While searching the Net for information about a hotel, I came across a site which informed me my browser could not execute Java applets. I use Netscape (the latest version) and have never come across this problem before. I did download Java plug-in 1.1.1 for Netscape but that did not help. Also our children want to play some of the old DOS games lying around the house but cannot get them up and running on the Windows system we have at present (Compaq Presario 5180). Someone suggested partitioning the (huge) hard disk and loading a full version of DOS on that. How do I do that? Is it risky? ANN GILES Hong Kong The Java problem may not be a fault in your browser but a problem with the applet on the site. For instance, Microsoft has its own flavour of Java, and if a site is optimised for Internet Explorer, there is a chance some of its Java applets will not like Netscape. The fact you have not encountered this problem before leads me to think this may well be the case here.
Try accessing the site with Internet Explorer, which you can download free in the highly unlikely event it is not lurking somewhere on your computer. You might want to try the latest version, though.
As for your games, I assume you have tried running them from the DOS prompt accessible from your Start Programs menu. Some games will run well enough in this way, but it would not surprise me if many older games do not like the type of DOS built into Windows 95 (Windows 98 does not even technically include DOS).
Partitioning your hard disk is one way to go, but is not something I advise people to do unless they know what they are attempting and the possible consequences of mistakes.
Partitioning a hard drive can save space by making file allocation block sizes smaller, organise data better and improve the performance of your disk. However, it involves moving data around on the disk, so if you decide to go ahead, make sure you back up your hard disk first.