Good for you. Glad you got it going. Sounds like you have a pretty good computer shop at your disposal and that's valuable. One thing you mentioned that's a good thing to point out: NORMALLY, you shouldn't have to bring power cords with you for service, unless they're a unique type. If they have the transformer box on the end (wall warts) then it's a good idea to bring it, but for a normal computer or monitor cord, it's not usually necessary. It's something that can be forgotten about easily when you pick it up. And make sure they write on the ticket any accessories/manuals that you bring. I always liked putting things in a bag with the machine so it would all be together.

Now a couple suggestions: Glad you got an antivirus. AVG is very good. Yes it takes a while to run but you can still use the computer while it's running although it might slow things down a bit. You can also pause it or cancel it. AVG runs daily and that's really not necessary. If you need the computer, pause or cancel it and either finish running it later or just wait until tomorrow.

Firefox is a much safer browser than Internet Explorer. Opera is one of the best and my favorite browser. But I'd suggest you download Spywareblaster and load it. Get updates every month or two. Spywareblaster doesn't run in the background or anything, it just doesn't allow things to be put on your machine that shouldn't be. Now of course it doesn't stop everything, but it's another layer of protection. And it's a great program and free.

A firewall is a necessity too. There's a lot of good ones. I am using Comodo right now and it's simple and effective. Gets very good reviews on the test sites I've looked at. It's an important program to have. Far superior to the weak thing that Windows includes in some of their programs.

Let's see, what else? Ad-aware and Spyboy Search & Destroy. These are for malware, spyware and the like. I'd suggest them both.

I also like having Scotty the wonder dog watching my registry for changes. That's the free program called WinPatrol. Malware likes to change the registry and can cause havoc but this will tell you if something is being changed. If you intend for it to happen, while installing a new program or something, you just say it's OK and move on.

This may sound like a lot, and in a way it is. But it's like protecting your home. Do you only put a lock on the front door and leave the windows and other doors unlocked? And the more avenues you allow for access, the more danger you have.

So here's a bunch of unsolicited suggestions. Use them or not. I'd suggest you do though.

Oh and one last thing. Update your programs and run the detectors regularly. Happy computing!

Welcome to our world, Anne.

I'm glad you finally got the ethernet card.

Mozilla(brandname)Firefox is a much better, faster, less virus and trojan prone browser than Internet Explorer. I suggest you download it. Do NOT try to de-install Internet Explorer....just don't use it unless you try to go to a site and get a message saying "Must use Internet Explorer"..then you have it there to use.

The download page says it is the English(US) version. This is a reference to language and spelling, not country. If you click on the link that says "other systems and languages", you can choose the British(UK) language version.

Again, glad to have you back !

Here is a link that might be useful: Firefox Download

So happy for you, Anne! I had webtv for a long time, but a computer is more fun. You can do so many more things with it.

Good for you. I'm so computer illiterate that I have them do all that stuff when I buy one. They think I'm a dottering old woman, and heck fire!!! I may be, but I love my 'puter and I'm willing to pay for it!!

Hi Anne

Awesome that you kept with it, and got it going. Really!

Now, let me know, when you start email via the computer. If you need help setting up a gmail address or something, email me at the same addy as before, and I'll see if I can walk you through it.

Moni

Good for you Anne, you are really learning the hard way. Yes you can be on a computer when it scans for viruses but your computer will run slower as it is doing two tasks at the same time.

Anne, welcome back again. I'm sorry you had such problems, but it is fun to read about your adventures.

Linda

Anne, your story took me back to my first computer, have always thought they are to make smart people feel dumb, after 10yrs I still get into trouble and have to call the tech to visit here and get things straight, one thing I can say for sure is only have 1 firewall going at a time, and have a check mark in the pop-up block, other than that I can be of no help.
Right now I have Windows firewall,Avast & Malwarebytes.

Gillian.

YeeHaw....

Anne...we'll have to make plans to go to the chat room...we haven't done that for a long time....Now that you are on a computer you should be able to get into it...

Maybe we can meet in there tonight at about 8:00 central time (don't know where you fit in for our central time)

It's a Java site. You'll have to join Java

Here is a link that might be useful: nightowls chat room

Just don't get mad and do this to your pc!

Wow, sounds like a lot of work, Fizz, but now you're up and running and good to go, yay! Enjoy, you'll learn to love your desk, baby!

Re pictures from camera to computer: I use a handy little thing called a card reader. It plugs into your computer, the card from the camera fits into whichever slot is the right size, and it will upload your pictures to your computer. There are other ways but this is the way I like best and the reader cost less than $20.

My husband is my computer maven. He runs disk cleaners, anti-spyware etc. He was on the computer for six hours last night,at least it keeps him home. That and my good cooking,LOL.

Thank you for all the tips. Cynic I don't know what I did wrong but I tried to put on Spywareblaster and now I have 3 set up icons on my desktop and I don't know how to get rid of them and not even sure if I have the download. I also tried to down load the firewall you suggested and it says I need Windows Vista. I downloaded the Mozilla browser yesterday.

The AVG scan that ran during the night says I don't have any viruses but there were 30 warnings - mostly tracking cookies and one thing from Internet Explorer.

What is virtual memory? Twice I had something come up that says I was low on virtual memory. This happened at the Election Office on my computer and it was connected to a server and my boss told me to ignore it.

I guess through trial and error and what you guys tell me I will learn how to operate this thing. LOL I need all the help I can get and again thank you for the tips today.

Anne

Haha, I got rid of the 3 icons and got rid of it for now. My friend is going to call my later to see what else we can do.

Anne

Hi Anne, just wanted to say 'hi' and welcome to our (PC) world!

In very simple terms.....Virtual memory is disk space on your internal disk drive that windows uses as "pretend" memory. Think of a main work desk, and a side table that you use when things get busy.
Internet Explorer - your web browser, uses Virtual memory to store web pages that you bring up on your screen.

Good for you!
Enjoy.

On the virtual memory error, a lot of times a reboot can take care of things. Rebooting solves a lot of troubles. Windows often gets "confused". There's several causes for virtual memory errors, a couple of them but surely not all, are too many things running in the background, programs not "letting go" of the memory, insufficient ram, etc.

I think I may have led you astray on Comodo. I did a quick search and I'm seeing something that they don't support Windows 2000. A firewall is very important. You should look for one though. I'll see what I can find.

The AVG "warnings" are just that. It's a bad term, tends to indicate more danger than there really is. Tracking cookies can be bad so it's good that they remove them. If you get Spywareblaster working you'll have fewer of them. But let AVG do its job and it'll protect you.

You're learning as you go. Good for you. Enjoy the computer!