I think I need to do A LITTLE BIT of explaining as to at least PART of why I became so scarce here for quite a while. A large part of it was just a bit of GW burnout... I'd been VERY active both here, and on the Ponds forum (and a few others), for several years, and then got involved with other forums on other subjects (and still am), and doing other things (and still am), which is ALSO why I will NEVER be as active as I once was. But another BIG PART was that when iVillage bought GW from Spike, they posted new Terms of Service, and they were, without a doubt, the most RIDICULOUS, most RESTRICTIVE, POMPOUS, PATERNAL AND GREEDY TOS I've EVER SEEN ON ANY WEBSITE BEFORE OR SINCE. In fact, if those same TOS are still in effect, I can get banned for what I just said in the paragraph above, lol. My biggest gripe was that they suddenly claimed ALL RIGHTS to EVERYTHING posted in any GW or related forum, either written or pictures, IN PERPETUITY, to reproduce whatever was posted in whatever medium they chose as many times and as many ways as they wished WITH or WITHOUT attribution to the author or photographer and without ANY recognition of either original copyright OR requirement to pay any compensation, regardless of what they used it for or how much money they made off of it. In other words, IF I happen to post a picture in a forum, which turns out to be a picture of some new species, and I'm the first and only one to photograph it, suddenly THEY own ALL RIGHTS to MY PICTURE, which might be worth A LOT of money! NOBODY -- I MEAN NOBODY else online (that I've seen -- and I've looked at A LOT of website TOSes) tries to pull that kind of BS. That's why you haven't seen my post ANY pictures since, and likely won't... Also why you won't likely see me write anything that you could call "stunning," lol (not that I ever did, necessarily), but I'm DEFINITELY NOT going to post something HERE I think I might want to PUBLISH ELSEWHERE later. So, by way of explanation, anyone who may have thought any of my abscence was because I didn't miss you all -- I did... I just was highly offended by the new TOS. I LOVE all you folks... Just wanted to make that clear! Jeff

There's nothing wrong with Vista and I think you should look a little deeper for your problem. I went with my girlfriend last week and she purchased a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Vista Home Basic Edition, 2GB RAM, 200GB Hard drive. First thing I did was remove Norton 360 through control panal/uninstall and then install AVG Anti-Virus. She wanted Photoshop installed, no problem. Next was Microsoft Office 2007, started installing and bam computer shuts down completely. I think heat, you know that they are always warm on the bottom, but no as long as there is a little clearance on the bottom for air, they'll run for hours and days on end. Decided to uninstall the trial of the preinstalled Student Microsoft Office thinking there was a conflict with the Pro version I was trying to install, went to control panel/uninstall and tried to remove the student version, bam again computer shuts down completely. Did a search on the internet for vista shuts down and the best info I could find was that it's programs running in the background causing conflicts. I remembered the Norton Removal Tool and downloaded, ran and removed all traces. Went to msconfig and took a look at the programs running at startup and thus running in the background, installed CCleaner ccsetup209_slim.exe, my preferred tool (Tools/Startup) for disabling startup and unnecessary programs from running in the background. After that Microsoft Office installed perfect and the machine has never shutdown again. Next time I have the laptop, all the bundled software is coming off, who needs it. So what I'm saying is that there is a conflict with a program that's running in the background and whatever you're doing at the time the machine shuts down. Duel boot is fine, you'll need an XP disk, $100 or less. Make a separate partition to install it on. Really very simple, less than an hour if you know what your doing. With a duel boot, you're given the choice or either booting into XP or Vista or set one as the default. I have both, doesn't matter which I use, both perform equally. First thing I'd do is remove all the bundled software that came with the machine that you don't need, especially Norton that comes preinstalled with the Toshiba Satellite and get a good Anti-Virus program. You should also have Vista Service Pack 1 installed by now.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! Your advice worked and my computer is almost back to normal. Goldie: that was my first thought, too (LOL)! Mary Lu, it wasn't you at all; just me trying to do too much :~) I basically just followed Camp56 and Ideefixe's instructions and it worked! I can't thank you both enough for taking the time to walk me through it!! Rose: the thumb drive idea is a good one for future problems. I never would have thought of that. Thanks! Olychick: you know, I'm embarrassed to say that I had no idea about that Restore feature. In the past, whenever I've had a problem DH has fixed it for me. I need to be more proactive. Allison: thanks for those recommendations. WIP: yes, they use a small outside IT firm; nobody in-house except DH. I was going to call them next if I couldn't find a solution here. Oakley: you're kidding?!? I made a mistake earlier saying that I deleted Norton, it was MacAffee, which I've had for quite a while. It ran every day, scanning for problems but never found a one . . . and I KNEW something was wrong before all of this. That's why I was looking for anti-virus programs. Hmmmmm. Graywings: Thanks! I'd forgotten that GW even had a computer forum and had never checked it out. But, I will definitely keep it on mind for future problems. Chickadee: Haha . . . that's for sure! DH would flip out if I screwed up his computer! Camp56: thanks for mentioning that about the two programs. That's good to know as I wasn't sure. Thanks again for all your help. It worked!!!! Lynn

Agree with laceyvail and Babs about removing what’s there. If she wants a more formal, uniform planting look, she could do dwarf shrubs, depending on how deep those beds are. If she wants color/more cottage-y style, a mix of perennials, small ornamental grasses, annuals — in varying heights and textures. I think another paved walk to the sidewalk, if budget allows, would look nice and give some definition to the yard. I’d make it a bit wider than the other walkway, and slightly flared where it meets the public sidewalk. A lamp post would be very charming on the driveway side. The ledge under the left window is cute, and if it’s sturdy enough, I’d put some small, pretty pots (or one rectangular pot) on it with flowers. A narrow trellis with a non-aggressive vine would look good on the vertical white thing by the door. Or replace that detail with a post or column. ETA after seeing her location: I googled ‘California cottage’ and saw some ideas. This one has the similar ledges under the windows. :) Also, with being in S Calif, google ‘xeriscape plantings’ for ideas of things that survive drought and heat well. And ask for advice at local nurseries, of course. For painting ideas, you might want to post on the Home Decorating board ... or download a paint app (most of the major paint companies offer virtual painting) and play around with it. HD board — http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/decor