When I boot my PC I get the message ‘Invalid setting in MSDOS.SYS file double buffer’. I am running Windows 98, everything seems to work O.K. but I am getting tired of seeing the message and wonder if it is the start of something nasty. Why do I get the message and how can I fix it?

The file that you are referring to is a hidden system file in the root directory of your hard drive. Due to the critical nature of this file, I do not recommend that you edit it yourself unless you know what you are doing or if you have a computer literate friend, who is willing to help, and is confident in following the procedure I am going to suggest. (Please read through it with care before attempting the procedure). Go to ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and open ‘notepad’. In Notepad, go to the ‘File’ menu > ‘Open’ and go to the root of your C drive. Type ‘MSDOS.SYS’ (including the quotes) into the ‘File name:’ box and click ‘Ok’. In the text that is displayed, find ‘[Options]‘ and underneath that locate ‘DoubleBuffer = X’ (X being a numerical value). X should be the number 0, 1, or 2. If you have any known SCSI controllers on your computer change this value to ‘1′ (without the quotes). However, if you have no SCSI controllers on your computer, change the number (X) to ‘0′ (without the quotes) and reboot your computer. You should be able to check if you have any SCSI controllers on your computer by going to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Settings’ > ‘Control Panel’, opening the ‘System’ control panel, and clicking the ‘Device Manager’ tab. Again, I do emphasise that the file is vital to your computer and if you do attempt the procedure yourself, you definitely want to make a backup of the MSDOS.SYS file before you start.