Thanks for your suggestions. Deleting the history didn't help, but I tried Firefox, and it does seem to be faster. That may be because I didn't enable the McAfee Site Advisor in it. I've been running the site advisor for quite a while, though, so don't know why it should suddenly be a problem. But maybe I should try removing it from Internet Explorer too. In the meantime, I can probably do my searching through Firefox. Thanks again for your help.

bpgreen - I do indeed have an EVDO card. I tried to add a local free ISP via that card and couldn't make it work. So, in the end, you're probably right - work will have to pay for my access while at Mom's house. But I will be doing work email, so we both win - they pay for my internet access to monitor what's happening at work while I'm not at my desk. eeagle - Mom's house isn't as wired as the local Marriott ;) Maybe Mom will like/tolerate Starbucks ;) Thanks everyone! (Why do I have to be so wired while on vacation?! I s'pose that question is best as another thread!) Carolyn

NHB--the others who are more computer savvy may be able to give more pointers, but I even forget that I've changed to Firefox because to me it looks so similar to IE (other than the ads not appearing now). Yes, you can still get hotmail--I use that also. I've never used just hotmail to store my mail though, so I use Windows Live to actually receive it on my computer though that's not necessary--just my preference since I have Windows 7 operating system. After installing Firefox, you just would likely want to select your home page (as you do with IE) and personalize the toolbar so it has the menu items you use most (as you do with IE, also). I love the faster page loading time and now--this adblocking is absolutely great! If you download Mozilla Firefox and don't like it, you can always uninstall. I downloaded it, tried it first, then after seeing it worked fine for accessing the internet, I quit using IE altogether. Thanks again to gr8day for asking your question (even though that particular ad wasn't hassling me) and to the others for the tip.

well that's why I provided the picture of where I got the info of a 50% failure rate in first year and 95% with in 5 years. But you have to click on it to see it. Here I post it again: "CLICK TO ENLARGE SO YOU CAN READ IT" (I'm not making it up-- the statistic is a moving number it gives you the date) The *DATE* from the picture above was as of Jan 7, 2020. I chose that because? (context is always important. I provide it in spades as I normally do.) Pandemic influence and the ERC (employee retention credit) of up to 26k per employee paid by the government. So due to that the number HVAC business failure rate magically drops from your more recent statistic. (I don't qualify for the ERC because I have no employees) The ERC is set to expire so what will that do to the failure rate statistic? The recession word most finanial places toss around like a bowl of KH word salad is another likely cause? The new freon ban coming? If you're not skilled in R22 or R410a probably won't be skilled in R32 or R454b either. Throw in mild flammability for the new refrigerants and WOW? eh skill who needs it we want cheap prices! Nothing new folks. Let's not "think" about any of that. The subject of HVAC company failure is about as numbing as finding a tech that can accurately diagnose a system with a complex problem. The failure rate statistic is a continual moving statistic...and it's not clear how the statistic is generated... like if a contractor retires and shutters for that reason alone and not money problems? The statistic doesn't include that. Why do 95% of HVAC companies fail within 5 years? It can't be because people no longer need to heat or cool their homes. The industry experts must be know the reason. They also don't separate from those that also do plumbing... the statistic can be flawed a number of ways... the whole point in the post is most companies that do this sort of thing don't charge enough to remain afloat. The discussion is about money as always. The common mantra dispersed here is to keep getting quotes until you find one you like... which most of the time is a disappointment. Because when it's only about money the decision is flawed... it's either the company charges too much or not enough... not charging enough gets the work -- dip in economy --- bills come due and natural selection takes over. Remember I get these AC service calls on a regular basis I am not * JUST* a home owner "Mike_Home" or a builder who builds and then builds some more. (Hey my unit is broke and it's only a few years old... oh why are you calling me I have no record of ever coming to your home? my company went out of business... I talk to people in person...) This job HVAC in particular isn't a glamorous job... some do really well when they approach a sell, sell, sell mantra and only sell new equipment. That doesn't take long for people to recognize / or a dip in the economy and fall in equip. sales has been known to cause failures. If the complaint is not knowing how to fix something, rip it out replace it with new. If the economy dips or people want to repair rather than replace... but then we get back to the knowledge equation of knowing how to diagnose + repair + know what should be done vs should not. (Or failure comes again fairly quick in the kind of heat we have right now in most of the US.) Again CONTEXT? yeah it's important so what you read here you see someone with actual experience of? -------name your poison--------- I get calls all the time from people who say they either can't find their contractor or they've gone out of business. (I'm sure the statistic varies from one location to another as well.) Average price points of what to expect to pay for certain things from a website is often in error by a large amount. Some people may have home warranty and those that provide it may be more legitimate than what my experience dictates. Experience again? Yeah it's either that or taking misinformation to a new level. But from that HW statistic they don't include what people pay for the home warranty to begin with, let alone the differences in coverages and so on. So for this sort of repair from a home warranty perspective might be in the realm of just a service fee and maybe small additional fees due to non coverage of certain aspects due to the home warranty policy the person chose. This isn't to suggest to ANYONE to go out and buy a home warranty... just a point that the cost statistics shown on line are flawed to a large extent. (Inflation Joe would be another reason) So I guess my last couple of posts are really just for the sake of future readers. Holes in your own story that you should even contemplate doing this yourself (DIY)... let me remind you what you said previously.... When he left, it was 70 in the house and he had set it to 67. I let it run for an hour, and then saw that it was 72 in the house! I turned it off and called him to come back DIY means: do it yourself -- it's a lonely place most of the time. There isn't anyone to call back. Call Mike_Home ask for his number? Mabye it needs to settle? yeah sure. DIY is lonely place... If I was going to make a movie about it I might title it: 3 Minutes / 10 seconds to disappointment.