In pre-xp pc's I have always (given a separate partition and sufficient space) copied the whole OS cd to hard disc, <BR>a) to reduce use/potential loss/damge <BR>b) much faster installs <BR>c) ...
Certain kinds of cab files are actually encrypted/specially compressed using InstallShield, etc rather than straight up CAB files like most of the ones that come with Win9x.<BR><BR>This may be why you ...