The best place I know for a great choice of "Enabling Tools" of all kinds, is a sponsor of GardenWeb, called Gardenscape Tools. Just call for their free catalogue. (they have a special one for Americans and it gives all the shipping charges.) Their catalogue is small, however, it is packed with many items in full colour, with exact descriptions of every tool and which tasks they will best serve. As I mentioned before they are a great place to do business with. They have a toll Free Number 1=888-472-3266. If this number does not work from the US their other number is 416-698-5339. They are in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I have compared their prices to some discount stores and they still manage to be a little less expensive. Actually, they are not expensive at all. If you are an American you will get a real bargain, because your dollar is worth so much more than the Canadian. You may order by phone (that is what I like best) because their well informed staff can answer all your questions immediately. Also, their return policy if very good, should you receive something and it is not what you envisioned they will gladly refund your money. May I suggest, even if you have little knowlege of gardening, it will help a great deal if you get excited, as that in and of itself will provide your parent with the encouragement they need at this time to restore their own self confidence in an activity they once enjoyed. Get the catalogue and go through it with them and perhaps if they can see for themselves all the items that can help them, it might go a long way to restore their lost confidence. I know from experience how depressed and bitter a person can become, and how worthless you feel when you can only remember the time before you became disabled. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to e-mail me via GardenWeb and I will happy to my utmost to help. Good Luck Punky.

Owner End Process with the task manager only "Ends Process" during that sesssion. Upon rebooting all your processes are back ... even "End Process" ed ones. Microsoft Word does not belong in my Task Bar. It uses 55% of CPU upon start up. No wonder we were gettin' hot. How do I get it out of my Task Bar? and How did it get in there? Owner 'End Process' es are fairly benign and most gamers turn them of except the task bar itself and IE while playing, its even on the directions of most PC games...for enhancesd performance... etc. The entire word program is running!!...55% of a 3.2GHz CPU (certainly isn't the fastest) at startup is going to word without me turning it on, that is ridiculous! marf

You would probably eliminate the problem, by going down to the version of firefox, you had before upgrading. Your system is older, and some of the requirements for the newer version of firefox, you just may not have on that computer. :-)) I also run XP, and I use firefox. I am running version 9.0 and it works perfectly. I could go a couple updates higher, but, when something is working great, best not to mess with it, especially on an older system. Also, notice above recommendations to update your IE. You should be aware, that some XP computers will not run IE8 very well, and some will. Most will run ie7 without any problems. Please check all system requirements when you decide to update or download something on a system that is using XP and enjoy using that computer for a long time yet. Good Luck to you.

Hi littlestar 624, Saving is one thing. Many people put their money into the bank ... where it's "safe". And the bank counts on making more on it than the depositor gets. After all - who pays for those fine buildings? Some time ago when I went to attend a seminar on investing put on by a bank, I asked the location of the seminar at the information desk, then moved a bit closer to the advisor to ask, rather conspiratorially, "Do you know what's better than putting your money into the bank?". When she asked what that might be, and I replied, "Buying bank shares", she replied, laughingly, "That's for sure" - and another employee within earshot laughed, as well. Investing, quite often, is a different kettle of fish. I bought bank shares 40 years ago for about $4.20, paying about a dime dividend, which is taxed at a lower rate, in Canada (which benefit is lost if earned within a tax-deferred vehicle). The value of those shares has gone up, down, and sideways over those 40 years, and now sits at about $100. That increase does not become tax-liable until I either sell the shares ... or die (at which time the executor of my estate must declare them as having been sold on the day prior to my death). I don't plan to take either of those routes, this week or next. I like to defer the tax, yes, which I'm doing (as I would be in a tax-deferred retirement plan). But when I liquidate shares in a retirement plan, every dollar coming out is taxed, at regular rate. But when those shares bought with non-deferred money are liquidated, I (or my estate) must pay tax on only half of the increase (at regular rate). I get half of the captal gain free of tax. Over the years between, the annual dividend rate has increased ... a few years ago it was $1.00, then $2.00, last year $2.80, and as of a couple of months ago, is $3.08. Your money put into the bank hasn't seen principal grow ... and the annual rate of return that it produced hasn't grown like that, either, has it? If I borrow to invest, to gain part of the advantage that I lost in the tax that I paid before I invested, the interest is dedudctible, while it isn't if I borrow to invest in a tax-deferred retirement plan. Plus, I figure that I can borrow to invest at very low net cost ... but that's a story for another time. Actually, it's in a thread that I wrote on one of these money management threads, a while back. As is my alternative method of investing rather that in a tax-deferred retirement plan. Learn how money works - in a few years, you'll be glad that you did ... for it pays well! Good wishes to you and yours. ole joyful