Windows 98 unloads DLL Files by default

Windows 98 SE Unloads Dynamic Library Links by Default

By default, when Windows 98 SE is installed onto a freshly formatted drive, not an upgrade over an existing Windows 9x installation, Windows normally always creates a default registry setting that causes Windows to unload the Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL’s) used by a program from memory upon the closing of that application. To determine whether your system does this, start RegEdit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer

In the left window look for a substring beneath the explorer entry called ” AlwaysUnloadDLL” and click once on it to highlight. In the right window you should see the default value of 1.

Certain older Windows programs may complain by issuing error message such as “Invalid Page Fault = IPF” or result in a blue screen error or even cause a system crash when this option is turned on.

You can turn this setting off by double-clicking on “AlwaysUnloadDLL” and change its value from 1 to 0 (zero), or delete it altogether.

If you haven’t experienced such general protection faults, blue screens and system crashes, you may want to leave this setting alone as it does speed up the GUI. Just close the Registry Editor and restart Windows if you make a change.

NOTE: This related MSKB article provides an example of how this issue effects certain third party applications as well providing reasons for possible IPFs caused by specific programs. Problems After You Install Winzip Version 6.3 or 7.0