Oh, Bollocks
Granted a lot of software programmes (programs) come free, so you should be able to re-acquire them. Genuine progs can be re-installed from your disks.
In a situation like this, take the opportunity to start again, and completely clean off your hard drive (after backing up personal data and noting ISP connection settings etc.), then re-partition and start again with a clean install of 98SE or ME.
It WILL be worth it (and virtually everything will be auto-detected).
Come back if stuck.
------------------
PistonBroke