I think it's wise to wait until the construction dust has settled to invest in a new personal computer. When you do finally look into getting one, a thought is to look into getting a laptop with a wireless connection. Personally, I think business machines and personal machines should be kept separate. The only thing you can do right now, is to keep your machines covered when not in use, and to unplug everything and vacuum to keep the dust at a minimum. Larry periodically takes our machines to the basement, and uses a compressor to blow the dust out. We keep our machines plugged in through Blackout Buster surge protectors. They're probably the best on the market. Even though I don't have ADD or OCD, I still manage to overdo collecting! I began with 2 bulbs last fall, and now, I have over 60! I'm not sure what the exact count is... I haven't counted in a while! I also began collecting orchids last winter, and I now have 7! I've pretty much abandoned collecting regular types of houseplants, which I used to have lots of... I've gotten more specialized, I guess you could say. I like the challenge that orchids present, and reblooming all my bulbs! Getting back to computers... when you do decide to look into new systems, Larry would be pleased to help you in any way you need. He's a perfectionist when it comes building machines and programming technology... he always says that a machine will never beat him, and he will work at a problem until it is solved. His tagline is: "God made me simple... technology made me a god!" So, if you need any assistance, like choosing the best machine for the best price, figuring out what components are best, where to go for the items you need, or any type of programming help, he said he'd be more than happy to lend a hand. He just headed north this morning to help my son with the electric in his house, and to help a few friends with their computers! Like you, he has so many things going on! He's always busy, and sometimes, he doesn't know where to start! The ADD doesn't let him rest, and while most of us are sleeping, he's busy with technology! I don't know about you night owls! I like to sleep at night, and if my insomnia lets me, I'm out from around 11 pm to at least 5 or 6 am! I'd stay up and keep Larry company, but gardening is best done during daylight hours!

I have never used AOL so not sure how it works but firefox will ask during install if you want to import your favorite sites to firefox, I know it will import them from IE, you would have to ask someone who has AOL experience. I found these directions, not sure which version you have or if this will work for you, but worth a try. "Click on "Favorites". Go down and click on "More Favorites". On the bottom right hand corner, click on "Save/Replace". On the next screen click "OK". On the next screen go to the black arrow at the top to do with "Save In" and click on it. It will bring down a menu from which you can choose "Removable Disk". Before you choose "Removable Disk" have your cd, floppy or Zip in the slot. Click "Save" and you are on your way. After you sign off, if you want, you can stick it back in and verify that indeed the favorites are on there." I also found this info: "How to transfer your Address Book from AOL to a new email client (eg, Thunderbird). Here's the drill: - In AOL's address book, click on one address then "Select ALL" (eg, Cntl-A), then "Copy" (eg, Cntl-C). - Open Excel or another spreadsheet; paste into a worksheet (eg, Cntl-V); you'll see your correspondent (LN, FN) and email address, separated by a Tab. Widen the first column, if necessary. - Do any editing, deleting. - Do a "Save As..." and for file type, select "TAB-DELIMITED CSV" or just "CSV (Windows)" and save it to a familiar place (I give it the name "AddrBookFeb06.csv"). - In your email client (eg, Thunderbird -- should be similar on others), Select "Tools/Import..." or similar, select the "CSV/TEXT/ETC" option, and browse to the CSV file's location. - Complete the Import, and you'll find all our AOL addresses in your new program. Not quite the way you'd like them (it won't import phone numbers, etc, and the LN,FN are all in one field), but this new Address Book is now available. - You can use them this way: select the new Book (give it a name - "Addresses from AOL"). Thunderbird will find them by alias, FN, LN, start of email, etc. - I'd copy (Cntl-A, then drag) these into the Personal Address Book, then edit them when you have time, to change them to true FN and LN fields. I like to have mine sort this way "LastName, FirstName". See if this general technique works for you -- perhaps a similar method would work for AOL's "Favorites". this service is free if you happen to be going to one of their isp partners. http://www.trueswitch.com/ directions more instructions here this is a program that will supposedly do all the moving for you of all your AOL stuff, I know nothing about it just saw it mentioned in forum. I will link it at the bottom in the helpful link area. OH !!! wait wait wait I just found the instructions on the mozilla forum on how to move them from AOL to firefox!! Save your AOL favorites. In your AOL interface, go to Favorites > Favorite Places > Save/Replace. This will save your AOL favorites to a .pfc file. Remember where you saved this. Go to LinkaGoGo. Make sure that the input is AOL PFC and the output is Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox. Click the "Browse" button and find the .pfc file you saved earlier. Click on the "Convert" button. You should be prompted to save the bookmarks.html file. Remember where you saved this, as well. Open Firefox's Bookmark Manager (Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks) From the File menu, choose Import. Then find the bookmarks file you just saved. And her is a link with directions on how to move all your AOL mail that you have saved over to Thunderbird mail. mail convert Hope some of that helps you out. Here is a link that might be useful: AOLconverter

I did go to the link using Ubuntu. Nothing odd happened, but that does not mean the site is safe. Here is what scamadviser.com has to say about appuals: Website: appuals.com Title: Appuals.com - Apps and Manuals Library Description: Download free softwares, trials and manuals for popular software's Type: Software Domain Age: 65 Days Website Speed: Fast Owner: Registration Private Owner Address: DomainsByProxy.com 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309 Owner City: Scottsdale Owner Postcode: 85260 Phone Number: 14806242599 Phone Type: geographic :Phoenix, AZ Qwest Corporation Email: Owner Country : Hidden Website Location : United States Probable website origin :- 87%; Unknown 13%; United States Notes:- [Alert Result] The owner of the website is using a service to hide their identity [Alert Result] This website is 65 Days old [Alert Result] The website expected life (365 days) is relatively short. [Alert Result] The website appears to be less than six months old Analysis Details:- This webite is very new , and as such doesn't have an online reputation yet. As with all new businesses , we suggest that you take care and if necessary get in contact with the owners before placing an order of value. This site is using an anonymous service - which prevents us from identifying the site owner. This can sometimes be just so that the owner does not receive spam, but be aware that many scam sites use this as a method to hide their identify. If this is an ecommerce site - we would suggest you confirm the business address with the website owners. The website has been newly registered with a short life expectancy, which follows the pattern used by many fraudulent and fake selling websites. Please be vigilant and take extra care before providing any payment.

Call them up and say, I'm quitting now if you can't fix this problem. Sometimes that's the only way to get help. You will need to go to Tech Support and have someone you can understand. When you uninstall you don't really lose all of your AOL Files. Errors that are in the AOL files can and do sometimes stay and keep causing problems. When I have a problem that I can't get rid of I do this. Right click AOL - properties - Find Target - Select All - Delete. (Be careful that you delete all files before leaving because you won't be able to come back.) Go to Control Panel - Add and Remove - Uninstall any AOL files their. Delete all AOL Icons. Use CCleaner for Clean and also the Registry. Save the Backup. It would also be a good idea to make a Registry Backup. I than use an AOL CD to Reinstall AOL. I have Windows XP Home Edition. Use the above only if all else fails. I'm not sure what will happen to your PFC Files. To be safe use Saved on AOL in Manage mail. Registry Backup. Start - run - type regedit - OK Open file at the left top - click export - Go to my documents - For Save type - Backup - Save. To use your Registry Backup. Start - run - type regedit - OK Open File - Import - right click your Registry Backup - Click Merge. Don't be moving it to a different location. This can cause difficulty in getting it to work.