fwiw ... My elderly dad sold a car to a young college aged nice guy. Elderly neighbor sent him by to ask dad if he wanted to sell a car. Friend of the elderly neighbor somehow. Dad had an extra car that he sold him for a few hundred dollars. Maybe 3 Yrs later I changed his car insurance and the insurance guy asks about some lady named something that lives in same house. She'll have access to car too & do I want to include her as a listed driver. I say, No - no other lady is there, ..are you sure, 'not unless she lives in the bushes after dark. He says 'Well lets hope she's not sleeping in the bushes but there is a lady, a driver, with the same address listed as my dads, must be in address only, Somehow. Seemed kind of puzzling to him. Fast forward... about 5 yrs since the car was sold... Phone call from nearby small beach community - Chief of Police. He knows me from my youth on motorcycles going too fast, noisy cars and kidnapping tourist's daughters with them. We have this young lady we've arrested for some troubles she's gotten into, has your dads car tag on her car but the plate and car descriptions don't match. Tell me about your dads car. She was getting annual stickers for the tag every year. Easy to do - I can walk in the tag office here with proof of insurance and renew his registration, no questions asked if this is my car. So gutsy girl, she was using the tag address on auto insurance, which you need proof of insurance to register the car tag annually ,..and get this little sticker that says Expires Sept,05. So her drivers license is probably the same address. Cop said it happens all the time, should always take that tag off any car you sell before letting someone drive off with it. But it was no problem with him other than to set his records straight. Now he needed to figure out where she really lived.

Unbeknownst to its users, Webshots employed its Webshots Desktop Application (a free program that users can download from their site to manage their online pictures) to install the Kiwee Toolbar as part of a software update for this program. Other than the Wikipedia article (whose references don't appear to have anything to do with the surreptitious installation of Kiwee) and complaints in support forums about problems getting it off a computer, I don't see anything about it being forced on users. Was it one of the many tools bars included with software that installed by default but unchecking a box provided an opt-out? I just don't know. Although several of the search hits I saw included the word "unbeknownst" which leaves me wondering if they were written by the same person or several people parroting the others. In any case, it seems more a case of poorly written code and even poorer judgment on the part of American Greetings than malware. American Greetings does offer instructions on how to remove Kiwee although it sounds like you need to install the latest, greatest version first. I'm not sure I'd be jumping at at offer. Gosh Durn Mike ~ Don't be so rude & judgemental! I didn't get "glitter text" intentionally. Do you have any idea of the number of computers I've looked at with upwards of a half dozen different tools bars installed? Every user claimed they never installed them. Yes they did, when the went click, click, click without bothering to read what was on the screen. Now maybe I got up on my soapbox a little too soon and American Greetings did install poorly written software on their customers' computers without their customers knowledge or consent. If that is the case, I would be writing a nice letter to Mr. Weiss letting him know why he won't be getting any more of my money. Even if it meant giving up a really pretty screen saver.

Deeinohio, thanks for the suggestions! Sorry you had such a bad experience, Dee. It's no fun to be stranded. Bumblebeez, thanks so much for sharing that. I appreciate it. Pesky, wow, you are quite informed about cars & auto service issues! That's wonderful. You make a lot of good points that I will keep in mind. Les! Yes! I just discovered what you are talking about last night, after I left GW. I did a Google search--"Blown gasket, Subaru Forester," thinking really, that a search that specific would yield me diddly squat. Guess what? It produced a full page of complaints, chat room discussions, & general angst about serious & frequent Subaru Forester head gasket issues! The 1999 Forester (& 2001) seem to be the most vulnerable to this. Amazing. Never heard anyone talk about this flaw in the system before, but it's evidently been a widespread occurence. Looks like Subaru has responded & NOW builds their Foresters with a completely different sort of head gasket, so newer Subi owners, don't despair! Thanks for sharing this, Les! Oakley, yes... I think so! Again, y'all have been fantastic. So many good points have been raised & I feel so much better about this situation. Armed with your feedback, when I call the service dept. Manager this morning, I will feel confident to inquire about & dig a little deeper into the diagnosis. Also, here is one of (The Many) links about the horrors of Subaru Forester gaskets! It's from a chatroom discussion & the last poster suggests getting a written guarantee on the work. Not a bad idea, either. Here is a link that might be useful: A tisket a tasket, I think I blew my gasket...

As long as you have a fuel filter you don't have to worry about sediment in the tank. There's going to be stuff in there, just the way vehicles are designed stuff will get in there. And year old gas is no problem. It has evaporated some in that time but the gas is fine. That's an old wives' tale about "old gas". Contaminated is different but a few years on the gas is no problem. A good mechanic is priceless. And honest ones are so hard to find. It's sad. I'm having troubles with my van again... Thought it was the brakes so I gave up and bought another one. Now I think it's a wheel bearing and probably the same one I had replaced last year. So I'll see if it's under warranty and get it fixed and use it for a while and maybe sell it. I needed a more reliable vehicle I guess so it was really something I needed to do. Just wasn't a great time, but is it ever? And I think I got a pretty good deal on it so I think I made the right decision all in all. I can imagine how it was to not have wheels for so long. Just the couple days I was without drove (no pun intended) me crazy! (Yeah, Joyful, I know, it's a short trip!) So even though I didn't dare drive it the one day, I couldn't stand it the next and took it out anyway to car shop. And I did chuckle at myself. The one evening I sat here and knew I didn't NEED to or even WANT to go anywhere... but the thought that I COULDN"T just bugged me! It's one of those things I guess. My old GF said it was a guy thing I think it was an independence thing.