Back again to report. I double clicked on the coffee cup icon, the box that came up had tabs. General, Update, Java, Security and Advanced. I clicked on Update. It is set to notify me before install, there is a check mark next to check for updates automatically. When I clicked on the lower button to check for updates the msg read: You already have the latest Java (TM) Platform on this system. But the version is 6 Update 11 according to this info and what's in the add/remove section. I can't make sense of this. When I went to the Java site, there were so many different 6 Update 13 that I didn't do anything there. Should I just not worry about the strangeness of this whole matter, or should I be looking to get 6 Update 13 for my XP? Thank you. Sapphires

Hi guys, sorry for being a bit tarrdy in getting back to you, but I have been busy painting, in between trying to find out what caused this problem. What I have done so far is a couple of sytem restores which unfortunately,did not cure the problem. Checked the events log for errors or whatever, prior to using or after ccleaner. It shows "warning" re installer and "error" re, installer on the evening of 4th June. No details on what the warning or error is about? On the sytem restore, I went back to the 4th, June, in the morning. This puts everything back to where it was before these warnings etc, came up on the events log. Uninstalled Java and re-installed latest version......verifyed instal;lation...okay. Problem still there! There is no error message just the pop-up box with Windows Installer printed on a blue background along the top. Below is the message, "Preparing to install............. Below that in the bottom right corner is the cancel button. It does not ask that any action be taken or for a CD or anything else. It just sits there for around 20 seconds then drops out.Or it will drop out and come back up again two or three times. Each time it drops out, I can hear the hard drive "grunt". At least I think it is the hard drive thats "grunting"? [It can't be happy with this situation either!] As soon as it drops out for the last time the site or file that I had selected/clicked on comes up. It has me stumped! "Horton"

There are some host file edits that have been posted in the past...this has always been an issue with GardenWeb. I no longer have a link to the post, but this is the Hosts file fix from GardenWebber Frattelli: Here is the part from Fratelli's post that I thought feldon meant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Universal Solution. This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I did this but had trouble trying to save it, so I had to change the properties of the file from read only. To do that just go to the appropriate folder and right click, select properties and uncheck the read only box. This should work for anyone having trouble saving it, I am using XP, so it might vary a bit if you have another version of Windows. Oh, and so far no more 'wiggle' ads. Thanks God, and thank you feldon and all...glad I was not the only one bugged by this. And here is a very concise fix (similar to the above) that I copied...I did not note the author on this one: This will work on Windows systems for all browsers; IE, FireFox and Netscape. The Windows operating system provides a system-level method to block specific IP addresses before they even get to the browser. To effect this solution you need to edit a Windows system file called hosts. This file is located in the directory: Windows XP: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 2K: C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC Windows 98: C:\WINDOWS Open the file in Notepad. Cut the following from this post and paste it to the end of the file. 127.0.0.1 amch.questionmarket.com 127.0.0.1 a820.g.akamai.net 127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net 127.0.0.1 i.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 m.2mdn.net 127.0.0.1 tste.ivillage.com 127.0.0.1 img-cdn.mediaplex.com 127.0.0.1 ads.vmirror.com 127.0.0.1 cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com 127.0.0.1 ads.pointroll.com Edit each entry so that there is a tab between the IP address 127.0.0.1 and the URLs. Save the file and you're finished. Close and re-open your browser and all the ads will be gone. Unfortunately, iVillage may in the future buy ads from a new source. In this event the new ad source will have to be added to the list. The IE solution. Most of the ads are placed using Java$cript. You can remove the more offensive ads in IE with the browser settings. You can't however remove them all. To improve GW using IE do the following: From the menu select Tools -> Internet Options -> Security and click on Custom Level. Scroll down to the end of the list and you'll see an entry for Scripting. Disable all the sub-entries. Now select the tab labeled Privacy. In the bottom of the box that appears check on the option to block pop-ups. I recommend you also click on the button Advanced and select the option to block Third-party Cookies. NOTE: By disabling Scripting you will also effect the way other websites behave. You may need to get used to switching scripting on and off as desired. That's why this is the least desirable of these various options. The FireFox solution This is an excellent choice -- it's the fastest performing of the options listed here: FireFox is superior to IE in every possible way. FireFox provides the added advantage of blocking all Spyware, an evil that IE brought into this world. * download and install Firefox 1.5 * in the FireFox address bar type about:config * scroll down the list to the entry xpinstall.enabled * right click on the entry and select toggle from the menu * toggle as needed to set the value to true * go to the Firefox website and follow links to extensions * find the extension adblock and install it * remember to toggle xpinstall.enabled back to false * in Firefox select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences * use the New Filter field to add the following items: http://amch.questionmarket.com http://a820.g.akamai.net http://iv.doubleclick.net http://i.ivillage.com http://m.2mdn.net http://tste.ivillage.com http://img-cdn.mediaplex.com http://ads.vmirror.com http://cmhtml.ivillage.overture.com http://ads.pointroll.com * enable Adblock The trick with Adblock is to block the domain rather than the specific ad. If you click on Adblock to disable an ad. Select Tools -> Adblock -> Preferences from the menu and then edit the new entry; remove anything that follows after .com or .net. This will block everyting from that source. The Netscape solution. With Netscape you can shut down all the iVillage ads using the browser preference settings. From the menu select: Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Cookies Allow cookies for the originating website only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Accept Images that come from the originating server only Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy and Security -> Images Block unrequested popup windows -- turn this on Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced Enable native object scripting -- turn this off Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Scripts & Plug-ins Enable Java$cript for Navigator -- turn this off NOTE: GW will now be ad free, however disabling Java$cript will effect how other websites behave. You may have to get used to switching this setting back and forth. Therefore I suggest the Universal option above is more appropriate. NOTE: You MAC users out there: Sorry I don't have more info for you except to say that FireFox and adblock are available for the MAC. There's no sense in further complaing, iVillage IS an ad. We need to let them be who they are and stop them on our end. Take care all.

on the support forums they have been asking for quite some time for them to implement the self uninstall feature because they have to constantly give the directions on how to go about removing the old versions each time they help someone clean out their pc, those old versions were often why they got infected so that is where I was referencing. It is one added step that they were having to go through with just about every person which now should hopefully be not needed. On BBR I know several times they have set up polls to see how many had removed all old versions of java and how many knew they were supposed to, they were gathering the info to help show how important it was to get that feature.