix it, but the IT guy here at work is not exactly looking for work.
Did that happen to anybody else?

[NooNoo]

this is a known problem

Problem Description:
When the customer clicks on the "Scan for updates" link on the Windows Update site the scan will freeze at 66% and then they will see a dialog box stating that there was an Application error in iexplore.exe in winspool.drv.


Resolutions:
This is a known issue involving the spoolss.dll file and McAfee's Virus Scan software. The most common fix is to replace the Win98 version of spoolss.dll (4.10.1998) with the WinME version (4.90.3000). However, there have been a few cases since Win98/ME customers were migrated to the new version of the Windows Update site (version 4) where they have the WinME version installed and going back to the Win98 version resolves the issue.

The spoolss.dll file is protected by the operating system so you have to manually replace it from a command prompt. To replace the file you will need to boot Win98 while pressing the F8 key so you get the Windows 98 StartUp menu. On this menu, select option 5 and boot to a Command Prompt. Use the Copy command to manually replace the file.

If replacing the file isn't an option, then make sure you are running the current version of McAfee's Virus Scan product, which is version 7.0. Version 7.0 allows you to configure the scanner so that it will exclude files and folders from the scan. If you choose this option, then make sure you exclude these items:

C:\Windows\Spool
C:\Windows\System\spoolss.dll

[Rifleman @ Layman's PC]

Go delete everything from the cookies, temp. internet files, and the windows update folder...

[trinitro]

We don't run McAfee, we run Norton.
Although we did run McAfee before (6 or so months ago), the problem only appeared about 1 month ago. I'll have to see if any of my private clients have ME loaded so I can "borrow" that file. at work we have either XP Pro or 98SE. At home I also run XP only.

[trinitro]

Using the ME version of spoolss.dll didn't do the trick. The 98 version did it, and everything works file now. Thanks.