While changing SYSTEM.INI's shell= line back to it's stock value will likely help immensely, a real problem is that you are making new posts which eject former information and as such, I will not have a ready collection of what the discussion was about.
Don't clutter the board with new posts unless the problem is new and you want to start over.
Or do as you wish and I'll virtually forget past discussions/information and start over...
Bob
My original problem started with the following error on start up : The following files are missing or corrupt ;C:\windows\HIMEM.SYS ,C:windows\DBLBUFF.SYS and C:\WINDOWS|IFHLP.SYS . Type the name of the Command Interpreter e.g. ,C:\Windows\command.com.To keep this brief,Grif gave me some references to read but his recommendation was to format. After reading the references , it became clear to me that formating was ,indeed ,the way to go .
The format went very well(even reloading my programs) until I loaded Power Defrag from a floppy (I thought I was loading the defrag from Win ME . The rest of the story is contained in my opening descrition of problems .
I am inclined to think that another format is the "best bet". As I said , I found the entry for Power frag In Systems.ini but I do not know;
1.how much of the statement to remove and
2.how to remove it, if I can't get into my computer to get to wordpad- I assume,if I could get there I can somehow transfer System .ini to wordpad and then delete the appropriate words and return System.ini to its rightful spot. The task seems a bit daunting(at my advanced age I have trouble remembering what I originally set out to ).
If detailed instructions as how to procede,are are too complicated or dangerous to mess with I think another format is the way to go .

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