>I have end users that are running Microsoft Network with mixed Windows 95 and Windows 98 machines.. The users are getting an abnormal amount of corrupted index files.. In fact, it's so unusual, we can pretty much guess their network composition by the kind of problem that they are reporting.. Has anyone ever ran into this? Is it a problem with the 98 machines running more recent drivers than the 95s? Maybe the file tracking mechanism that 98 uses? Any suggestions on how to identify and correct this problem would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. (by the way, all other network compositions do not 'appear' to have the same problem, eg, Novell with mixed Windows 3.21 and Windows 95 doesn't seem to trash the index.. as well as an all Win95 Microsoft Network..)

I haven't seen this in a pure MS Network environment, but I have seen similar sorts of problems in Novell networks with mixed 95 and 98 boxes, and in all cases so far we have tied out the problems to differences in the netWare clients between the two, most often a different version of Novell's Client32 software, especially with IntraNetWare and NetWare 4.1x installations. In all cases, removing the Novell Client32 and substituting the Microsoft Client for NetWare has resolved the situation.

If you're in a peer-to-peer environment with a mix of Win95 and Win98 boxes, make certain that one of the Win98 boxes is elected as the master Browser - there is a bug in the Win95 Master Browser implementation that can result in noone being able to see the network properly. In this particular case, the solution is to make certain that the Win95 boxes are all set in File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks/Advanced/Browse Master to Disabled; this will result in one of the Win98 boxes always being selected as Master Browser in the event of an election.