If I were in the market for a new desktop, which I'm not, I would take quick look at the new HP Touch Smart. It comes with a 19" wide screen touchscrren monitor, and is just very, very slick looking. I ran into it at Best Buy earlier tonight and my mouth about dropped open. Also, it's stacked with some hot stuff inside. Take a look at the specs: Processor AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core RL52 with AMD PowerNow and AMD LIVE! Technology Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Memory 2048MB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM memory (expandable to 4GB) Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics with 256MB video memory Hard drive 320GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive Primary CD/DVD drive Slot-loaded SuperMulti Drive DVD burner with LightScribe Technology Secondary CD/DVD drive N/A Memory slots 2 SoDIMM (both occupied), HP Pocket Media drive bay (available) Front-access ports 8-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB , 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port, headphones, S-video, audio (L/R), composite input (analog video/audio) Communications Wireless LAN(802.11a/b/g) with built in WLAN antenna, Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet network interface, Sound Integrated audio, 6 speaker configurable and Built in 12W 2.0 speakers Monitor Touch Enabled 19" diagonal BightView LCD with height and tilt adjustment, Aspect Ratio 16.10 Dimensions 18.88(l) x 21.77" (w) x 11.37 (d/h) Web Camera Integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam with built in array microphone Personal Video Recorder NTSC TV Tuner and over the air ATSC high definition television tuner The price is $1799 Here is a link that might be useful: HP Touch Smart

Zep - I have 3 devices in my network list: 1) 1394 net adapter 2)intel 82566mm gigabit network connection (this one I was able to get an updated driver - but on my network connections, it still shows as local area connection - "network cable unplugged,fire..." and I'm not able to click that and get the rest of the sentence. if I click it it just gives me the name of the adapter. 3) intel wireless wifi link 4965AGN The first and third ones say they are connected and firewalled. I believe that this last wireless 4965AGN is the one that has problems and gets repaired. I could be wrong about that. The LAN one I think has always been unconnected/unplugged. I don't know what that's for or if I need it. Is that my wired internet connection? Thanks. Lynn. PS - if I go through network devices and select update drivers, it only offered updated drivers for the intel 82566mm gigabit network connection. Is there any point in googling for updated driver if this route indicate no new drives exist?

I use RealVNC to communicate with a home server where I have some housewide apps and network storage. It's what's called a "headless" operation, meaning the PC is running but it has no monitor connected to it. RealVNC provides a capability like any remote access software, no different than what happens if you've ever gotten remote tech support. When you connect to that PC, you have a window with that PCs display, and your keyboard and mouse (or touchpad) provide input to that other PC. There's a time lag for operations and screen refresh when using it. I'd say it's best suited for what I think of as server operations, not for normal use. You certainly could use it for simple programs, etc., Sound doesn't come across, just the screen image. You wouldn't use it for games or watching video, because of the lack of sound and slow screen refresh times. My server is the central place for all files - photos, video, data files, etc. The network storage is accessible from all PCs and all local programs, so the remote access is simply to more easily setup and manipulate what's there. It works across your home network, the internet is not involved. It's free, try it, see if it does what you're looking for.

It depends on the laptop. Some have an icon with two little monitors on an f-key. Some use just an f-key and some use the fn key plus another f-key. It depends on the make/model of the laptop. If you have that information post it and someone will do a search to find out. HTH. Terry