Well, they are charging him a fine but it will be decreased if he gets the work done within a month. His attorney referred a nice guy to do the work so hopefully he can finish everything and get the city off of Bob's back. I want to scream everytime I see his house because all the houses around his are in worse shape than his is. There is always grafitti on the garages and garbage strewn all over the alley. But by God, Bob better get HIS house fixed! Ack! I hate the City of Milwaukee. Their priorities here are way out of wack. Building code violations are more important than murders, burglaries and vandalism. We'd love to get Bob's stuff into storage, in fact he has a storage locker he is renting for just that purpose. The problem is, no one to help move the stuff. I'm not worth much and Bob has moved some things despite his missing toes and the doctor's orders. Where is a supportive, helpful family when you need one? Hopefully, once his house is up to snuff with the city, we can work on getting his things out and get rid of the big white elephant (my pet name for it). Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I'm sure they helped us in getting this resolved without too much stress. Hugs, Kathy

I am back with an update. I did talk to an independent computer tech person who immediately told me it was not worth fixing my machine. She felt that the problem I was having with it not turning on maybe the motherboard. I am also seeing the case suddenly deteriorating faster and faster. Opening the computer, moving it from my lap to a table, keeping the screen upright, are now something I have to think about and fool with every time I pick it up. So, thank you Sue for the suggestion but I've decided I am ready to get a new machine. I am especially anxious to get it done before it goes kapoot and I can't get my files off of it to a new machine. I do hope you enjoy your machine as long as you can though, Sue!! :-) I have enjoyed my Dell and would have been just as happy to stick with it. secsteve....the 'trackball' I refer to is the one that is part of the keyboard of my Dell. It is in the middle between the G and H keys and very small movements with the index finger make it very easy to place it right where you want it easily. The button to select once the pointer is where you want it is right under the space bar and I can reach it with my thumb without even taking my hand out of typing position. Very convenient and easy to use. On the Apple it is instead the pad which you swipe your finger across to move the pointer. The key to select it is below the pad, no where near the keyboard, so you are always having to change position and taking your hands out of typing position. I just don't know what they were thinking to let go of the arrangement that works so well with the keyboard, to adopt this style. We went in to the Apple Store last night and even the salesperson who demonstrated using the pad, didn't seem to have any more mastery over it than I was getting. Slow and awkward. They have NO computers that offer the trackball as part of the keyboard. He suggested a wireless mouse, which I think they offer, but didn't have in the store. From what I can see of it online, I am not sure how easily it will work. It does appear to be one that you don't actually move the mouse around so much as you move the tracking ball on the mouse. So that is one option. According to him, there are no manufacturers that are making the keyboard w the tracking ball any more. Hmmm...will have to check that out. I asked him, what about people who have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, which is a pretty common problem for people who type. He looked at me like I was speaking Greek. [g] Most salespeople in computer stores are young people it seems to me..lol. Of course, makes sense. He did show me some sort of contraption that holds the computer on it, with front support to rest your wrists on and that elevates the computer for air circulation. But if you are using it that way, the ergonomics are just not right for both the keyboard and the tracking pad and buttons. And if you use the pad to raise the computer, now your arms and shoulders are in a much more awkward and unsupported position. Very strange that for a company that put so much thought into ease of use and common sense applications that they seem to have spent no time on ergonomics. So disappointing! It is a little frustrating because if it were not for that issue, I may have already bought an Apple. It is just an issue that I cannot ignore. I was very impressed with everything I read on their website about their machines. Another thing I like is that they will transfer everything from your old computer to the new one for you. There is a store close by too. So, this afternoon, I am going to call Dell and see what their story is. Not what I expected to be doing this week. :-( Anyone else who has some Apple or Dell experience, I pretty much have it narrowed down to these two. Thanks pm2

I personally would not get a celeron processor not when you can get much better faster ones now days for great prices. I use linux 98% of the time and if I am online I am on linux, your old pc would be an excellent candidate for a linux distro, I am not a huge ubuntu fan, I do have it as a dual boot on my linux box but never use it, I use daily and LOVE Mepis linux, it is very easy to use and not that hard to transition to from windows, it uses KDE desktop which I find much more user friendly and more similar to windows. I have several computers I have them all connected to a KVM switch so I use only one monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers it is the perfect set up, with the click of a button I can switch back and forth between machines and Operating systems. The great thing about linux is you can try it with out installing or changing a thing on your pc. They have live cd which allows you to simply insert the cd into your pc reboot the pc to the cd and you can run it right off of the cd, when you want to go back to your regular OS take the cd out and reboot back to pc. That gives you a good feel for it and to see if all your "stuff" works well with linux, Mepis usually detects everything right out of the box unlike other distros. You can either order a cd for a couple of bucks or you can burn your own ISO disc to use for your live cd. You can find most all distros including Mepis and Ubuntu at DistroWatch.com you can order the ubuntu and kubuntu discs from Kubuntu kubuntu is the version of ubuntu that uses KDE desktop which is my preferred. you can also find the ubuntu cds available there for free too. It takes about 2 weeks to get them. Feel free to ask what ever you need to know, plus there are excellent dedicated linux forums that are extremely helpful, I use mepislovers. Mepis8 the newest version is available in regular 32 or 64 bit from here MEPIS Linux I am still on Mepis7 but that will change hopefully soon to 8. to use on very very old computers there are very small versions like puppy linux, damn small linux and the mepis version AntiX. You can even carry some on a usb flash drive.

I am about to buy a new computer and I saw an ad from my favorite computer man's shop. How long has he been in business, and will he likely be there in 5-10 years from now? I have been very pleased with my Dell, and since buying the added warranty for years 2 thru 5, now have free tech support for the life of the computer. I've had it 4 yrs 10 months, and have never had a cent of expense to repair, but Dell did replace the motherboard at one time at no charge. The part and repairman was here in just a day, or maybe two. Sue...so pleased with her Dell