Gee, I'm envious. I'm in total agreement with you and wish I had the cash to switch. Tuezday's recommendation of David Pogue is a very good one. He 's a New York Times Online (and print) columnist for their "Technology" weekly magazine section called "Circuits" and a hip Apple-loving affectionado. I'm a Times subscriber, so I'm not sure there's a fee for getting Circuits weekly or not in your email. Its worth it, whether anyone is an Apple lover or not. His weekly Times video column as well as his forum is always a hoot. In the past, ususally you had to sign up to read any article from the Times Online, I don't know what they are doing now, but David Pogue alone is worth it. Also, they now provide articles, without extra charge (of his), published from 2004. I showed one of my Apple-loving cousins my 84 updates (most of them security) on my Add-Remove program list and they were shocked. They said their Mac's need nothing of that magnitude to remain secure. As far as Linux, I don't understand it and I could not get a retailer to install it for me on a new hard drive. That is a very unfair business practice. My broadband also stated that they will not "support" Linux, whatever the nebulous definition of support currently may be. Mac is probably the best choice at the moment. congrats! Marf Here is a link that might be useful: David Pogue's Web Page

Hi...sorry I took so long to respond. :-) mes444...Not sure I want to be his 'sole' avenue for tech support. [g] Especially on a machine that I have no warranty on and then I have no where to go if he has a problem I am not able to troubleshoot. Maybe you are more computer confident than I am. Why would you say Apples are annoying and hv problems too? I had not heard that about them. mikie...yes, we had planned on upgrading out of the celeron processor, having heard in the past they were not so great. Why do you recommend a very large 2nd hard drive? The mini towers are desktops right? We are set on getting a notebook. So evidently on the list of things we plan on using the computer for, downloading DVDs would require more than the lower end computer offers then? Jane...Sounds like you bought a nice configuration on your machine. We would also go with the extended warranty and already deciding to stay away from Vista. We also don't need Office. We will take a closer look at the business machines. Thanks for that link poohbear...looks interesting. owbist...we live in the same house, so I guess we can go with the 'lo tech' way. lol Nice idea about the headphones though, I am going to look into that Skype. Yes, glad to have this forum to ask questions on. asolo...we do have an Apple store nearby and planning on looking into it. We looked at their website and they are offering $1,000. systems, which I didn't think they had any systems in that price range. Of course that is with one year warranty only. So I am sure it won't end up that price. They do offer tech support at the store too and classes, so we are going to check it out. I always have steered away from Apple, because people warned me about software compatibility problems..but I thought they had Apple versions of all the software? Plus, I am now on my 4th computer and I rarely add another piece of software once I get my computer, so everything that comes with the original machine should be compatible, right? So what is the drawbacks of going with Apple? The latest CReports shows the Apple to need more repairs then all other manufacturers, did you see that? I was surprised by that. But their tech support is supposed to be very good.

Huh? No, the question is what email service is the native email program (Apple Mail, in this case on a Mac) set up to connect to. That setting needs to be entered once for every so-called mail "client" app or program on a PC, Smartphone, or tablet. It has nothing to do with default program relationships for file types. Ginny, I know how to do it on ipads and iphones but not immediately on Macs. I have two Macs in the family but neither is here right now for me to look at. A Google search found the following two approaches, they differ perhaps depending on which version of Apple Mail you have. But either or a combination of the two should get you where you want to be. If these don't work, again, refer to an Apple forum. #1 To Set Up Your Apple Mail From the Mail menu, select Preferences. Go to the Accounts tab, and then click the plus sign(+) at the bottom of the Accounts box. In the Add Account window, enter your full name, email address and email password. Click Continue. or #2 To begin, click on the Mail -> Add Account... menu. On this screen, you will be asked about the type of account you will be adding to the application. Select the last option - Add Other Mail Account...Continue button. Now, simply add your name, email address and the password for it. ++++++++++++++++++++ Edited to add As a quick alternative, just start your browser (Safari), go to and log into gmail, compose a new message and then add the photo as an attachment. You'll need to know the location of the photo on the PC to do that and you probably can do a drag and drop for attaching it.

Yet another longtime iMac user here - I have 2, one at home and one at work. I bought the one at home new, but the one for work I found at macofalltrades.com for less than $300 and both have been working fine for years. They sell Apple certified refurbished products for a fraction of the price of new, upgraded to the latest OS, depending on the year made. I like that the screens are large enough to watch a movie, TV show or video from a distance. Both came with disc drives and my home one has a card reader too. I know I'm going to need to upgrade in the not-too-distant future. So far, my older OS has been functioning, but it's starting to have problems with a few websites and apps. The one at work isn't connected to the internet, so I never have any incompatibility issues at all. Never had to have anything repaired, and never ever had any viruses either...