While I am unable to recomend anything that exactly addresses your question, I though that I might share how I address rolling back changes in Windows 98 SE .

I simply backup and restore the entire filesystem. Storage is cheap and SSDs are fast.

Of course, if your use case implies being able to uninstall a specific program long after it has been installed and after other system changes/installations that you do not want to revert have occurred, my method would not work for you.

I used to use Quarterdeck Cleansweep back in the day which later became part of Norton Systemworks.
These days my builds are pretty static so don't bother, It's not like newer versions of drivers and programs are been released any more.
If something goes terribly wrong I simply reinstall windows

darry wrote on 2023-12-04, 22:16:

While I am unable to recomend anything that exactly addresses your question, I though that I might share how I address rolling back changes in Windows 98 SE .

I simply backup and restore the entire filesystem. Storage is cheap and SSDs are fast.

Of course, if your use case implies being able to uninstall a specific program long after it has been installed and after other system changes/installations that you do not want to revert have occurred, my method would not work for you.

Yeah, good tip abut how easy it is to just backup the entire win9x directory.
What I wanted specifically is a program to record exactly what files/registry changes the Intel-BusMaster IDE driver does when installed on Win98 (I found a newer version of this driver, V3.02 than the v3.00 that is on vogonsdrivers archive).

I needed the above driver because the default Microsoft Win98 dma driver freezes my MSI-5120-430fx motherboard with dma enabled but only when using an SSD(it works with spinning HD). By luck I found that with the Intel_bust master-driver (3.02 is dated 1998), the SSD works with DMA enabled and win98 really flies, even on a Pentium 75 with 64MB. Problem is Intel has put a check on the installer and only allows this drivers' setup to run on Win95, not Win98. So I have had to transplant the driver files from a Win95 install to Win98 without all the inf modifications applied.

At the moment I'm going through some old Win9x Uninstallers, so far I have only tried:

CyberMedia Uninstaller - Didn't log everything and actually permanently crashed my Windows Explorer from opening after removing a program I installed. Also didn't remove all files, took three times of installing and uninstalling to completely remove a test program.

Ones left to try:

Quarterdeck CleanSweep version 4(1998)
Norton Cleansweep '99 (Norton took over Quaterdeck product).
Revo Uninstaller - seems to get good reviews.

Given the reputation of Uninstallers (they all have aggressive streaks and delete either too much or not enough) I think it would be better to have a little util that just runs in the background and logs all changes an installation makes to files/registry and you can view it in notepad.

This thread (Windows 95 setup guide for the 2020's) recommends Total Uninstall 2.34

Revo Uninstaller works great on modern systems, but I've never tried it on anything earlier than XP

After Windows 95 rolled out, and everything had to do with the registry, I tried to make all my needed software and games PORTABLE. Even now most modern or retro windows software and games I use is in ready to use directories. Most stuff can be made portable easily and without any real functional problems.

Cyberdyne wrote on 2023-12-05, 17:27:

After Windows 95 rolled out, and everything had to do with the registry, I tried to make all my needed software and games PORTABLE. Even now most modern or retro windows software and games I use is in ready to use directories. Most stuff can be made portable easily and without any real functional problems.

This is very true and why I install my games on a 2nd partition.
If I format C:\ and reinstall windows 8 times out of 10 you can simply run the games exe just fine. Also means you don't have long dead internet play software installed (ie Westwood chat, Battlenet, etc)

I suspect if I exported the registry key for some of the games that don't work I could increase that to 9/10

Riikcakirds wrote on 2023-12-05, 14:07:

Yeah, good tip abut how easy it is to just backup the entire win9x directory. What I wanted specifically is a program to record […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2023-12-04, 22:16:

While I am unable to recomend anything that exactly addresses your question, I though that I might share how I address rolling back changes in Windows 98 SE .

I simply backup and restore the entire filesystem. Storage is cheap and SSDs are fast.

Of course, if your use case implies being able to uninstall a specific program long after it has been installed and after other system changes/installations that you do not want to revert have occurred, my method would not work for you.

Yeah, good tip abut how easy it is to just backup the entire win9x directory.
What I wanted specifically is a program to record exactly what files/registry changes the Intel-BusMaster IDE driver does when installed on Win98 (I found a newer version of this driver, V3.02 than the v3.00 that is on vogonsdrivers archive).

I needed the above driver because the default Microsoft Win98 dma driver freezes my MSI-5120-430fx motherboard with dma enabled but only when using an SSD(it works with spinning HD). By luck I found that with the Intel_bust master-driver (3.02 is dated 1998), the SSD works with DMA enabled and win98 really flies, even on a Pentium 75 with 64MB. Problem is Intel has put a check on the installer and only allows this drivers' setup to run on Win95, not Win98. So I have had to transplant the driver files from a Win95 install to Win98 without all the inf modifications applied.

At the moment I'm going through some old Win9x Uninstallers, so far I have only tried:

CyberMedia Uninstaller - Didn't log everything and actually permanently crashed my Windows Explorer from opening after removing a program I installed. Also didn't remove all files, took three times of installing and uninstalling to completely remove a test program.

Ones left to try:

Quarterdeck CleanSweep version 4(1998)
Norton Cleansweep '99 (Norton took over Quaterdeck product).
Revo Uninstaller - seems to get good reviews.

Given the reputation of Uninstallers (they all have aggressive streaks and delete either too much or not enough) I think it would be better to have a little util that just runs in the background and logs all changes an installation makes to files/registry and you can view it in notepad.

Could you please share that driver installer package ?
Maybe someone can patch the installer to skip the OS check and avoid all the hoops.

Also, that newer version would likely be welcome on vogonsdrivers.com .

darry wrote on 2023-12-06, 00:00:

Could you please share that driver installer package ? Maybe someone can patch the installer to skip the OS check and avoid all […]
Show full quote

Riikcakirds wrote on 2023-12-05, 14:07:

Yeah, good tip abut how easy it is to just backup the entire win9x directory. What I wanted specifically is a program to record […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2023-12-04, 22:16:

While I am unable to recomend anything that exactly addresses your question, I though that I might share how I address rolling back changes in Windows 98 SE .

I simply backup and restore the entire filesystem. Storage is cheap and SSDs are fast.

Of course, if your use case implies being able to uninstall a specific program long after it has been installed and after other system changes/installations that you do not want to revert have occurred, my method would not work for you.

Yeah, good tip abut how easy it is to just backup the entire win9x directory.
What I wanted specifically is a program to record exactly what files/registry changes the Intel-BusMaster IDE driver does when installed on Win98 (I found a newer version of this driver, V3.02 than the v3.00 that is on vogonsdrivers archive).

I needed the above driver because the default Microsoft Win98 dma driver freezes my MSI-5120-430fx motherboard with dma enabled but only when using an SSD(it works with spinning HD). By luck I found that with the Intel_bust master-driver (3.02 is dated 1998), the SSD works with DMA enabled and win98 really flies, even on a Pentium 75 with 64MB. Problem is Intel has put a check on the installer and only allows this drivers' setup to run on Win95, not Win98. So I have had to transplant the driver files from a Win95 install to Win98 without all the inf modifications applied.

At the moment I'm going through some old Win9x Uninstallers, so far I have only tried:

CyberMedia Uninstaller - Didn't log everything and actually permanently crashed my Windows Explorer from opening after removing a program I installed. Also didn't remove all files, took three times of installing and uninstalling to completely remove a test program.

Ones left to try:

Quarterdeck CleanSweep version 4(1998)
Norton Cleansweep '99 (Norton took over Quaterdeck product).
Revo Uninstaller - seems to get good reviews.

Given the reputation of Uninstallers (they all have aggressive streaks and delete either too much or not enough) I think it would be better to have a little util that just runs in the background and logs all changes an installation makes to files/registry and you can view it in notepad.

Could you please share that driver installer package ?
Maybe someone can patch the installer to skip the OS check and avoid all the hoops.

Also, that newer version would likely be welcome on vogonsdrivers.com .

I've attached Intel Bus Master IDE Driver 3.02. The version on Vogonsdriver is 3.00. Don't use V3.00 it's pretty awful and has lots of trouble with some cdrom drives attached to ide.
I think most people never used this latest 3.02 release because by then Win98 came out people just used the built in MS drivers for DMA.
The installer BMIDE_95.EXE can be extracted with 7zip. Then the setup.exe run. I think it uses install shield and maybe there is a way of editing it to skip the Win95 check. Intel says this is only meant for Win95, but it allows me to run a 120GB SSD with MW-DMA2 on this old 430fx motherboard. The win98 built in driver crashes on bootup with DMA tick enabled (but works with DMA if I use an old 80GB hard drive).