If you have restarted your computer & it didnt come back... you might try a couple things. 1;; Install ccleaner if you dont have it & make sure the item for 'Tray Notification" is checked before running the cleaner. 2:; If this just happened, you might run System Restore for yesterday. But before I did too much... Think I would see if i could visit www.malwarebytes.com & www.superantispyware.com . Perhaps install & update one or both & run them. Many times a virus will disable your anti virus & security programs & often too will not allow you to visit security websites nor install or run any program like I have mentioned. Check for virus first may be a good idea.

OK...obviously I'm too dumb to be allowed to post on this forum. My sister just called the people who put her computer together. She does NOT have an internal wireless adapter. Not only that, the item we purchased, the ASIX adapter, is just an adapter...not what we thought it was. I am totally confused about the difference between "Ethernet" and the external adapter...and the whole thing. I see now that we need to purchase an external wireless card. Is that right? And could someone explain to me what it is that the Device Manager is seeing if it's not the item that allows for wireless connectivity? So sorry to be so incorrect about the information I thought I was providing all of you. I know nothing about hardware, as you can see. Thank you again for all of your help. Bugsy

Well, I believe that they are exceptional, or I wouldn't have used them, but I am expecting that TM Internet Security is going to be doing the same things for me that those other programs would have. In fact, on its first scan, it did find 112 things to fix, which Malwarebytes hadn't found, in spite of my having had it do a scan every morning.

Colin - your explanations of restore, system restore, back up, etc were very helpful. They were a very useful edition to what Ravencajun wrote - it didn't seem repetitive to me. I think I can really use any reiteration at this point. Now I actually understand that the system can be backed up to a hidden spot on the hard drive as well as my backing it up on dvd - to be used in the event that the hard drive back up doesn't work. By George, I think I've got it...........Well - at least that part. I'm not sure that I saw any option to create a back up start-up disk. Was that automatically included when I backed up the entire hard drive - or is there a separate step I should take? I also realize that I hadn't understood what you meant by blue button. I was looking at an actual blue button the thinkpad keyboard. Will that button do - or should I be looking for something else. I didn't not notice any blue buttons on the screen (except the Avast buttons in the task bar). Raven - I have a question about revo uninstaller. What would it uninstall? I noticed that I have Office on my computer but I don't know if it came with Office - or if this is a trial program. Is there a way I can figure that out? If it's a trial, I'd like to remove it. If it's permanent, I'll keep it. I know I did not get Microsoft Word with this and thought I had chosen no office software. I was planning on getting open office for the few times I might need to work on a word document (working on a document that is in Word on my desktop). Zep - good point about the printer software. I know when I chose the Canon mx850 and was researching printers, these were considered much better in terms of minimal bloatware (than say the HP's). I know when I installed the software on my desktop (and my daughter's) that several files were installed, but I think I want them all. The computer is networked so I can scan documents to any of our computers - print from any computer, fax from any computer, etc. I'm not sure how I would determine if any of those canon files are bloatware. More on my progress: -I did do all the lenovo updates. -ran javara and updated java and removed old programs. -installed and ran malwarebytes, spywareblaster. Any particular settings I should choose for spywareblaster,malwarebytes or Avast? I have so far just chosen the defaults - but don't know if I should "protect?" cookies - or anything else. And I just realized that I forgot to install superantispyware. For Avast, I did not set up scans on the screensaver - because at this point I will be turning the computer off if it is not being used for a while. If I just happen to walk away for 20 minutes or so, I don't want a scan automatically running that I have to wait to finish - or interrupt and cancel it - and run it manually later. Does it seem okay to just run it manually? If so, how often? Maybe I should use the screensaver option? I think "protecting (I know that's the wrong word - unselecting ?) cookies was for ccleaner - not anti-spyware programs. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. So now I'm off to get superantispyware - run secunia and get any necessary updates - and set up the printer software. This is extremely gratifying to be able to do this (with everyone's help). It really helps me to understand what's going on with my computer. Thanks. Lynn. PS - if I get open office, is there anyplace in particular I should download it from? Are there parts to download and parts to avoid - or do I just download the whole program?