Win95 won't start and says "Protection Error...System Halted"
This message could indicate a configuration problem or just a minor glitch in Windows thinking. If the error repeats after restarting, then you'll have to dig for it. To track it down, hit F8 during bootup and select "Logged (BOOTLOG.TXT)" as the startup option. This will create a hidden file called BOOTLOG.TXT. It will log everything that happens as your system attempts to boot. You will have to use the EDIT command to view it, as it is unviewable with the DIR command. Go into Windows 95 in safe mode and view the file. The last line of the file will indicate the cause of the problem.

You want to use the Boot Previous Version of MS-DOS option from the F8 menu, and you get a "Previous Version of MS-DOS Not Found" error.
It might be that there was never a previous version of DOS on this system. In this case, change the BOOTMULTI= line on the MSDOS.SYS file to BOOTMULTI=0. If you HAVE booted fom DOs before, then look to see if IO.DOS, MSDOS.DOD, and COMMAND.DOS are in the root directory. If not, then that's your problem. Replace them and it should work.

When you try to start a program, you get a "Missing Shortcut" error.
A "shortcut" is a path from the icon to the actual location of the program files for that program. If this path is absent of invalid, you will get this error. This is usually caused by having deleted or moved the program. If this is the case, delete the shortcut. If you moved the program, just create a new shortcut to the new location. Another common reason is that you added a second hard drive or another drive that kicked the CD-ROM letter up to a new letter. In this case, you will have to re-install the CD-ROM software in order to point to the new letter.

You are trying to install a program on the D: drive and you get an error saying "Not Enough Space Available on Drive C:".
Windows 95 almost always requires space on the hard drive for system files such as DLL's, even if you are installing the program on another drive. These files must be placed into the /WINDOWS directory. You have simply run out of room. The only way around it is to free up some space. Common ways of doing this is to delete old unused programs, move the Windows TEMP directory to another drive, or move the Windows swap file to another drive. Details on swap files are contained in the system optimization section of the site. To change the location of your TEMP directory, add "SET TEMP=D:TEMP" and "SET TMP=D:TEMP" to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Then create a directory called TEMP on your D: drive and reboot.

You are using a program and suddenly its stops working. You hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the task list, and it says the program is NOT RESPONDING.
In this case, you have a few choices. You can hit Cancel and wait. In some cases, programs are temporarily halted in order to wait for hard disk activity to stop. This activity is often caused by the use of the swap file. This can happen often if you are running many programs and have less than, say, 32 MB or RAM. Second choice is to hit END TASK. This option will force the program to halt and close. You will lose any unsaved work. Last Option is to shut down the system. This option is really drastic and you really don't need to do this.

You turn on your computer and it says "Windows was not shut down properly" and it wants to run Scan disk.
Well, OSR2 users get the option to use Scandisk. Previous versions just get the error. This happens if Windows was shut down prematurely on the last session. When shutting down Windows 95, there is a lot of disk activity while Windows saves changes, deletes temporary files, etc. If this is not allows to happen, there is a potential for lost drive space. It is best to run Scandisk.

You are running many programs and suddenly one stops and says "Illegal Operation" and shuts down.
This seems to be one of the most common error messages. We can blame it on an imperfect operation system. It is caused by many different things: (1) Your computer lacks enough RAM to complete everything, so it stumbles. Add RAM. (2) Your software may be conflicting with another program over shared DLL's. (3) Your video driver may be interacting with the program very strangely. Look at the combination of programs that usually cause the errors. Then, see if the manufacturer has provided a patch on their web site for it. If it mentions your video drivers, download updated drivers. Unfortunately, there is not much troubleshooting to be done here. This error is purely a result of the way Windows handles your files.

You have been working for quite a while and the system has stayed on. You get an error that says "Windows Explorer is Dangerously Low on Resources".
You will be asked to shut down the system, but you can't. This is usually caused by a faulty Kernel.dll file in The first version of Win95 and OSR1. It is a major memory leak. The best way is to force a reboot to free up resources. Then, go to the Microsoft site and download the free patch for fixing the Kernel.dll file.

You are running a program and get the so-called "Blue Screen or Death". It is a full screen Fatal Exception Error and the only way out is to reboot.
This usually points to duplicate or incompatible DLL files being called into memory. Hit ENTER and try to get back to the Desktop. Save your work under a different file name and reboot. In the future, try to notice patterns, particular combinations of programs that cause the error. Look for software patches at the vendor's web sites. Could also be a problem with your memory or its settings in CMOS. You might want to try setting your memory settings to default. Other than that, there is not a whole lot to be done.

You are trying to install Windows 95 and get the message saying "Can't Install Windows 95".
This is usually caused by having other programs running in the background during installation. The install routine requires that nothing else be running to that it can perform all the system detections. Common programs that are running would be Virus detection programs, any crash guard software, or even the MS-DOS undelete program which tracks what you delete. These programs must either be shut down or removed before you can install Windows 95. Windows will only tell you one program at a time that is in its way. As you get to them, so to the AUTOEXEC.BAT and REM the line out that loads the program. Another common cause of this error is the Write Protect Boot Sector feature in many BIOS's. Go into setup and temporarily disable this feature.