I posted this on two forums (hope that's OK) because I wasn't sure where it belonged. It has to do with the Windows 98 O/S not starting.

I'll start with the problem, then I'll describe the two things I was doing immediately before it occurred. BTW, the computer won't start up in NORMAL mode or SAFE mode. I can get the command prompt (C:>), but I don't know what DOS command to enter in order to solve the problem.

Restarted my laptop and got this message:

Cannot find a device file that may be needed to run Windows or a Windows application.

The Windows registry or SYSTEM.INI file refers to this device file, but the device file no longer exists.

If you deleted this file on purpose, try uninstalling the associated application using its uninstall or setup program.

If you still want to use the application associated with this device file, try reinstalling that application to replace the missing file.

Press a key to continue

I do, but same message repeats. 30 seconds later, this new message appears:

Either memory is insufficient to run KRNL386.EXE or the value of the Windowmemsize entry in the SYSTEM.INI file is too large. You need to run the Setup program again.

Press any key to continue...

WHAT I HAD BEEN DOING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE:
  1. I accidentally double-clicked the installer for a program called "CallCenter." Since I already installed it a while ago (and have had no trouble with it; it never required any additional devices), I canceled the install. But a dialogue appeared stating that some temporary files wouldn't be deleted. Is this the problem? Is there a DOS command I can enter to clean out my TEMP FILES directory?
  2. The reason I restarted my computer is because I updated to a newer version of my anti-virus program (which I've done before with no problem), and it prompted me to restart once the updated files were installed.

P.S. One of the startup mode choices is "Logged," which creates a BOOTLOG.TXT file (which I assume may shed light on the problem). But how do I read this file?

Can someone please help?