Hi everyone, I was unable to post because I couldn't log in. Apparently the cookie that it takes to get here was not there, so I emailed the forum and when I got back home walla I was able to log in and here I am. "Smiles" To answer the question is Auslogics an antivirus or a defrag program. It is a defrag program and is not an antivirus. I didn't know they had an antivirus. "LOL" I listened to the same thing you did about Norton and it definately has something in it which appears to be a firewall because it blocks things out and protects you like a firewall. I think the reason they made sure that the Windows firewall is on is because they aren't sure themselves. When I access a program Norton pops up and tells me it is safe to run. It happened earlier today but I can't remember what it was I was doing. I was in a hurry to do some things on this computer that I know they didn't do. I am a little nervous about CCleaner and I called them and one of the guys told me to take the check marks out of advanced so I did. I have never used CCleaner and it would be nice if I had more information on it. Can you all explain this program to me and what to look for, so that I won't delete something and my computer won't go boom? "LOL" Owbist you said this: I am amazed that someone as knowledgeable as yourself and willing to learn about computers would actually pay to have the computer cleaned or replace the CD player. If cleaning means removing dust a $3 can of compressed air fixes that pronto. If cleaning means removing programs (including those you wanted kept) then the simple Add/Remove feature does that for you. Replacing a CD player is a simple task also, even for those who have not tried before. You simply remove the old and reverse the sequence to install the new. The only reason that I took the computer in was because I have my grandchildren around 3 days a week and sometimes a little more because they love us. Ha! It is difficult for me to have the time to play by trying to install something and little ones that are 3 and 8 years of age want to play on the computer not watch me fix it. "LOL" Now when I got this computer back, it was running slow again and instead of calling them I did a scan disk and used Auslogics Defrag and walla it is running like a charm. I think they got lazy and didn't do it. I really like the Auslogics Defrag it is so fast and puts things back where they belong. They did check the hard drive to see if it was Ok and it is. This computer is going on 6 years old and I guess I haven't done to bad after all my very first computer I crashed several times but, that was ages ago. Remember the first packard bell computers? I had the 3.1 and then they sent me the CD for Windows 95. Well I learned fast that you can't put old on top of new because then it would crash. I still have that old computer and I need to get rid of it, I never get on it at all, it is just sitting there collecting dust. Ha! If there is someone here who has CCleaner I would appreciate a lesson on how to use it correctly. Thank You damccoy, zep516 and owbist, for your help and for your info. thirdfrt!!!

After getting angry with McAfee's products some years ago, I made the rounds of free versions for several years. It seemed I only got "hit" by evil things when clicking through to something from a Google search, they do little or no screening of the links they provide. Most of the time the attacking things weren't too difficult to get rid of and caused no significant problems. A few times I had to go through some agony to return the PC to normal service. A few years ago I decided to come out of my cave and try a paid product again. I went with Norton, and I''ll never go back. The current Norton suite is the most effective, unobtrusive, and easy protection product I've ever used, in 20+ years of PC experience. No product I used (and I went through most of the free things) compares favorably. It blocks attacks real time, period. NO problems. No cleanup required, it doesn't allow enemy planes to land. My experience is simply one person's anecdote, I know that the reputable reviewers (like CNET) will say there is more equality among products, but I haven't found that as a user. Some of the free ones (was one of them Avira) have really obnoxious and intrusive periodic messages. Another time, AVG decided to quarantine a key Windows file, and doing so completely disabled the PC, it required a reformat/reinstall the operating system. Anyhow, I'm a happy Norton user, and I consider the annual fee to be a cheap route to easy use and peace of mind.

Sooz- What brand of stevia product are you using? That would help with finding or altering recipes for you. I have a number of stevia products and they all measure differently, and I use them differently. Some measure cup-for-cup for sugar and others would take 1/2 t.-1 t. for a recipe. I also have a the cookbook "Stevia - naturally sweet recipes for desserts, drinks and more!" by Rita DePuydt, but these recipes are NOT gluten-free (although I think there are some that could be converted to g-f all-purpose flour or almond meal). Helpful hints baking with stevia: *It helps if the recipe utilizes fruit, fruit juice/s, fruit sauces and purees, and dairy products (sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt, etc.). The fruit sugars help with the sweetness and disguise the "aftertaste" from stevia. You can use less stevia since the sugar in fruit also adds sweetness. The dairy products help keep the baked goods from drying out and lactose (a sugar) aids in some browning. *Refrigerate or freeze cookie dough for 4-hours or overnight before baking. The cookies will taste sweeter. *Add 1-3 T. of another sweetener such as date sugar, malt syrup, rice syrup, agave nectar, coconut (palm) nectar, or honey. These also help with browning. Since stevia doesn't brown like sugar, baked goods look anemic. It also doesn't tenderize or moisten baked goods. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Be sure to check out Paleo recipes and Low-Carb recipes. They are generally gluten-free (using almond flour and coconut flour) and use fruit (medjool dates, apple butter, applesauce, fruit spreads, etc) or low-glycemic yacon syrup, coconut nectar, palm sugar, stevia and other low-cal. chemical sweeteners. I've used Swerve (which is a brand name of Erythritol), but didn't care all that much for it. I thought it was used best with another low-carb sweetener like palm sugar or agave nectar. I avoid Splenda because I react to it. The link below is a sugar-free recipe I happen to have in the cookie jar right now. It calls for 1 T. agave nectar, but I usually use 2 T. coconut nectar (I make coconut nectar by melting 1-1/2 c. coconut palm sugar in 1/2 c. water on a warm burner). You could also use sugar-free honey in this recipe (I can find it at Wal-Mart), which is another sugar-free option for you. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Blueberry Coconut Pecan Breakfast Cookies

Thanks for the heads up, Nandina. I do get daily emails from several sites with free books, but passed this one by because I didn't think it sounded interesting. But I downloaded it on your recommendation. However, I had already trashed the email, so just went to Amazon and under the "Books" heading, typed in the name. The Kindle version did not come up as free. Then I went to the Kindle store and typed in the book name. This time it came up as free and I snagged it. Just thought I'd share. Don't know why the discrepancy, but make sure you check under the Kindle Store heading, not just books. And sometimes free books aren't even free for a whole day. Sometimes it's just hours. Gotta jump!