Sometimes on forums like this, people seem not to post if they have nothing nice to say. If you search the archives you will see that almost no one here has a high opinion of Leylands. Please, spare future generations the same problems you're having now by not planting any more that will just blow over in the next Sandy 30 years later, or decline from disease sooner. It's particularly funny to see attempts at creating an "estate" feeling by surrounding the house w/hideous walls of leylandii, which look particularly comical when a few of them topple over. At the very least, plant Thuja 'Green Giant' instead, it is more disease resistant. And because it grows slower, less likely to outgrow its roots. Among other things - put some spruces and pines in there if you must stick to cheap conifers. A screen planting should have a variety of plants so that if one becomes prone to a disease you don't lose the entire effect. I think hollies are undervalued as screening plants. Nurseries don't push them because they are more expensive to produce as salable plants than most [screening] conifers. You do have to wait longer though, they are definitely slower than leylands. They don't get as much love here because they aren't conifers. Nellie Stevens is ok but the very large growing hybrid I X koehneana would be even more useful for your lot size. Sadly it's almost unavailable in the trade. McLean Nursery in Balto., MD, has small plants for a reasonable price but they don't ship. The grow about 1' a year for the first 5 years, but then speed up to about 2' a year. As people have posted here previously, the real solution to quick screening is to think about what you are really trying to achieve. Are you trying to entirely block the view from anywhere in your yard to anywhere beyond it? Or do you have an area where you sit that you'd like privacy. In that case build a small screened area with some trellis lathes and grow some annual vines on it.

I was in this thread looking for something on HP, didn't find it here or in a search. For those in the know on HP an easy one. Is the Pavillion model consistent in the general quality of the case and keyboard - a shared quality? I ask because I like the one below but can't find it locally... I can find Pavillion at my Discount Store (BJs - where my last 3 laptops were purchased) and so I can to a "look-see" at other versions of the Pavillion. Something else that bothers me is the physical size (it is a 17.3" and will be used to move from room-to-room, not for travel) Item Dimensions L x W x H 3.10 x 22 x 13.60 inches Forget the confusion of the listed LWH... the 3.1 must be how thick it is, can it be that thick? A compact desk top computer box may be no more than 5" thick. My current Toshiba and most others I see in the store are just over 1" thick, maybe 1.5" but nothing near 3". The specific machine I'm targeting is: HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop Sorry for any typos, basically is the Pavilion an HP line with similar physical look/touch? And what about the thickness?

I am sorry, I am obviously not as computer saavy as you are. Pardon my ignorance and stupidity. I have a router WIRED to my main desktop computer. My old laptop was WIRELESSLY hooked up to it. I don't know how to WIRELESSLY connect my new laptop to my own router, I have never done it before. I need someone to walk me through the steps of finding my WIRELESS source. A "source" is what the computer calls the choice of routers that show up on a list of routers near me (all through Verizon) that I can hookup to, but I do not want to do that, I want to use my own non-Verizon router which is not listed when I try to connect. I hope this helps you, and again I apologize for being so stupid with this. Whatever happened to the people on this forum who understood that not all of us are computer literate and that is the reason we come here: for answers, not to be belittled by those who are more knowledgeable?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! Your advice worked and my computer is almost back to normal. Goldie: that was my first thought, too (LOL)! Mary Lu, it wasn't you at all; just me trying to do too much :~) I basically just followed Camp56 and Ideefixe's instructions and it worked! I can't thank you both enough for taking the time to walk me through it!! Rose: the thumb drive idea is a good one for future problems. I never would have thought of that. Thanks! Olychick: you know, I'm embarrassed to say that I had no idea about that Restore feature. In the past, whenever I've had a problem DH has fixed it for me. I need to be more proactive. Allison: thanks for those recommendations. WIP: yes, they use a small outside IT firm; nobody in-house except DH. I was going to call them next if I couldn't find a solution here. Oakley: you're kidding?!? I made a mistake earlier saying that I deleted Norton, it was MacAffee, which I've had for quite a while. It ran every day, scanning for problems but never found a one . . . and I KNEW something was wrong before all of this. That's why I was looking for anti-virus programs. Hmmmmm. Graywings: Thanks! I'd forgotten that GW even had a computer forum and had never checked it out. But, I will definitely keep it on mind for future problems. Chickadee: Haha . . . that's for sure! DH would flip out if I screwed up his computer! Camp56: thanks for mentioning that about the two programs. That's good to know as I wasn't sure. Thanks again for all your help. It worked!!!! Lynn