If you buy a used computer its always best to do a clean install of the OS and then reload what programs you want to run... You can still run some of the programs from your old hard drive by opening the folder of the program and clicking to run its executable file (.exe). Some will work, some won't, but none will continue to have an icon on your desktop unless and until you create a shortcut for it. .. I work with computers ALL the time. When you install a program it puts files in unseen folders as well as its main folder within Programs. It also puts certain information into bios and its from there that the program told to load and be prepared to launch.

Thank you all for answering. owbist, I downloaded a program called HDD Health (recommended by Kim Komando) and that is what is giving me the Attribute seek error message. It was giving me the message about the Temp Critical and with the dust that was there, I'm sure I was headed for a crash. It said the temp ws 48 degrees celcius, so I feel very lucky that HDD Health caught it. I haven't had that message since I cleaned it out. I will try PC Pitstop when I finish here. I did a Balarc Advisor report and all it says about the hard drive is "160.04 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity",so I have to do a little research to find out what make it is. I do have the case up off the floor sitting on my desk top, but it still was very dusty. It has plenty of free space around it for ventilation. I really don't want to replace the whole set up, because this has every thing I need except smaller size and still feels like a "new" one to me, except I have a bulky 17" CRT monitor. Until now I have had zero problems with it. I think I bought it in 2004, so it isn't that old, at least for me, and it has everything most of the new ones have. I have 135 GB free out of the 160. How do I backup my bookmarks and address book? I use Firefox and Outlook Express. cboy,I think cloning to a new hard drive is what I want to do, so I might be back to ask how to do that. Thanks again

Janette, The default backup location of the 'Windows Backup Utility' is the 'Floppy' drive. Under 'Choose a place to save your backup', click the 'browse' button and select a location on your drive, maybe your documents folder, to save the backup and give it a name. You should then be able to use your recording software to copy this file to CD or DVD. I have an external, Western Digital 120, hard drive that I bought at Best Buy a few years ago. Usually the drives will come with a backup software, mine came with 'Dantz Retrospect', but I haven't used it. I use a couple different options for backup. I use 'Acronis True Image', a drive imaging software, which I can use to restore an exact replica of my drive, operating system, settings, documents, etc., from a partition on my external drive to my internal drive in case of internal drive failure or corruption. I also just use the 'copy and paste' feature to backup 'My Documents' to the external drive even though it is redundant and not necessary because I can also retrieve files from the 'Acronis' image. Just 'putzin'. Witz Here is a link that might be useful: Windows Backup Utility

Sweeby, I've noticed that your advice here (in the short time that I've been reading here, a whole couple of hours) has been incredibly fair and sensible. Thank you so much for taking time to respond to me, it is very much appreciated. - On step 1, I'm right there with ya. I have printed it out and told DF to put it in a 3-ring binder. I wouldn't want to run the risk of her deleting it, so we have no intention of bringing it up to her. - On emailing - I told BF that he needs to do this. He started to, and then a strange thing happened - his email account disappeared. We aren't sure if she took it over, read everything, and then deleted his acct, but we can't figure out what else could have happened. We have since changed his passwords and things to ridiculous things that she couldn't possibly guess. But if she had taken it over, she would know we were watching what she's saying and would have stopped (she never has the guts to say things TO him, for obvious reasons). So I don't know... but I'll remind him to be diligent about it. They were married for 7 years so he knows her better than I do. He's hurt by her lies, but not shocked. - On being polite, we agree with you completely. She would only use it against us if we showed her the anger she deserves... so far, she has done enough to make herself look bad, and we will keep it that way. -Visitation specifics: There are any, besides that they must be at her parents' house, since that's where she lives. There is no "when" or how often in the decree. And I should clarify the distance thing - first, she moved to her parents' house, which is an hour away. Then we BF and I got serious, HE is the one who moved further away (but with the understanding that we could still meet up and get the kids). Now that she hasn't kept her word, he deeply regrets moving. We're both going to move to the area this winter to be closer to them. That's when our lease is up, also he's trying to get a certification during the next 4 months so he can get a better paying job. Between CS and health coverage, his take home pay is paltry. He couldn't even afford to pay rent anywhere without a roommate (he had a roommate before he moved in with me). Again, thank you so much for responding. It helps so much just to be heard. This crap is tearing me up.