I am always amazed when people say they have loads of photos or music that they do not want to lose or cannot replace yet have never backed up these valuables. If your hard drive fails tomorrow you have a very real problem. You are not alone in this and I am not trying to be mean spirited but if you fail to look after you and your possessions then who will? For less than $50 you can buy a name brand DVD-RW and for under $20 you can buy 100 blank DVDs. You can buy a lesser amount of blanks of course, that is a choice you can make. The DVD will come with software you install to use it. Or if you already have blank CDs you could use those in the DVD burner. If you back some of that stuff up and remove it from this computer it may well run faster because you will have more free space on the hard drive for the swap file to work better. Does your activity light come on frequently and stay on for long periods? If so this is an indication the swap file is have a problem. Then if you really want to get carried away you can visit Big Lots where they have (or did recently in the Buffalo, NY store) CD or DVD labels and the software to create your own labels for $10 or $11. Another option would be to install this hard drive as a slave in the new computer you intend to buy. You would need to check that there are compatible data connections in the new computer. Older hard drives are IDE or ATA but the newer and faster technology is SATA.

thanks for responding- i am talking about a desktop- i do not want a laptop at this time. I guess i thought a router was only for wireless computers- so if i get the wireless card does that mean i then have to get a wireless internet plan or will the wireless card and router work with the regular dsl? For about a year the computers will be by each other and after that they will be on different levels of the house.. So is there a preferable way of how i should go meaning hard wire or wireless? And does whichever way i chose determine what kind of router i need to get or are they all the same? So this also leads me to a question and that is how will i know if my current printer will be compatible with the new computer? i only ask because i heard people had that issue with Vista. I also want to ask about the antivirus programs you are referring too. I have always used AVG..can i still use this on windows 7 or do i need to stick with the ones you are referring to. Thanks again

no you do not have to use wifi only if you want to get online with the unit do you need wifi. However to have wifi all you would need is to get a wireless router and plug your internet connection into it and set up your own wifi, it is not something extra you pay for, if you have internet you can have wifi. The look book can be used as an ereader with out using wifi, that is only if you wish to get books directly from the kobo book site. However I would suggest going somewhere that does have free wifi and run it because there is a major update that it has to do right off and it has to be done through wifi so you could visit someone that has a wireless router or go to a restaurant that has a wifi hotspot and do that update then thats it. The lookbook does come with a cable that you can use to move stuff from the pc to the lookbook, I am not fond of that method and much prefer the SD card that way all your books are contained on the SD card and not in the unit, should you have to do a factory reset on the unit if the books are stored on it you would lose them, I put mine on one Sd card and can use that same Sd card in any of my units. Except the sylvania it takes the micro SD card. The Sd cards are so cheap now anyway, I just picked up an 8Gig one for around $8 on sale, so many places have them on sale. And if you happen to need one of the usb plug in memory card readers those I find all the time for $6. I have 3 in packages on my desk right now price was $6 so I picked some up for friends. The kobo website has an app that you can download and install on your pc so you can use that with the lookbook also. Now on the sylvania tablet you would really want to be able to have wifi access to use all of the features on it since it is very much like a mini computer you would need to get online with it. It also comes with the cable to connect it to the usb port on your pc that is pretty standard with all of them. I had to call several CVS stores to find the ones that had these. It is hit or miss but you can talk to a manager and ask them to give you a rain check and to try to get some at that store. to keep things from getting confused we are talking about 2 different items on this thread! The lookbook which is basically just an ereader but can connect by wifi to the kobo website to download books directly from there. The sylvania 7inch touch screen android tablet which is able to connect by wifi and do much of what you can do on your pc, you can surf, email, watch videos, listen to music etc. And it has the ereader apps included along with many others, and many more you can easily install some free some you would pay for. There are numerous brands of these little android tablets out there now, most are quite similar in what they do, this one was a good deal at the sale price. I also have the Pandigital Novel which I really like too, they are very similar in what you can do with them.

I have an Old Acer Android Tablet (Acer Iconia A500 w/Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich), but it does show up as my Tablet (A500) in Windows 10. I can then access my photos and all other folders and files on the tablet. My Phone is a Windows Phone with Windows 8.1. I have no problems whatsoever connecting with the phone either! I have Windows 10 on my Desktop Computer, 2 Laptops and my Acer Iconia W4-820-2882 Tablet. All my Appointments, Photos, Documents, etc... are shared between them without lifting a finger. Just hooked up the Acer Iconia A1-840FHD w/Android 4.1.2 Kit Kat I purchased for my Grandson for Christmas. I shows up in File Explorer> This PC in Windows 10 just as my phone and all my Tablets do! Yes, I can Access Photos, Files, etc... from this Acer Iconia A1-820FHD Tablet using my Windows 10 Laptop while hooked up with a USB.