Eliot, it really sounds like a resource problem in client end.
Heck, these programs probably wouldn't even run under Windows 3.1, because of the resource limits.
I never dove into the internals of Windows 95/98, because I never had to, and never had the desire to.
But, if you've ever done any Windows programming, you find out something very odd. Each "item" on the screen is a resource/window. A button, a side bar, a check-box, a group -- sometimes they are layered/multiple resources.
It's really interesting to watch a resource-meter program tally what your system is doing with various programs.
I realized that Windows NT 3.51 (the most current version at the time) was _NOT_ for me, when I loaded MS Word, and watched my system resources go to 90% usage DOING NOTHING! (not even an open document!)
Of course, that was the same code that randomly removed/uninstalled parts of itself, telling me I wasn't using them, so I didn't need them, and if I did, I should just install them back. Not good when the RAS system was removed, and you were running a multi-line BBS. <sigh>
I LOVE UNIX :)
but, on the other end... when I have to do form-intensive work, such as doing massing amounts of approvals/validations (where my database has 30+ fields, and I display 25 at a time) I have to do it on a _clean_ boot, and in single windows. If I start popping up other windows, all of a sudden my system becomes unstable, and I have to reboot. (This is Windows 98, current version, whatever it is, and MSIE current version, whatever that is.)
I am seriously considering adding a Unix box (or laptop) to my desk here, to see if I get better results with that. I have one windows 98 machine that crashes (cold boot) 3-4x a day, for no reason (yes, I've reinstalled it, and it behaves for awhile, then goes into this mal-adjusted behaviour again), and I have a windows 98 machine that locks up every so often, or runs out of resources if I use the browser (MSIE) and WS_FTP too often or too long in one session.
I never turn my machines off unless I have to (cold-boot) and the only time I reboot is when I figure I'm running on borrowed windows-time, or the system forces me to.
So, back to the original discussion -- it sounds like a windows/resource problem. And if you are not running this on windows, it might be a resource management problem in the browser. Each of those fancy graphical items takes up a large chunk of object/instance/data memory and a resource unit, or two, or 10. <G> It's one reason I've stayed away from Windows/GUI programming. I was never comfortable with the massive amount of wasted overhead. I like CGI/Perl stuff, where I can write lean/mean programs and it's up to the client to display it in a client-specific manner. :) (Hey... my programs _are_ leaner and meaner... they had to get their rabies shots this week!)
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