>>>> Just how are we supposed to tell what version of these .DLL's we TRULY need, then?
>>>
>>>Check out http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp?vartarget=msdn
>>
>>Thanks, Nancy. This is a great site for determining the versions. But it still doesn't tell me why if 4.71 or better is needed for SHELL32.DLL why scripting works for me when I have 4.00.951 ?
>
>Fred, I can only go by what MS documents - if you need to follow this up, you can explore the exact automation provider referenced by Shell.Application on your machine by examining the InProcServer32 entry for the automation object - in my case, it's the CLSID {13709620-C279-11CE-A49E-444553540000}, whose InProcServer32 entry is "C:\WINNT\System32\SHDOC401.DLL". AFAIK, the only way that this DLL can be safely updated to this version is by installation of SHELL32.DLL, but perhaps they're completely disjoint (I don't believe this to be the case, though.)
>
>MS states that Shell 4.71 is needed, and I'm not smarter than their docs.
>
>In your case, you've somewhat misspeculated on the origins of your Win95 - the version you reference is not an OEM version, but is Win95 retail updated to SP1, with subsequent addition of an IE version to the system. I don'tr know why your system behaves differently - you might try MS support.

Thanks for the detailed information, Ed. The version of W95 I have came installed on this machine as 4.00.95a direct from COMPAQ. I did the installation of IE4 from beta/release/SP1/SP2. I just installed SP2 and updated W95 for Y2K last night, and now my version for SHELL32.DLL is 4.00.955. I don't do all that much with scripting, but what I've tried, works.

Someday, I'll get around to updating this machine to W98 with IE5, but right now, I just couldn't afford the downtime if it didn't work right. If I hold out long enough, I'll probably just replace the H/W when W2K is available.

Ed, can you recommend a book on the registry? Preferibly one for all flavors of Windows (95/98/NT4/W2K)? Right now, I've pretty much avoided dealing with the registry unless absolutely necessary, but I see I can't hold out much longer. :) I'd absolutely *HATE* doing a re-install just because I didn't understand something in the registry that could be fixed manually.

Thanks again.