I found this thread while looking for an alternative to HUD apartments in New York State which, according to code have spring loaded front doors for all the apartments which open into the halls. This is the third HUD building I've lived in with these doors which sound like a small bomb when they slam full force. Of course there are options. Fortunately I qualify for senior housing and seniors tend to be quieter. One option is to hopefully find an affordable senior building that is well managed and not more than one or two storeys where the apartment front doors open directly to the outdoors [the 2nd floor apartments also open to the outdoors and have exterior staircases for descending. I have seen such complexes but have not yet found one in upstate New York or Sayre, Pennsylvania were I prefer to live. It will be interesting to find out if HUD regulations for spring loaded apartment doors are the same in all states. How to find this out? It will also be interesting to find out if HUD allows weathering stripping, bumpers, or hydraulic brakes on the spring loaded apartment doors. I note that the doors of our laundry rooms and TV rooms at the floor ends have brakes as do apparently all spring loaded doors on the ground floor where staff spends most of their time. I hate moving and I tend to agree with at least one commentator here that oftentimes when you move it will just be some new issue--but that's not always the case, especially if you do your research: Go to the prospective new apartment in person and hang out and question tenants, neighbors, police and check online comments. After reading the many horrible accounts in this thread I feel realize that my housing situation is about "as good as it gets" for HUD. I've lived here for about three months, an although there is some room for improvement[primarily finding a way to silence the spring loaded slamming doors] and I would like to share it We DO have smoke alarms which are quite loud and go off for about 10 minutes a few times a week. If you are able to relocate to Ithaca, New York my complex, Titus Towers I & II is probably one of the best HUD senior complexes in the country. All applicants are fingerprinted and vetted via the FBI. I'm serious. Most of the tenants are very considerate and friendly. There's a large community room, a busy activity room with pool table, desktop computer for tenants, aerobic exercise equipment. There's a large kitchen downstairs which serves hot lunches during the week. There's a large lot in back which is forested and has two gazebos and a community garden. The site is landscaped and frequented by many cute squirrels, ducks and deer. Mail parcels are delivered to you apartment door. Nearly all the tenants try to be respectful and get along with one another. There's great covered seating outside to wait for the bus. There are many activities and even a hair salon on the first floor. One of the best features is shopping. Barnes & Noble , Tops supermarkets, and the world class upscale Wegman's market are within two blocks. Many other upscale shops, fast food restaurants, Hobby Lobby, Staples, T.J. Max, Walmart, Dollar Tree and much more are within three blocks--all beautifully landscaped and handicap accessible. During the week there are two full time nurses and a social working in their offices on the site. The management here seems to be a very caring and concerned about the tenants' well being. There's a tenant council office on site. There's also a chapel in the building. Waiting list is approximately 6 months. If you want to consider moving here I highly recommend that you come to the building and chat with tenants who are out and about on the grounds such as waiting for buses. Ithaca is a great community. It has often been rated in the top 10 for retiring. It tends to be a little to liberal for my taste but this has it's advantageous as there is much activism for the poor. There is so much food available for free from Ithaca food pantries that I cannot eat it fast enough. Ithaca is also a great community for gay friendly living. Also, if you are into Buddhism Ithaca is the North American home of the Dalai Lama and home of his Namgyal Institute for Buddhist Studies. There are also other Buddhist organizations with a presence here. Being Buddhist in Ithaca is regarded as quite normal, if not laudable. Our building appears to be hosting a number of Asian Buddhist refugees. If you are a Buddhist looking for a supportive community to live in I urge you to relocate to Ithaca. If you are a Buddhist senior 55+, a low income Buddhist looking for an affordable Buddhist community alternative I urge you to check into Ithaca for Buddhist living and Titus Towers. NOTE: I do NOT recommend any other subsidized housing in Ithaca because I am a new resident here and I am unfamiliar with the other complexes and I have heard some bad reviews and read bad reviews online about them. Ithaca is one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S. with one of the lowest vacancy rates but you tend to get what you pay for and part of the reason for the high cost is the plethora of services available here and the highest employment rate of any small city in New York State.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. We do not have VOIP, this router (although marketed for Vonage) was a close-out and thus, cheap. We only use the internet connectivity part of the router. We have no telephones at all. There is no possibility that anyone else is using our bandwidth. For one, we are subject to FAP and believe me we would know (our allowance is 185 MB a day in downloads). Also, even though it is a wireless signal, it isn't that strong and someone would have to be on our road, on our property, pretty much right in front of the house to use our signal. So, no, there is no misuse of our bandwidth. We do not use a firewall. We have tried them, and simply did not like how much they slowed down our computers. The router nor the Hughes Net modem does not have a firewall. We don't want a firewall on our systems. I also feel that our antivirus and spyware programs are suitable for our needs- I don't want to add any more programs- our machines are not "souped up" modern machines but they serve our needs well. In other words, small hard drives and enough memory to do what we need to do. We use the Tea Timer in Spybot, along with the browser protection. At one time we had Spyware Blaster, but in recent months we just rely on SpyBot. We have well-maintained systems and adding any more protection programs would be overkill, in my opinion. We have used the internet for several years and have never had a virus or spyware. Our computers are used mostly for schoolwork, although we use do use webmail. We do very little pleasure surfing. The router did not come with any software at all. Only the user guide on CD.

Any new laptop you buy will be able to connect to the Internet if you already have an Internet service at your house. If you want to switch from BellSouth to AOL or to any other provider of Internet services, it doesn't matter: the laptop will still be able to connect to the Internet through whatever provider you choose. Most providers do not need to have any special software installed; you just need to have a browser installed, like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc., and all of these are free. At least one (probably Internet Explorer) will already be installed on your laptop when you buy it. If your MIL does not have Internet service, you generally can't connect when you are at her house. Think of Internet service like regular, wired phone service. If you are at someone's house and they don't have a phone line, you can't make a phone call. Now I am going to tell yo something a little more complicated. When you have Internet service at your house, the company will typically provide you with a little electronic box called a router. This device hooks up to a cable in the wall that carries the signal the company provides, and then a wire goes from that little box to your computer. You can get access to the Internet from the wire that comes from that router, or you can connect without the wire because the laptop has a card in it that can receive the Internet signal wirelessly (sort of like a cell phone) from the router. That way, you can move around the house easily with the laptop, or maybe even sit outside with it. The disadvantage of a wireless connection is that it has limited range. The computer may not be able to receive a signal in some parts of your house. On the other hand, if the signal was strong, you might even be able to get it wirelessly and connect to the Internet at your MIL's, even though she doesn't have her own service. Given that you know little about computers, probably any laptop will be just fine for you. You should choose one primarily on the basis of the screen size and how much you want to pay. Don't get talked into spending a lot because all the features and speed you need will be present in even the lowest cost computers. If you go shopping and are confused, ask more questions here before buying. Lastly, there are many good books out there that will explain what you need to know in very simple language. Get yourself a book like Computers for Dummies or something similar like the one below. (In trying to answer your questions, I have assumed that whatever Internet service you have that it is not the old-fashioned, painfully slow dial-up that uses a modem. If you do use dial-up to get Internet service, then there is other stuff to tell you. Here is a link that might be useful: Absolute Beginner's Guide

If you are running MicroSoft Windows, they offer a free malware cleaner. In fact, Microsoft sends that cleaner out about once a month with other updates; It runs once and then excuses itself. When it runs, it takes a long time for it to scan critical files and locations on your disk. Over a year ago, I converted to Uverse to get the better internet speeds and at about the same or less cost that I was paying for DSL and the old analog phone (voice) service. I was renting 2 lines from the phone company: one for the computer and the other for phones. IN addition, I was paying $240 per year for dial-up internet connection. But with the increased amount of data that flows today and high graphic content, dial-up no longer was practical. Also, software and software updates no longer arrives on a CD of DVD, it is downloaded. Dial-up is too slow and error prone for effective software installations or updates. I chose Uverse when it became available and the sales force was knocking on my door touting all its good points - they did not adequately explain all the changes required. Uverse has been very convenient since it sets up a wireless network within your house. A number of things can be connected wireless PROVIDED they contain a radio to converse wirelessly with the gateway. A PC can connect wirelessly or through the air. The computer needs a wireless card if it does not have built-in capability. (Most newer laptops do have a radio.) Many newer printers have a radio, but the lower end versions may not. I direct connect my printer to the desktop computer with a USB cable, but I can also at the same time, activate its radio and then it can be seen by other computers. The Uverse set-up negates your analog phone connection. Once Uverse is installed, phone signals arrive in digital form and a converter-to-analog is included in the incoming box so that the analog phones continue to work. Here;s the rub. Most 911 emergency calling systems today have locater capabilities for the older dial up phones. That is, the 911 operator is able to locate the phone that is making the call. This is critical in case the caller can not speak, That capability may be negated with a switch to digital phone service. At my location, AT&T assured me that the location feature was available at my phone exchange. The second rub: Depending on what kind of phone you had, some older simple phones did not depend on house current to operate, but ran from the power supplied by the phone company. You could still make a call if your power went out. With Uverse service, that function is handled differently. Part of your installation is a battery box that is plugged into your house power. It keeps a battery charged that can maintain your phone service for about 18 hour. After that, you are without phone service until power is restored. That also means you have no 911 capability after the battery runs down. After that, you will be dependent on a cell phone. For Uverse service, you will need to dedicate one electrical outlet to power the installation. It is recommended that a transient protected extension be used. My gateway can handle 10 channels, i.e., 10 signal sources such as printers and computers. Our typical load is 2 to 4 computers and 2 printers. My original gateway failed early. The replacement unit has ran trouble free for over a year. I have rebooted it only twice during that time: once because power line glitches upset the system, and once when it was shut down for vacation. Because of old telephone cables (outside) and the distance to the fiber optic node, the installer had to use 2 phone circuits to bring my service up to the intermediate speed they had sold to me.