D A, I will rid myself of the screen saver and change all to NEVER. As for the RAM, I don't really understand why it is an issue...... AND I HAVE BEEN TOLD BEFORE THAT IT IS...... What must I do to get more RAM? I am a person who does absolutely NOTHING important with my computer. My computer is for fun. I have lots of saved crafty stuff in my documents.... Many envelopes in there....Lots of Bookmarks and of course some pictures. I disk scan often and also defrag. You mention configuring the startup and services to disable all unnecessary application entries from running. Does that mean to do more than just eliminate what shows on the START menu? I do not have much on the START menu. So what should I get rid of to get more RAM? --------------------------- Zep, not too long ago my computer was doing non-stop buzzing noices. Sounded like when a fly buzzes around your head. Everybody tells me that I need a hearing aid, well, I could hear this buzzing in my next room. I took off the side from the tower and it was soooo dirty. I used that spray stuff and also had to carefully sweep off with a small paint brush. THAT took care of the buzzing, so now I know it is not too dirty in there. The sound is different now. It is not as loud as the buzzing and it is more like a whirring sound........My blue light does not blink when the computer is working. There is a tiny red light that DOES blink once in a while. Yes, I do believe that I need to do something. I need to get me one of those external hard drives and get my pictures out from this computer, that is the only important thing in there . I sure do wish I knew more about computers. Zep, you wrote.........(The light blinks when the hard drive is running or doing something. That to me sounds like a failing Hard drive. So you're in risk of loosing any saved files, pictures, documents. etc.)......... Please clarify to me...Are you telling me that it sounds like a failing Hard drive BECAUSE the light blinks when the hard drive is running or doing something OR are you telling me that it is supposed to blink when the H drive is running or doing something............It blinks ONLY when I mentioned that the monitor goes black and STAYS black on me. ----------------------- Thank you both. I am doing what I was advised and will see what happens. I might come back for more advise. thanks and VAL, glad you were able to solve your problem. Wish me luck, HHH

hobby_libby- The average computer may typically use about as much energy as a 100 watt bulb...more if it's really high-powered, less if not, and you'll generally use less overall if you are talking about a laptap rather than a traditional computer with stand alone monitor. An LCD monitor fully on (or with a screensaver) might use about 50 watts. So if your computer and an LCD monitor are fully on 10 hours a day, you're talking about using 1.5 kWhr. The cost for a single kWhr is maybe 10-15 cents in many parts of the country, so your total energy cost to have a computer and monitor on for 10 hours a day might be about 20 cents. Now if you decide to have no screensaver AND have it go into sleepmode when you are not using it, you could save at least 15 cents a day, or maybe $50 a year...if you have air conditioning going year-round. However, during the heating months, the heat energy thrown off by the computer goes to heat your home and the furnace has to provide a little less heat, so you get little benefit there. And, of course if you actually have the computer in use, then your savings will be proportionally less. Bottomline: if you put your computer in sleep mode, with the screen off, and you don't use the computer much, you'll save enough each month to buy one extra latte at Starbucks. Don't get me wrong. Saving energy and money is a good thing, and I'm not trying to discourage you. I was just making the point that you are not going to see the massive savings you might have expected. If you want to understand where the electricity really gets eaten up in your home, and how to conserve so you can reduce your bill in a noticeable way, check out the link below. At the bottom of the linked page there is lots of good info on things you can do, and how much different things in your home account for in the overall energy picture. Here is a link that might be useful: Electric use

I've been deliberately putting my Toshiba Satellite laptop into hibernation during the day, whenever I'm not using the computer for an extended period of time. I started doing this because my laptop overheated once to the point where I could smell wires burning. : O And, it's overheated a few times since then, but not as much. So, that's the reason I use hibernation.

go to control panel Power Options in the settings area change the settings to never for all the power saver options never hibernate never sleep etc. save the settings. Restart the pc see if that helps. Also since you have a new power cord and are not using any type of power strip try plugging it into a totally different outlet one that preferably is not on the same circuit that the other outlet was on. Also you need to do a sequenced power down and power up. to do that shut down your pc, unplug the power from the router and the modem, leave it off for at least 5 minutes. Then power up in this sequence. Power up the modem let it get fully lit up, power up the router let it get fully lit up, then last power up the pc. often times a full sequence of power up and down will flush it out and refresh so that things work better. It would be best if you posted this over on the computer help forum. Here is a link that might be useful: computer help forum