Thanks, Raven. I'm sure he's behind on lots of stuff. Early in 2009, I had him change his update settings to notify him of updates, but not automatically download. That was to hold off on sp1 (at a time when I think I read here that folks were having trouble with it - but I didn't follow that topic, so didn't realize sp1 had become a good idea and that sp2 followed). We also set it that way bc. his computer was automatically updating and then rebooting when he was in the middle of doing other things. So this was to allow him to time his own downloads and installations. But he just never thought of it - and I didn't think I needed to keep track for him. I do keep track of his Avast, superantispyware, malwarebyte and spywareblaster. Every now and then when he's done surfing I have him leave out the laptop and go ahead and update and scan. I'll have to keep track of more than that, obviously. I got foxit reader on my ancient laptop in my office and love it. It takes so little room and does what I need quickly. Do you like pdf-xchange viewer more than foxit reader? Or does he need to use firefox to use foxit reader? I installed firefox for him - and set up tabs with the places he likes to go (did that in the summer) - but he hasn't used it. He's a bit resistant to tech changes. He balked when I got Tivo's - although he loves it now. He's a musician - and I got him Protools so he could record the music he wrote. That was over 1 1/2 years ago - and he hasn't learned it yet - he's barely scratched the surface. Last spring he bought an Imac bc. it was better for recording music. And now he's finally setting up his den and equipment. I'm hoping he'll actually learn the software this year. I'll take care of the rest for him so the only learning curve he has is Protools (certainly the most challenging of them all). But I digress. I'll check his other updates and run Secunia - I'm pretty sure I already put that on his computer last year. Thanks. Lynn.

Found this on another forum which may help\; Microsoft has a free download for Vitural PC. With this program running in your Windows Vista 64 bit environment, you can run a Windows XP 32 bit environment, and launch an MS DOS environment from there. Additionally, you can create as many of these virtual environments as you want. Unfortunately, Microsoft requires you to have both a Windows XP licience iand a Vista Licence if you are going to run both Vista and XP (even with one in the virtual world). If you own a regerestered copy of XP, I'm told that a work around to this potential problem is to reinstall your virtual XP environment when the preceeding one experies it's 30 day registration requirement. Or; Download virtualbox from Sun for free and run a virtual instance of win xp 32bit, win vista 32bit ...I would suspect licencing for whatever os you choose ie XP or Vista would also apply after the trial period. I have never tried this , just reporting what I have found

the best thing to do is simply go to the website of those programs and see if they have support for windows 7 64 bit, some programs will run just fine on it, some just need another driver and many companies are putting out those drivers on their websites. 32-bit and 64-bit Windows: frequently asked questions If you do some searching around you can also find several places that tell you how you can get the windows xp mode to work on home premium, this is one, also windows secrets newsletter published that info in one of their newsletters a while back so you could search there or just do a google search for more info. Workaround to Install Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 Home Premium and Home Basic Create an XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Versions & Vista the 7 forums is also a wealth of info Here is a link that might be useful: 7forums

ok is your Vista a 64 bit version or a 32 bit version? you will need to go to your device manager and look at the info there, actually even better you could get belarc advisor and it will tell you a ton of info about your pc it is free but I am not sure how long it would take on your dial up, but if you want to do that here is the link Belarc also try going to http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome/ those sites should show you which versions of flash and shockwave you have on your pc, if you hold your mouse over the about on the shockwave page it gives the info on the flash player. So we need to know what version of Vista you have and also what browser are you using? you could go get the firefox browser and put it on your pc and then go get the appropriate plugins for that browser for flash and it would work. on the Flash download page you would want to look where it says which browser it is and there will be an option that says alternate operating system or browser that is where you click to find the right one for the browser you are using so if you want the one for firefox you need to have it say it is for firefox, same with IE you want the one that says for IE. This should be the link for the firefox version of flash http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=DXLUJ and this the one for IE version http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=DXLUJ now if you do not have the firefox browser here is the link for that. Here is a link that might be useful: Firefox