Well it seems that with all our help you should be able to sort out your machine! I know a huge fuss is made over hackers getting into computer systems, but now you see why they do it. The internet is dominated by a computer program/s and a company that has put out a flawed product and expects everyone to suck the big one themselves if something is wrong with it. I have always used programs that have nothing to do with the big corporate softeware giants and have never had spyware, virus or other problems (touch wood ;-)) that sound as bad as yours...as for my wifes advice 'format c' and use firefox!!! Get someone in who knows what they are doing to fix the problems by reformatting your hard drive, don't let them install any unecessary programs...like IE. Use firefox and get the same person to set it up so you don't pick up extra junk, use the firewall, adblock etc. Finally, be very careful on which links you choose to look at, there are so many bogus ones out there. As for people complaining about ads...what ads? I don't see them...Yay for firefox!!! Wazzimodo

Thank you Owbist. It's disconnected now as I only have one monitor. I think the screw up has to do with the name of the computer changing. I don't remember how that happened, but recognize the name so I must have done it. The failure of the updating keeps mentioning the changed name and Windows doesn't know where to install the updates. There is more, but I'm on my phone as its the only way I can get online. I would reinstall but that's another nightmare. The windows license # is pasted to the envelope with the disk and I can't read it. The # is under the flap which is glued. I tried peeling it open and the # gets destroyed. How do I find the license #?? I think if I could change the computer name and workgroup, it might work. I'd really rather not go through a reinstall,. Yes, it's office 07 and I do have the disks

" I bleached everything - walls, ceilings, floors - cleaned all the furniture and covered every vent in the house. Had the carpets and ducts professionally cleaned, and there it is - faint, but still it's there." One recently divorced woman never did find the cause. On the first day, he sadly packed his belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases. On the second day, he had the movers come and collect his things. On the third day, he sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining-room table, by candle-light; he put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of wine. When he'd finished, he went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimps dipped in caviar into the hollow center of the curtain rods. He then cleaned up the kitchen and left. On the fourth day, the wife came back with her new boyfriend, and at first all was bliss. Then, slowly, the house began to smell. They tried everything; cleaning, mopping, and airing-out the place. Vents were checked for dead rodents, and carpets were steam cleaned. Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which time the two had to move out for a few days, and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting.. Nothing worked! People stopped coming over to visit. Repairmen refused to work in the house. The maid quit. Finally, they couldn't take the stench any longer, and decided they had to move, but a month later - even though they'd cut their price in half - they couldn't find a buyer for such a stinky house. Word got out, and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls. Finally, unable to wait any longer for a purchaser, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place. Then the ex called the woman and asked how things were going. She told him the saga of the rotting house. He listened politely and said that he missed his old home terribly and would be willing to reduce his divorce settlement in exchange for having the house. Knowing he could have no idea how bad the smell really was, she agreed on a price that was only 1/10 th of what the house had been worth ... but only if he would sign the papers that very day. He agreed, and within two hours her lawyers delivered the completed paperwork. A week later the woman and her boyfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home . . . . . . and to spite the ex-husband, they even took the curtain rods!

as breenthumb said you must have the easylist along with adbolck plus on your firefox to be rid of all of the ads. you can get the easylist here EasyList once you have ad block plus on your firefox simply click on that link and select add easylist to adblock plus. Anytime there is an ad that is visible there will be somewhere along it's edge a little pop up tab that says block just click that and you can then block that type of ad also, this is a feature of ad block plus. Thanks for posting the actual screen shot of this paint ad, upon seeing it, it is very obvious that it is a part of the ad and the options to select your colors is also a part of the ad, one of the most obnoxious ad's I have ever seen. So apparently firefox, adblock plus and easylist do stop this ad since I had no idea what it looked like. When things like this crop up it is always most helpful to give every detail about it so that not as much guessing has to take place in trouble shooting. Once the screen shot was shown it was quite obvious, but for those of us that do not see them we had no idea it was part of a paint ad till that info was finally provided.