lotodig- Just so you're more confident, I've re-booted my computer many times over the years using the technique I've described. Several times, for example, my cursor has frozen so I couldn't navigate to do anything, such as re-boot normally. I didn't always know why some problem was happening, but I did know that the power button re-boot would not make anything worse. Usually the only time you can have a problem is if you decide to do a re-boot/re-start of any kind in the middle of some major activity where you are making changes to the computer, such as installing updates or doing a defragmentation. However, in the other 99.9% of cases, all you're doing is cleaning out the RAM of some unexplained little problem and starting fresh.

Go ahead and turn it off if you so wish. The warnings on the interface are just alerts. The AVG icon on the System Tray/Notification Area will also show an alert on it. To remedy that alert open the application interface>Right click on the Update Manager>On the appearing menu click on the offering to ignore. Being on an antediluvian DUN I never have anything set to check automatically. DA

More memory is good but at some point there is a diminishing return on the investment and that point is a function of what you are doing with your computer. Things like first person shooter games, video editing, photo editing (of very large files) all benefit from lots of memory. Writing an email to Aunt Betty doesn't require very much memory at all because the computer can process information far faster than you can type. Same thing for the Internet, your computer can render pages faster than your connection can supply the information. So if you have a slow internet connection, you're not likely to experience much, if any improvement. With that said, 4 gigs is probably a pretty good number. If you really want a WOW factor, get a solid state drive and use that for your O/S and critical applications. To try and answer some of your questions: - Windows doesn't care about the physical drive or any logical partitions. It does make good sense to install Windows 7 on the newer, faster drive. You'll get the best performance that way. When it comes time to get rid of XP, everything will be on one drive and that, if nothing else, should help you keep things mentally organized. - My understanding is that you have two physical drives, one with a functioning version of XP and the other blank. If that is not correct, say so NOW. - When you go to install Windows 7, it will recognize that there is another operating system (Windows XP) already installed. Windows 7 won't do anything to XP other than to set up the dual boot. Essentially it's computer language that says, "XP is there, Windows 7 is here, which one do you want to use?" - Logical partitions to a drive a largely a function of personal preference. Understand that it is more difficult (but not impossible) to non-destructively repartition a drive after you put data on it. If you, for example, have a partition for music, another for videos, and a third for pictures and find down the road that you have a lot more videos than music, it becomes more difficult to rearrange things. My suggestion is a single, large partition and use folders to organize your data.

you can disconnect an old machine from the web .... and not worry about security issues ... so use your old machine... disconnected ... with all its old programs ... and peripherals .... and just get a new machine .... for WWW work .... you would probably be amazed what you can get ... machine.. and memory-wise.. for a half or a quarter of what you invested in the old machine .... it really is mind bending ... then.. all you have to figure out.. is how to get info from one to the other ... and a memory stick.. or some such... will usually get around that ... you guys seem to be trapped in the one machine for everything issue ... if i liked to tour the woods in a 4 wheel truck .. i would have an old beat up one for two tracking and ditch driving... and a nicer newer one.. for the roads ... and work ... personally ... for the cost of W10 ... and the hours it will take an old 7 person to install and learn it... [not to mention the mind bending stress .. lol] ..... for about 300 bucks.. you can have a new machine and be enjoying both... inside a half day ... when its all said and done.. i would probably wait until 10 came out ... if you can wait that long ... right now.. an investment of a stand alone memory.. and full backup for the old machine on that.. MIGHT save you ... from future disaster.. if you rely on an unsupported .. wired to the WWW ... operating system ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: and you could get it for about half... if you coule figure out how to share the old moniter ....