SFC (System File Checker) informs me that I had one corrupt file - user.exe. I have never used SFC before, so I don't know how long this file has been corrupted. Should I leave well alone, or should I restore the file? If so, how?
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We cover how to restore system files using the SFC in the tips, Restore missing files in Windows 95, Restore missing files from Windows CD and Restore missing files using system file checker, but in this case we think you should leave well alone. In some circumstances, the Windows 98 SFC can search in the wrong location when trying to restore certain system files, and may restore the wrong version. This will result in an inability to start Windows. Fortunately, this bug was corrected in Windows 98 SE.
Since user.exe is a pretty fundamental part of Windows, and yet your system is running okay, it is debatable whether or not the file is really corrupt. However, if you do want to try to restore it, the safe way for Windows 98 users is to use the command line Extract utility, like this:
Extract /A d:\Win98\Base_4.Cab User.exe /L c:\Windows\Temp
In this case, you have to extract the file to a temporary location (the path specified after the /L switch) and then copy it to c:\Windows\System in DOS mode. This is because user.exe is in use by Windows and cannot be overwritten. SFC normally takes care of this automatically.
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