screen saver boxes on taskbar

[Mike]

i have a small problem with my computer at home as well as a few on the
network at
work. they are all win98. after the screen saver activates, and you touch
the mouse, the screen saver will de-activate. but there is a box on the task
bar that says 'screen saver'. if you click on it, it goes away. if you don't
click it, after a few screen saver sessions, you will have quite a few boxes
on the taskbar. the only common thing between the computers is office 2000,
&
norton antivirus. anyone had this problem, or know how to fix it?

thanx,
mike

[Golem]

mba...@e-wtech.com (Mike) wrote in <933q2c$992k$1@newssvr06-
en0.news.prodigy.com>:

The blank button on the taskbar is often mentionned and these are the three
most posted answers:

1- Update your Video Drivers.
2- Change ScreenSavers.
and the most often used, (posted by some other user, "copied/pasted here")

:begin quote
~~~~~~~~~
3- Try this :

Mystery blank buttons
This information was posted Jim Inacker in a News Group.

Here is something that I put together that may help.
Please respond to the group with your results.

Updated Ghost Button Resolution for Win98SE

If you are using Windows 98 SE and installed the May 22, 2000 Critical
Update or Windows 98 Second Edition Mapped Drives Shutdown Update or
the Windows 98 Second Edition 1394 Storage Supplement you may
experience ghost buttons on the Task Bar.

The ghost buttons appear to be the result of interactions between
existing applications and newer versions of user.exe and user32.dll
installed by those updates.

If your system DOES NOT REQUIRE those updates, you can uninstall them
by searching your hard drive for the associated uninstall inf file.
Right click on the uninstall inf file select install and then reboot
at the prompt.

May 22, 2000 Critical Update 260067un.inf
Windows 98 Second Edition Mapped Drives Shutdown Update 260067un.inf
(Golem's note: This is NOT a typo. Both the above line have the same INF
number because they are the same fix. The name of the fix was changed
from "May 22, 2000..." to "Windows 98 Second...". So you either have
one or the other)
Windows 98 Second Edition 1394 Storage Supplement 242975un.inf

If all goes well you should end up with user.exe and user32.dll
version 4.10.2222.

This resolution and the file version numbers listed apply to Windows
98 SE. Any added functionality provided by the newer versions of
user.exe and user32.dll will be lost.

For more information please consult the following articles in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Q260067 "Windows Stops Responding During Shutdown with Mapped Drives"
(Critical Update, May 22, 2000)
Q242934 "Sending System Broadcast Messages During Shutdown"
Q239887 "Second Edition Shutdown Supplement"
~~~~~~~~
:end quote

--
Golem
Reply to newsgroup.
My Email is FAKE.

[Gerold Russello]

I'm digging this post up from the grave in case someone else is having issues with it. Many people are using Windows 98se now a days for retro gaming and someone could come across this issue of blank boxes or ghost buttons on the taskbar the same way I just did.

I was unable to find the uninstall inf files. My solution was to extract the older versions of the user.exe and user32.dll files from the cab files on the windows 98se install CD. I then restarted into MS-DOS mode and overwrote the files. This has to be done in DOS since the files are in use when in windows and the OS will not let you overwrite them. So far my testing seems to be a success.

Cheers!