I have an Epson V200 scanner. It is a flatbed scanner that can also slide film and slides. I paid around $80 for it. I bought this over a year ago. I am not sure of the availabilty of this certain model, as it has been discontinued, - other than eBay or Amazon. I can scan up to 4 slides at once. You load the slide tray and press scan. It puts each slide into a seperate file. You can specify where you want them saved. It is quite simple to use and I have been extremely happy with the results. It will scan at up to 4800 dpi. I generally scan my slides at a resolution of 600 dpi - and can get fantasic 4x6 prints. If you were looking to make poster size prints, you would want to up your dpi. The higher the dpi - the larger the file and the longer it takes to scan. If you do not have a lot of "horsepower" in your computer, scanning at really high dpi will take a long time. Scanning dpi and printing dpi are two entirely different things. You can google and research this further if you want. This is a slide from the early 1950's, scanned at 600 dpi. You can correct dust, backlighting, etc. I think HP has a flatbed scanner that can scan 16 slides at a time..this would be sweet if you are looking at a large number of slides. I love my Epson scanner - but have also been happy with HP scanners. I have attached a link to HP. It is very informative regarding slide scanning. Here is a link that might be useful: Slide scanning - from HP

maybee, owbist, raven.. Yes, I had to do that- use OE, the pic got downloaded to 'my pictures', and then send it- but the problem with that,, is I use space, and then I have to delete the pic from my pic. I tried right click with Yahoo, then filling out my email message and then right clicking in the body, but nothing happened. Because I was having problems with Yahoo mail the other day, that the tech observed while on my computer with me, I wonder if I am just plain have Yahoo mail not working for some reason?? I hope deleting occasional pic won't be hard! this is a bit off.. but I told you that the tech had me empty my start up programs- (take some off), because my pointer was freezing every 10 seconds or so. Well, it didn't work- it is still freezing. I looked in Systems Monitor, and there are 2 green spikes- to about 100 there isn't any 'time spread'- just one line up. I watched while the red cursor went across the page- the pointer froze when it hit those 2 green lines. Do I just have to live with this, or is there a way to get rid of the spikes. The pointer freezing is a pain. I had no other browsers/programs running- just opened Systems Monitor. In the past, you had me do scans, I did them- they found nothing.

Be very careful about committing your only copies of financial records to digital. Someone above suggested copying onto rewritable CDs (CD-RW) to allow you to add to what's on there. Be aware that CD-RWs typically have significantly shorter lifespans than "write-once" CDs (CD-Rs). You could run into trouble a few years down the line when you try to retrieve some info and find out that the disc is corrupted and what you want is not retrievable. Burnable CDs also are a textbook example of getting what you pay for. The spindle of 100 CDs that is "free after rebate" at your local electronics superstore typically is of very low quality, and I would not depend on them to keep anything beyond 6-12 months. They may make it that long. But I sure wouldn't put all two copies of important documents on such low-quality discs. Finally, there is the file format of the disc and files themselves. The scrapheap of history is littered with storage technologies that were made obsolete by size, low capacity, or bankruptcy. While Microsoft's dominance now seems to ensure some longevity, at one time Microsoft was the David in the corner to other companies' Goliaths. What it comes down to is that scanning important documents may save you some paper, but it is not "set it and forget it". It will cause you additional work in transferring those files to new formats/applications/operating systems as years go by. If this is not something that interests you or seems like too much work for an activity that's supposed to save you effort, then you might just want to stuff file folders into a cabinet. I'm as big a computer geek as they come -- and that's what I do. Paper: simple, reasonably permanent, and eminently transportable.

mat2cam , First of all, welcome to GardenWeb if you're new! Secondly, glad to see someone posting from beautiful Charlotte! My wife and I grew up there and lived there up until 2011, and we miss it dearly. When we bought our house in Huntersville, I inherited a lawn that resembled your description exactly - the builder only cared about making sure the yard had "green stuff" growing, and didn't care if that meant grass or weeds. I also did not have a built in irrigation system. If I had it to do all over again, I would definitely have "nuked" the yard with Roundup (probably over two applications) and either brought in some decent sod or re-seeded. Here are some grass options and the pros/cons for the Charlotte region: 1. Fescue Pros: Can be maintained to look good year-round; can be found in seed and sod varieties; will have a higher percentage of matching what your neighbors probably have (if a newer neighborhood). Big Bonus: Fescue will do fine in shade, so it will be great for that shaded side yard you mentioned. Cons: Maintenance in the summer-time can be expensive and bothersome. Fescue requires A LOT of water during those hot Charlotte summers, especially if you have a newer house that has no shade trees to help protect it. Additionally, trying to sow it now could prove to be difficult, since I've read that it's best to put new Fescue in after the summer months (Sept/Oct). 2. Bermuda Pros: Once established, it is very hard to kill. It will spread very fast and loves all the sun it can get. Additionally, the newer Bermuda hybrid varieties are very drought resistant, which would be a big bonus for someone without an irrigation system. One more bonus: when the summer heat is really beating down, your neighbors' Fescue will be suffering, but your Bermuda will be thriving. Chances are, some of what you are seeing as "weeds", will actually be Bermuda grass that just isn't matching the Fescue. Cons: It will turn brown beginning around early October and not come back until late March; so your yard will appear dormant while your neighbors Fescue will be green and lush. Additionally, once introduced, it can be very difficult to get rid of it. 3. Centipede My father still lives in Charlotte and is obsessed with grass. He transplanted his entire yard with sprigs of Centipede that he found in various places in eastern NC. His yard looks outstanding in the summer time! It requires very little water, does not grow as fast as other grass types in the summer time (maintenance is much less for him), and has a unique shade of green that the rest of your neighborhood will find intriguing. (I'd only choose this option if you treat your lawn as a hobby or a project; if you're wanting to 'fix' your yard and move on to other projects, Options 1 or 2 may be best) One last note: Being in Charlotte, you can find all of the organic alternatives that dchall mentions in the less urban areas... so depending on where you are, that'd be Gaston County, near Carowinds, even Lake Norman where there are still some feed/grain stores around. Basically, the opposite direction of Uptown, where they will charge you $100 for a bag of fertilizer. Best of luck and we wish you the best!