the very best way is to do exactly what you are doing and ask, that way you can get replies from those who have tried it and like it also if there were any problems or glitches, you can also check other support forums for problems listed with a specific update. I do that prior to doing any of my windows updates, I check the forums for comments and if there are problems I wait till I know they have been resolved. As far as IE8 goes there are some conflict problems with certain programs which is why it is a very good idea to read up on it and if you are running those programs be prepared prior to install. I go to google and google IE8 Conflicts and find a wealth of info. Since every system is different there never is a guarantee that any one program will work the same way it does on any other system, so we do have to take chances sometimes and just dive in with fingers crossed.

Zep, thank you so much for all you time and advise. I truly appreciate it. Can I ask you about the log I posted at 14:41 particularly the double entries? Acrobat.com Acrobat.com Ad-Aware Ad-Aware Adobe AIR Adobe AIR Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 CyberLink DVD Suite CyberLink DVD Suite Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer HP MediaSmart TV HP MediaSmart TV HP MediaSmart Webcam HP MediaSmart Webcam LabelPrint LabelPrint etc? Why are there doubles? I have to log off for the night, but if you have any more suggestions I will check back tomorrow. Thanks again. Carol

To those of you who are uninstalling NoScript, because you are having a problem with GardenWeb, or don't like having to take the time to click the NoScript icon and temporarily allow a script to run, I would strongly encourage you to rethink your decision. It is most likely a poorly written or badly written script on GardenWeb that is causing the problem, not NoScript, and when you remove NoScript, you are greatly endangering your computer. A large number of websites are infected with one or another form of malware. That may be in the form of saving "cookies", running some type of scripting to collect information about you, or an outright exploit, clickjacking, etc, using scripts, and these put your computer at great risk. Most of the time, what NoScript blocks is not necessary for you to be able to enjoy and use a website. Scripts can make the Web an enjoyable place to visit, but they can be used in many harmful and malicious ways as well. You want to run only the "good" scripts, and stay away from the bad. That is what NoScript allows you to do. I know it takes some time and effort to learn to use NoScript, but in the end, it is well worth the effort to avoid having your computer infected with some very nasty visitors. If more people used NoScript, there would be a lot less people showing up here and other computer help forms needing help to get their computers back from the "bad guys".

the shield will show you exactly what the updates are if you just click on it, you can see each one and get additional info on each one, you can also uncheck any one you do not want to get and it will not install it. When you have done all the updates listed at the shield and the pc is rebooted the shield will go away till the next time there are updates available for your pc. You can choose to set it to automatically install all those updates or you can choose to have it just tell you they are there but not install them. That is the method I prefer, I can look at them and see what is available and decide. Personally I never ever get mine by using the shield or auto updates I always use my IE browser and go to the actual download website, have it scan my pc to see what my pc needs then I choose custom to look at what is listed and I select only the ones marked as critical to install, (not sp3 though not for me)To go to the windows update website just go to start> all programs> up at the top click on windows updates. If once it scans it lists updates those are ones that have been selected for you pc only some people get more than others etc that is due to their specific setup and programs. Some versions of MS office will come with windows updates but some will not so if you have office on your pc you must go to the dedicated windows office update site and have it scan your pc and then do the critical updates for office. I personally like to wait about a week after they are released before I install them on my pc, I am on lots of forums that instantly get reports of any conflicts or issues with the updates so I have learned I don't want to be first in line, I let the other guys go on ahead, if no one gets a bite taken out of them then I go. At the windows update site you can check your installed updates history, you can also see on the left side any other updates that are available either for your pc such as drivers and for programs and such, those are up to you. I get emails from Microsoft when new updates are going to be issued and they inform me of everything that is going to be affected, if there are changes to the bulletin I get an update, so I know to be on alert and watching. For example there is an out of band update being issued either sometime today or tomorrow depending on your timezone, this is very unusual because they are normally done on patch Tuesdays each month(2nd Tues) so for them to issue something out of band is unusual. this is a MS technet bulletin about it. Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for October 2008 Microsoft to rush out emergency Windows patch Advance Notification for Out-of-Band Release and this is the actual KB of this particular out of band fix Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 Critical a lot of this kind of info goes out to us ahead of time so that there is some advance notice and believe me there are a lot of people just waiting for the responses if there are problems so they can start working on them asap. so if you got an update today now you know why.