Linux boot disk

After working with Windows 98 for a while, I installed Windows NT Workstation 4.0, which created the handy dual boot menu to let me decide which system I wanted to run at start-up. I then installed Red Hat Linux, which put the LILO boot manager on my computer. I've since erased Linux and Windows NT by deleting their partitions, but both LILO and the Win NT boot menu are still there. How can I get rid of them?

I. Simmons

To wipe out the Win NT boot menu, create a Windows 98 Emergency Startup Disk (using the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel), then boot your system from this disk. At the A: prompt, type sys c:. This transfers the Win 98 system files to your C: drive and replaces the files that look for Win NT (this works with Win 2000 as well).

To eliminate Linux's LILO boot manager, boot from the floppy disk, then type c: (at the A: prompt) to get into drive C:. At the C: prompt, type fdisk/mbr. In both cases, you're changing the Master Boot Record. There is an unlikely possibility that your computer won't start. If that's the case, you might have to reinstall Windows 95/98 from scratch.

Copyright ?? 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.