Junita, Please comnsider easing into this. By your description, your new system is extremely powerful and has an abundance of available rsources. Could it be that your haste and concern in paring all your targets is a byproduct of your previous system? I personally tended to act that way when I purchased the new one. I haven't read any reports of great concern with the Vista firewall. It is bi-directional and apparently works adequately. I left my Windows Defender enabled and update it regularly. Again from what I read it performs more than adequately. With a new quad core system resources and power are more than plentiful to run it in the background. I took Norton off the first day. If you feel it is indeed necessary to modify your startup below are a few links which may assist you. http://www.answersthatwork.com/ http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php DA

My intention was to recommend a starting point, not for someone to think it was a black or white thing. If you want to get the detergent dose just right, you need to know something about your water chemistry. I just didn't want lsandler to think we're a bunch of obsessed laundry freaks! OH wait a minute... we are! haha! Let's use my Asko manual's recommendation, and work from there. I have a W6761, which has a 5 kg (11 lb) capacity. I can't find any information on the drum volume, but for argument's sake let's assume the Miele W4842 has at least double the drum size. The Asko manual recommends the following detergent amounts: Soft water: 1 TBS Medium hard water: 1.5 TBS Hard water: 2.5 TBS Presuming that laundry volume, therefore detergent amount, scales linearly with drum volume we are looking at roughly 3 TBS for the Miele W4842. If you have soft water then 2 TBS, and 5 TBS if you have hard water. This is how I formulated my recommendation, and I still think it's a good starting point. Miele dishwashers digitally measure the hardness of the water they use, I wonder why they didn't include that technology in the W4842 washing machine. It would have been a great addition. I think it's silly to blindly follow the detergent manufacturer's recommendation. How can they know how big your machine is, or how much water your particular machine uses? If I followed the recommendation on the detergent box, I would have suds all over the floor. What size of washer did these manufacturers use when they formulated their recommendations? Don't you think it's peculiar that regular Tide, which is designed for top loaders that use 40 gallons or more of water per load, has the same size scoop and the same dosage instructions as Tide HE which is to be used in front load machines that use 80% less water? I'd love to hear your experience with the W4842. I'm toying with the idea of getting this same machine myself, I'm starting to outgrow my Asko.

I see you haven't gotten any responses about making the leap. We bought our home in 1994, brand new. We've had friends give us a hard time for buying it. "Trailers" decrease in value, instead of appreciating. Well, she never understood that we, like you, just wanted something that was ours, that we could afford. Over the years, we've made many changes and improvements and are very satisfied with our home. I don't know if it was a good deal or not. I know we love it, we have from the day they finished setting it up. The only thing I would change is that I would have had a basement excavated before they set our double wide. I didn't know you could do that. It can be very expensive to move a double wide and a single wide is sorta small even for just two folks. You can call around and get some estimates on moving and set up from the people that do it. But also check the dealers too, they may have a repo that you can get a deal on. We have a friend who got a fabulous deal on his home that way. Really, if there's any way you can afford a new one, I'd go that way. Moving and setup is hard on the building itself, but I know it can be done and be sure to inquire about any kind of warranty on the work. I know someone who lost everything, went to bankruptcy because of a bad setup. Make sure you deal with reputable people who have been in business a long time. It basically comes down to what you want. Find something you love. My Mom told me to get everything I wanted, it was probably going to be the last home I owned and I might as well be happy in it. So we did. We had to have some changes made in our floorplan so we had to wait until they built ours so I got to pick everything. Over the last 13 years, we've painted several times, replaced the carpet, added laminate flooring in the dining and kitchen and added new kitchen cabinetry. We changed out our HVAC unit and replaced the sliding glass door with a French door. We also replaced the roof (hail damage) and had the ceilings painted. Our last project was screening in the front porch, then the next year we had windows added to it so we could use it three seasons. Our next (hopefully last!) project will be the gutters with the guards. My sweetheart is getting too old to be up on a ladder cleaning gutters. I prefer him on the front porch with me! So, in your situation, I'd buy a manufactured home in a flash and never look back. So what if it goes down in value? Are you buying for you or your heirs?

There really is not a 'wait time' for painting drywall. As soon as the mud is completely dry, it can be painted. It is true that you can use a flat paint to prime, but this is rarely the best choice. Flat paints do not seal. If you are going with a washable paint for a topcoat, a primer is best. If you are concerned about the Aura, then go with the Regal....two coats of Regal eggshell on top of a Fresh Start primer, Super Spec Flat or Muresco on the ceiling. For the trim, I would sand first to dull the sheen so that the primer has something to stick to, prime with BIN or an acrylic bonding primer followed by two coats of Waterborne Satin Impervo, Aura semi gloss, Pro Classic, C2, Muralo, etc...lots of good trim paint choices out there.