It is hard to say but my best guess is the updating/patching process was different in the 2 sets of machines. Win95 has a very convoluted & hard to understand patch history & MS has made made no attempt to help us create an optimal patching strategy. This problem predated MS dropping of support for Win95 & since then matters have just gotten worse. Jooel's suggestion of an IE upgrade related issue is possible but my bet would be it is one of the Networking or System patches.

You might try writing a script that does a file by file comparison of the Windows & Windows/System for the 2 machines. In particular, I would look for version/size/date differences in the network component files. This might help narrow down what are the differences between the 2 sets of machines. There are several UDFs in our UDF forum that can help you with this task.

Additionally, look at what software is installed on the 2 sets of machines. It could be that a 3rd party install has done something untowards. Also verify that the network setup on the 2 machines are exactly the same. With this type of problem fishing for differences may be the only way to pin down the problem.

PS: I have noted that several forums suggest you use IE5.5 SP2 for ME & that while running the direct update from the web will recognize the Win95 OS & it will use the proper WIN95 version.

Also check out this site: IE5.5 SP2 for Win95

[ 04. September 2003, 16:55: Message edited by: Jack Lothian ]
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Jack