Probably, the most salient point here is the closer you look, the less you know. Time and the personal, individual choices of hybridizers will sort all of this out. They will register where they feel most comfortable doing so. Obviously, both organizations are complying with even the minimum standards. The community, with its vast and not necessarily public exchange of information is alive, discussing this issue and formulating an opinion. There is much there that is not visible in this thread. In fact, I have had to curtail my nursery work to catch up on my letter writing, because this very issue and the postings in this thread have filled my mailbox to overflowing. Most of the letters center around something not discussed here...motivation. What is the nature and origin of the energy driving these issues? The individuals who have contacted me have gone beyond the semantics and legalities. Their concerns lie more in the examining of what is happening in the delicate heart spaces where ideas and actions are born, come to fruition or crash and burn. The internet and the postings visible are marvelous things. They have a handful of active participants, but an audience of millions. It is no less so here on this thread. That my mailbox fairly groans with letters is further proof. I can assure you, that the confidence I place in the generosity, intelligence and far-sightedness of the Brugmansia community is well-founded. It is reflected in the correspondence I've received, and cause for joy among the honest hearted. Ultimately, those individuals are choosing where they wish to place their confidence regarding the responsible handling of their information... So, be of good cheer everyone. We have a strong and honest-hearted community of highly intelligent people who talk among themselves in the shadows and make the decisions that move the fates and fortunes of those populating the community: it's organizations, enterprises and accomplishments as a whole. My faith in them, as it pertains to making constructive choices that impact themselves and their fellow members toward the good...has never waivered. In time you will see the result of those choices. The direction of this community will come from this thread's audience, not the participants in the discussion. "It is not that I love Caesar less, but that I love Rome more." Julius Caesar - W. Shakespeare. Have a great day everyone. It's Spring. Let's get growing Brugmansias.

Unbeknownst to its users, Webshots employed its Webshots Desktop Application (a free program that users can download from their site to manage their online pictures) to install the Kiwee Toolbar as part of a software update for this program. Other than the Wikipedia article (whose references don't appear to have anything to do with the surreptitious installation of Kiwee) and complaints in support forums about problems getting it off a computer, I don't see anything about it being forced on users. Was it one of the many tools bars included with software that installed by default but unchecking a box provided an opt-out? I just don't know. Although several of the search hits I saw included the word "unbeknownst" which leaves me wondering if they were written by the same person or several people parroting the others. In any case, it seems more a case of poorly written code and even poorer judgment on the part of American Greetings than malware. American Greetings does offer instructions on how to remove Kiwee although it sounds like you need to install the latest, greatest version first. I'm not sure I'd be jumping at at offer. Gosh Durn Mike ~ Don't be so rude & judgemental! I didn't get "glitter text" intentionally. Do you have any idea of the number of computers I've looked at with upwards of a half dozen different tools bars installed? Every user claimed they never installed them. Yes they did, when the went click, click, click without bothering to read what was on the screen. Now maybe I got up on my soapbox a little too soon and American Greetings did install poorly written software on their customers' computers without their customers knowledge or consent. If that is the case, I would be writing a nice letter to Mr. Weiss letting him know why he won't be getting any more of my money. Even if it meant giving up a really pretty screen saver.

Sorry to have to post this here; I am still unable to register at Landzdown. If someone could post this over there, I'd appreciate it very much. I completed the instructions, and had just copied the combofix log and was about to post it here when the screen suddenly went black and then the blue screen came on. It says: A Problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. BAD_POOL-CALLER If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps: Check to make sure any new hardware or softwar is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows jupdates you might need. If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F to select Advanced Strtup Options, and then select safe mode. Technical information: *** STOP: 0x000000c2 (0x00000007 , 0x00000CD4 , 0x000016EB, 0x81795430) Beginning dump of physical memory Physical memory dump complete. Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance. I just typed all of that here (I'm on a different computer) and the blue screen is still up, and the computer is making "working" noise. Should I just turn the power off? I have no idea what to do now. Thanks, Sue

As it happens, things have changed. The technician Dell sent came with the replacement hard drive (with pre-installed XP and drivers). He installed it - booted - and the same hard drive warning occurred. Turns out it was my second internal hard drive (that I use for data) that was going bad. It was a good thing I already had the 2TB replacement. So he put the 2TB drive in - returned my original hard drive - and all functioned well - no hard drive error messages. Now I do have work ahead of me - but this changes the nature of it. Much better scenario - but still requires thinking through. There are probably just a few video files on the second internal hard drive that I don't have copies of. I think they're still accessible - so I will either get a docking station - or better yet an enclosure (since I will need one anyway - as I'll describe later) to put it in - and see if I can transfer those video files to my new 2TB internal drive. I think it makes sense to test that drive to see what's wrong with it - if it's repairable by Windows XP (I think if I run chkdsk there are possibilities to repair some damage?). Should I do this? Or are there other methods to safely test out the health of my hard drive? It is also a Western Digital. The timing of the hard drive failure is now making more sense. I had spent the previous weekend backing up lots of data files onto this second internal 1.5 TB hard drive. I think some of those transferred Tivo files might be problematic. (I say that for 2 reasons - when I've tried to defrag the hard drive, I recall a few files that couldn't be defragged - and while it was hard to see the path, I think they were the Tivo videos. Also, there were a few Tivo videos that failed to work properly when I tried to run VideoRedo to remove commercials. Some just seemed to be bad files - of course, I don't recall which those ones were - but it makes me wonder if it's the sources of the problem on that second hard drive.) Next step is call Dell - I bought that second hard drive from them 1 1/2 yrs ago. It has a 3 yr warranty. I'm not sure if the warranty will be honored by Dell or Western Digital (the brand of drive). So I figure I'll be getting a replacement 1.5 TB hard drive - which I can either install internally - use it as program drive or data drive. I can use the original 500GB drive externally. Or maybe I should keep it the way it is now. Original 500GB internal hard drive, second 2 TB internal hard drive - and put the replacement 1.5 TB hard drive in an enclosure and use for back-ups. One reason I'd like to use the 2TB drive as a program/boot drive (or master drive - I'm not sure of the language) is bc. it's supposed to be a faster drive - Western Digital Black Caviar 2TB drive - 7200rpm and 64MB Cache that was a bit pricier, but I thought it was worth it for quality and speed. It's this one: http://www.amazon.co...ref=oss_product (although I paid less than the price listed online) I'm new enough at all this that I don't understand everything about hard drive speed. I think that a larger drive can potentially slow things down a bit as it has to work to see date over a larger area/amount of data - but that the 7200rpm and 64MB cache will offer more speed - and the reviews suggest this thing is fast. I'd love any guidance in weighing these factors as I decide which to make the primary drive. I also want to clarify what to do with this drive. I don't know how to partition. And if I did, how large a partition should I create on this 2TB drive - if it were to hold the operating systems and programs? I don't know how much room that takes - and how to be sure to take the appropriate sections of my original drive to place into this partition. I can figure out what size each portion of my original hard drive is? I just don't know which folders go into the partition for programs/software? I don't want to leave any out - and I'm concerned I will miss some folders bc. I do not recognize what they are. If I partition the drive, I gather I don't clone it - but do it in sections. I also don't know if I should format it first. Or partition first. Disk management is fairly new to me although I did format a couple of drives. I didn't get into partitions and copying from one drive to another. Does it make sense to use this 2TB drive (which I bought for it's speed and good functioning) as the main drive? If so, I don't know the order of operations? Clone my original drive to this drive? Format and partition first (in which case I'll need to know how to get the proper system files vs. data files into the right partitions). I think I know that if I make this 2TB the master, I have to either switch the cables - but since I think they won't stretch to the second hard drive bay, I'll probably have to swap them. I am so relieved not to have lost my original drive. Although it consumed the better part of last weekend, I did learn plenty - and feel more confident cutting my "recovery" teeth on recovering data from the bad second drive which only has some video at stake. Just as a reminder my original drive has about 350GB data. Thanks everyone. Lynn. PS - I did learn a couple of important things from this technician. First, he updated the bios in my computer (which was several versions old). And he told me where to go to update the bios on my daughter's computer. That was useful. It's a question I've had for a while when I see people on this forum ask whether someone has updated their bios.