The crash was eveil and took place in stages. First, I was told there wasn't enough virtual memory. The the screen/programs kept freezing and I had to use the start button on the tower to shut down the session in order to get out of the frozen screen. Things got very slow and when I ran MS security Essentials it removed several files but the problems persisted. Finally, when I rebooted I didn't have a router and last, the modem stopped working. I took the tower to a local repair shop and he was very curt when he called me and said I had a terrible virus. He was about to wipe clean the hard drive and I askede if I could come in and save some files. His reply was that he didn't have time to wait for me. I couldn't stand going without email and internet so I just let him do his thing. Oh, he also told me to get a new router and he had never seen my old router. I did as I was told and went to Staples where a salesman advised me against getting the super-duper wireless model router because my ISP, TDS is notoriously slow (boy do I agree with that!) and even if I got a very good router I still would never be able to stream movies. The repairman gave me back the tower with a version of XP slightly different from my original (no, I don't know what I had, only that the screen and icons work a little differently), Internet Explorer 8 and Outlook Express. I immediately had problems setting up OE even thgough my ISP confirmed I had used all the correct settings. I had bought a new printer with wireless capabilities and it worked only as a wireless. Then--the router stopped working!!! When the man from Staples came he sat down and opened a few programs and punched in changes while he was able to talk to me. He found that my laptop had a virus but I no longer use it because I prefer my netbook. He told me he found several settings that were incorrect even though I never changed them. He was quite a whiz, polite, patient and I am pleased I now know someone local who will come to my house if I need him. He said Staples will have some good sales around Christmas and recommended HP. One of my previous desktops was HP and I was always satisfied with the way it worked. He carefully told me he thought I would find what I want and get a better deal with an HP when I said I was considering a Dell. Lastly, he recommended I get 6G of RAM, 500 or more on a hard drive, and a quad core processor. I am about to put out a general question on this forum asking what I can expect if I pay for a quad core vs. a dual core. Before he left he asked if I wanted him to he would set me up with a gmail account. I told him TDS's POP3 and SMTP is gmail and I was going to let them set me up with their gmail for my two email addys. My mail is @ TDS, not @ gmail, but the server uses gmail. Not certain I understand this. Sorry, I am aware I said a lot but didn't tell you specifically what the tech did when he came to my home. It was like he worked magic! Nancy

Hello again nice people, I have a question. Since Zep has led me through so many steps and has helped me clean up some of the junk on my computer my question is this. What will the results be if I can find no way to get Java downloaded? Is it absolutely necessary that Java be on the computer for things to work right. I see no results from NOT having it, other than not being to play some games, I play most any game I want without any trouble, most of them very graphic. I still need to delete the Firefox Beta version and keep the right version, but I've got to straightened out the shortcut Icons on my desktop, they're both intertwined. Other than that I don't seem to be having any problems. I don't know if there is something else on the Hijack list that needs to be addressed, Zep didn't say so I assume that there is not. I did get the problem with Incredimail straightened out. That also was a register error. After today I am headed for hopefully a wonderful trip to Yellowstone National Park. I will check on this thread as soon as I get back to see what you think about leaving well enough alone. Thanks again for your time and sharing your knowledge.

Yes! Get rid of Incredimail! Nothing personal but that is a very trustworthy program and the owners claim the rights to everything that you send via email using their program. Not many people read the EULA (End User License Agreement), and don't realize that if you are using Incredimail to send emails with new ideas/concepts etc., then Incredimail can claim copyright to your ideas etc. because you assigned them the copyrights when you agreed to use the program by clicking on "I Agree" when you installed it. Many of experts consider it Spyware as well. Yes, IncrediMail provides amusing, all-singing, all dancing, animated, colored, formatted, flashing, bleeping, blurping emails--- but with the certainty of tons of excess baggage riding along with the email; with the possibility of opening the door to malicious HTML-borne worms, viruses, and such; and with serious questions about who owns the content of the messages you send using their system. Others may have a more positive solution for you. Here is a link that might be useful: Incredimail Spyware & Copyright issues?

I started with a single Yahoo address, and now have several addresses on Yahoo. They restrict me to 200 file folders, and as far as I know, I can't sub-head files. Had one at AECCafe, an architectural and engineering site, back when they offered more storage than Yahoo. Son likes gmail, got me started on them, also. Friends like it, because I'm on dial-up, so they can't call when I'm online, and often I'm doing other things so don't see their email that arrives on Yahoo ... I think that it would notify me if I were to use Instant Messenger. Gmail has a little circle that sits down in the right corner of the screen, and when a new message arrives, a red "M" appears in it ... ... so my friends appreciate that if they want to get in touch quickly, they can do it. My ISP, Porchlight, an agency that serves about half a dozen medium-sized cities in this area, offers one (up to 3?, I think) , as well ... but I seldom use it. A news service sends a message at least once daily, but I'm not much interested in them. Yahoo separates the apparent spam, which they used to direct to a "Bulk" bin ... but they recently redesignated that area as "Spam". I don't feel that they're super good it blocking it. I have received hundreds of offers to aggrandize my penis, some offering to have it done right quickly ... but haven't taken them up on any of their offers, thus far - don't feel the need. I was a bit worried about one that claimed to be fast-acting ... figured that if I took their pill a bit too long (if you'll pardon the expression) ... I'd probably need a wheelbarrow to cart the organ around! Anybody interested to help some employee of a bank somewhere in Africa (or Hong Kong, Netherlands, U.K., etc.) that knows of an account of several million owned by someone who, along with his entire family, died in a plane crash, which this person would like to set you up as a long-lost relative, or business partner, to collect the money (before the bank transfers it into it's unclaimed account file) ... for your trouble, he's offering you 40% or so, usually, and he'd like you to help him come to your country, so that he can invest the rest. I've received over 150 or them at one address ... if I added up the total of my share, it'd surely come up to somewhere near half a billion. That'd be a big problem ... I wouldn't have any idea of what to do with that much money! I've used Outlook Express some in the past, but haven't been set up for it for a long time. Have never tried Hotmail, or AOL, or MSN. ole joyful P.S. By the way ... what do you call a guy who gathers all of the organists in town into a union? An organ-izer. o j, o. k?