Problem began when I installed Steganos Internet Anonymous 7.1.5 in my PC which is Windows 98SE. The installation wizard froze during the installation of the software. I closed it using task manager. I tried to reinstall but got an error message which I forgot what it said. Then I began to get error message "VSMON" from my Zonealarm 4.5 firewall. I closed all programs and rebooted but I kept getting VSMON error message. I tried to uninstall Steganos but I kept getting error message. I tried to uninstall in safemode but the same result.

After repeated tries, I finally uninstalled it and used Regcleaner to do away with Steganos but I still kept getting error messages from Zonealarm. So I uninstalled Zonealarm and reinstalled it but it was the same. I was going to try another firewall by downloading it from the web but when I tried to open Firefox browser, it gave me an error message and would not open. This was the same for IE and Netscape.

I was going to uninstall other programs thinking they might be in conflict but when I opened the ADD/Remove from control panel, my screen froze. I rebooted but this time, a windows box appeared, the kind when you first buy your PC and turn it on for the first time. It ask for my name and verfication code for Wind98SE. After I put in the information, I got to the Desktop but there was no icons, no start button, and no taskbar. It was only a default desktop background. I opened task manager but there was no program in it at all. I rebooted it and then at desktop, I got an error message:
Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module explorer.exe at 0167:00401f31.
Registers:
EAX=00000000 CS=0167 EIP=00401f31
EFLGS=00010246
EBX=00000001 SS=016f ESP=0080feec
EBP=0080fef4
EXC=c1c16070 DS=016f ESI=00000000 FS=1def
EDX=0080fefc ES=016f EDI=00000000 GS=0000
bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 08 50 ff 11 8b 45 08 50 8b 08 ff 51 08 8b 45
Stack dump:
00401ec0 0080fefc 0080ff34 00465cac 00000000
00000000 00000000 00000001 00404436 00000000
0059fc0c 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000000

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I rebooted and went into safemode and got an error message. I clicked OK and I got a default desktop background but no icons, no start button and no taskbar. I did this numerous times for safemode but still the same result. The error stated:

Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module explorer.exe at 0207:00401f31.
Registers:
EAX=00000000 CS=0207 EIP=00401f31
EFLGS=00010246
EBX=00000001 SS=020f ESP=0080feec
EBP=0080fef4
ECX=ec9969d0 DS=020f ESI=00000000 FS=26af
EDX=0080fefc ES=020f EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 0850 ff 11 8b 45 08 50 8b 08 ff 51 08 8b 45
Stack dump:
00401ee0 0080fefc 0080ff34 00405cac 00000000
00000000 00000000 00000001 00404436 00000000
0059fc0c 00000001 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000000
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What I did so far is have a friend put explorer.exe from his PC to a floppy disk and then at DOS prompt on my PC, I inserted the disk into my PC and copied the explorer file into my HDD. After booting up my PC, at desktop, I still get the explorer error message.

Then my friend suggested I type chkdsk at DOS prompt but it would not recognize it and stated I should do scandisk but it would not allow me to do that either.

I really need access to my HDD because I have to retrieve some crucial files. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

you might want to consider taking that hard drive out of the system, placing it another system, and retrieving the files you need off of it. Then, consider reinstalling Windows.

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode yet? Hit the Ctrl key as you boot up Windows, and it should present you with the option of Safe Mode.

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