I am always amazed when people say they have loads of photos or music that they do not want to lose or cannot replace yet have never backed up these valuables. If your hard drive fails tomorrow you have a very real problem. You are not alone in this and I am not trying to be mean spirited but if you fail to look after you and your possessions then who will? For less than $50 you can buy a name brand DVD-RW and for under $20 you can buy 100 blank DVDs. You can buy a lesser amount of blanks of course, that is a choice you can make. The DVD will come with software you install to use it. Or if you already have blank CDs you could use those in the DVD burner. If you back some of that stuff up and remove it from this computer it may well run faster because you will have more free space on the hard drive for the swap file to work better. Does your activity light come on frequently and stay on for long periods? If so this is an indication the swap file is have a problem. Then if you really want to get carried away you can visit Big Lots where they have (or did recently in the Buffalo, NY store) CD or DVD labels and the software to create your own labels for $10 or $11. Another option would be to install this hard drive as a slave in the new computer you intend to buy. You would need to check that there are compatible data connections in the new computer. Older hard drives are IDE or ATA but the newer and faster technology is SATA.

you can use storage sites that let you load it up there then the person that needs it can gain access to it from there that is the best way to do that. Box.net YouSendIt SendThisFile MailBigFile - Send large files quickly & easily without clogging up your email. drop.io Share documents there are a few options, you could also set up an account at Adrive I have a free account there they allow 50 gig free which is a lot and you can then share the files there Here is a link that might be useful: adrive

open(unzip) see I said the words baffle me, I unzip the file, and the pages are there for me to work into a word document, and then into a pdf for ease in sending, but the editing isn't the same anymore, I get the pages in paint now, rather than just the unzipped format. I can click open with Microsoft Picture manager, and still get to the editing part to go to word document, but is another step added and I would like to go back to the short version of editing. I have all the facilities to unzip files, just am wondering why all of a sudden I have paint program when I want to just plain edit the pages I have. this is all Greek to me, too much to take in, and as long as I can still edit, tho it takes longer, will stick with what I have, perhaps someday it will rite itself? You know, every time I run into problems, I kick myself, for ever getting acquainted with a computer, had I known what a hoodo it would be for me to work with, I never would have gotten into this. I enjoy it a great deal, but sometimes it is just overwhelming to me. I am a laborer, not a secretary, and hard to work with this sort of stuff. Thanks to all for your help, appreciate your interest in my problem, maybe I can find my magic wand and wave it?

If all you are worried about is crash and losing files... hard to beat dropBox for something like that. Don't need to do anything,, its like magic. Files on your your hard drive folder,, with no effort there will be a copy in your online dropbox with same folder name automatically. Delete a file from your folder, it deletes from dropbox ... but.. you can view and restore deletes at dropbox for a few days. Crash your hard drive completely, reinstall windows fresh and install the dropbox program.. the real magic quietly happens.. suddenly those folders and files all up to the minute/date in real time from when you crashed,,, reappear on your computer. Any computer you install dropbox on will have the same files on it too... as long as you use the same account/login/password. Here is a link that might be useful: DropBox (referal link = more free space)