I don't know if it's stomp-proof, but we had some growing in our yard, and my husband would even weedeat it every other week or so, and it would still grow back. So I just thought it might be able to take some bird stomping too. I can see why you wouldn't want to plant it though if it's a place that's off limits to the cats. Maybe you could grow another kind of mint that's not catnip? I have never grown any other kind of mint before, so I can't tell you if it's as tough or hardy as catnip.

So you could try Mikie's idea of installing the Scanner on your Win 8 machine to see if it works so you only need one computer. If you old computer is a factory build you could not use your XP operating system in the new case because it is tied to the motherboard on the old machine. You can use the Easy file transfer to move all your personal stuff to the new confuser, works great and very simple to use. If the scanner works on the new computer and you have successfully transferred all your stuff you could then possibly install the drive from the old computer, reformat it and then do as you wish with it. I say possibly because the old computer may have an IDE drive where the new one will have a SATA drive. Being this far into SATA use I doubt your new computer will have an IDE connector on the motherboard. To see what hard drive is in the old machine remove the side panel and look. The newer SATA drives are connected to the motherboard and power supply with cables about 3/8 inch wide where the older hard drives has a data ribbon almost 2 inches wide and the power was 4 wires into an almost one inch wide plug.

Mark until my latest scanner I nave never owned an expensive one. I bought one for about $100 many years ago after I had a couple of scans done at a local store. At $10 for one scan and $8 for others done at the same time I reasoned I only needed to do 12 scans and I was in pocket. Others have commented here on scanning slides with success. When I did it the machine (borrowed) was quite old and the results were reasonable at best. Be sure to practise well before the final scans. I had 14 reels of 120 slides to scan so there was little enjoyment and each needed about 3 minutes to complete the input and scan. My current scanner is an HP Scanjet 4890 which at the time of purchase was about $300 Canadian but it was given to me by my daughter who decided she had no use for it :~) Previously I had a Canon and one other probably a Visioneer since they have been around seemingly forever.

Susan, I just now saw this -- on page 4 of the forum, and it's nearly 1:30 a.m. so it's now Wednesday... I've never taken this scanner out of the box! So, I had to push all of the stuff off of the top of it (horizontal surfaces do NOT stay clean for more than about 10 minutes if I'm anywhere in proximity). The box has been on the floor under my desk for at least two years, but now that you mention it, it very well could be three (or four! - gads, I hope it hasn't been more than that, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised). Anyway, from what it says on the outside of the box (at least what I can see from this angle), it's a "Visioneer One Touch 9320 USB" Aha! The packing slip was still on the outside of the package (I ordered it online and it was delivered...) The ship date was 02/13/2004. My how time flies when you're having fun! Let's see... it has 400 x 3200 dpi optical resolution 48-bit Color (recognizes over 281 trillion colors); 5 Convenient OneTouch Buttons; Scans slides or a negative strip; Blazing fast Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Interface and cable (Compatible with USB 1.1 too!) Says it's Designed for Windows XP... The reason I chose this one is because it comes with the slide and negative adapter, and has other features that I wanted (at least at that time). My father was quite the photographer (always had a darkroom in the house); and I've got boxes and boxes of negatives and slides that I want to scan. When I bought this desk, I selected it specifically so I'd have a place to put the scanner. But, there isn't a clear horizontal space quite large enough for it right now. :-( Somewhere "out there" in the mess in the garage I have another scanner that I used to use (and it was very easy - you'll get the hang of it in no time at all), but that was with a different 'puter with Windows 98. When I went to Windows XP, I needed a new scanner, which is when I got the Visioneer... Guess this means I need to hold off on getting Vista, eh? ;-)