Why do receive the error message "ws2_32.dll missing" (and others)?

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 was incompatible with Windows 95, while version 1.3 or earlier and version 1.5 and later are compatible. However, the lack of following updates usually causes problems (all following links are online links):

  • HTML Help 1.3
    If you receive the message "Error message: HHCTRL.OCX is missing", you are probably using an old version of Internet Explorer, thus the needed HTML help components are not installed.
  • Winsock2
    If you receive the message "Error message: WS2_32.DLL is missing", you need a Winsock update for Windows 95. More information is available in Microsoft's knowledgebase.
  • Active Accessibility 1.3
    Spybot-S&D tries to support solutions for disabled people, so you need to install the Active Accessibility runtime package if you receive complaints about problems in oleacc.dll.
  • Common Controls
    Spybot-S&D might also need this update if things are not probably displayed or you receive messages about other missing functions.
  • Shell Folders
    If you are running one of the older Windows 95 releases and do not even have Internet Explorer 4, you need this update for a newer SHFolder.dll, which is responsible for the Application Data folder used by many applications to store data.

We recommend these updates to any Windows 95 anyway, and we have included an option to download and install missing updates in the installer of Spybot-S&D 1.5.

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