Two steps backwards, one step forward. While dealing with the impending death of my own pc's hard drive, I had plenty of time to work on her computer. I opened the case. Cleaned out the dust bunnies much more thoroughly than I had in October. I found the fan - and actually took it out and cleaned it thoroughly (mostly compressed air, and a little damp cloth). I did remove the label and add a drop of WD 40. (While I was at it, I searched for replacement fans in case this didn't work - and bookmarked some - it would be so simple to replace if needed.) Put the pieces back together and started it up. Still noisy. I started organizing her files, deleting duplicates and ridiculous things she didn't even know she had on there. I put everything in logical folders - then copied her 16GB of video (Ipod videos and flip share) onto a 32mb flash drive. Deleted 8gb of that video bc. it's also on her ipod. Then I ran auslogics defrag. Defrag was 100% successful - and she now has about 15GB free on a 40GB drive. Now the noise is less. I hear the fan a little - but you have to stop to listen. Not sure if it just took running a little for the oil to do it's thing. From what folks said earlier, it's unlikely that freeing up space and defragging reduced the noise. So far, so good. (I even think I could have turned it on with the case open - but i didn't have to.) Thanks. Lynn.

Yes, NEVER give out info on a cold call. If it's legit, they will confirm your number with you, not the other way around. They will always be able to give you some kind of confirming info about your account. If in doubt, call the company back yourself-not the number they give you, but one you get on your own. As to googling your name-anything that is out there is information that has always been available to anyone who knew where to look. In the days before Google, you could get info from the DMV, order birthcertificates, property information, any public documents-if it's thru any government agency, it's public information. Used to be thta you had to go to the agency and request the info in writing, now it's available on line. In my job, I rely on a lot of the technology to do my job. I am always looking up landowner info, company ownership info, aerial photos and googlemaps, even streetview, to do my job. I can find out how much you paid for your property, how much you pay in taxes, how many bedrooms in your home, who your mortgage is with, the make, model and year of your car, where you work, who lives in your home...all very easy and all information is publicly available. With some more digging I can find out what, if any military service you or someone in your family has served. I can find out your cell phone number and who your cable provider is. I can find out what magazines you subscribe to, what clubs you belong to and what charities you donate to. In some cases I can find out your annual income. What I CANNOT find out is your bank account numbers or credit card numbers or that 3 digit security number. But if I cold called you and gave you all that other info, chances are good you'd give me your confidential info if I asked. It never ceases to amaze me what information people will give out when they think you know it already.

MtnRwdux, that would've happened to you at my house. I never ever answer the door to strangers. I don't care what you look like. If it's daylight, I may go to the door, which is glass, with my 100 lb barking black lab, to see who it is and if I don't know them, I tell them I don't open the door to strangers so if they have something they want to tell me, they can leave literature at the door. Nothing irritates me more than someone coming uninvited to my door at dinner hour. Coincidentally, just this evening I saw someone get scammed right in front of our grocery store! As I was leaving, I saw a man b/w 40-50 yrs old with wallet in hand talking with a young girl who appeared to be in her 20s. She was dressed "nicely" in loose cotton shirt with long summery cotton skirt, blond hair in a loose bun. I didn't think much of it as I passed by them and then noticed a guy in an unrecognizable uniform heading toward us, about 50 ft away. I thought he was just going shopping, but then I hear him suddenly yell, "you need to leave the property immediately. You are not allowed here. Get out of here now!" She kind of took off and the man was standing there bewildered. It hit me that she must pave given him a sob story needing money. I've never seen security there before but wonder if this has been a problem lately so they hired someone. Odd. Two,summers ago, I was approached by a man and his son outside a hotel in NJ. I had just checked in and went out to the car to get a few things. We were there for a soccer tournament so,the area was unfamiliar. He gave me some song and dance about needing a few dollars for gas, but I've heard about these kind of scammers before so I politely refused. I then went back inside and reported to hotel staff. My elderly parents got the IRS scam call. They are both totally "with it" and my mother had a nice argument with a guy with a strong Indian accent. She basically told him to go ahead and send the cops..she wasn't worried about getting arrested. I do worry as they age that they might not be so smart.

I have donotcall and the phone rings once and then stops. If it rings more than once I look at caller ID and if I don't recognize the number or name, it goes to voice mail. We were expecting a call from Apple almost two years ago and coincidentally got one of these scammers. Thankfully nothing happened but not because my husband was smart. As he talked with this guy with an accent and started doing stuff on the computer I googled the number. Guess what?.. Nigeria. I've only gotten one call since then and I let him have it.