Sorry not to nag... computers are not infallible, although we rely on them every day to perform work for us. they are not like a toaster or a can opener. they do have problems and can fail at any time. ALWAYS backup your data, and frequently, there are a few good programs that can make backups easier, store your files on a memory stick, or use an external hard disk, disk is cheap Backup your files weekly, or monthly and every so often take a copy of your data and put it a your safety deposit box. you will save yourself alot of pain when the inevitable happens. sorry for the rant, i'll step down off my soapbox.

Here is a link about OpenOffice. I don't have good enough excel experience to be an advocate for the OO program. I love the concept of this project; professionals and users creating software for free (you can contribute toward costs), improving it as needed, and distributing for free to everyone - just for the public good, no profits involved. I hadn't heard of it until this last fall, but it's been around for over a decade. It is an org. and not a .com! http://about.openoffice.org/index.html Here is a list of features on their most recent release. Natal, I don't think I have "Pages". I haven't ever seen it and just searched finder for it and nothing shows up. Where would it be? Here is a link that might be useful: openoffice

I did all of the above. While a couple of old sites came up in a search, most of them were still missing. The trouble is that AOL uses IE but also has its own system, which is different. I am able to pull up the IE favorites but not the AOL favorites (which is most of my bookmarked sites). Then I read through all of the tutorials in the AOL Help section that pertain to Favorites. It says that they now use a system that does not save your favorites on your computer. Here is the exact language: Determine if 'Only Store my Favorite Places on my Computer' Is Checked. If it is not checked, it means your Favorite Places are saved online. AOL appreciates your patience during times when popular features may temporarily be unavailable. The AOL® System is sometimes very busy and may experience temporary issues that can lead to delays or slow response. Note: With AOL® 8.0 and higher versions, your Favorite Places are now stored on AOL® servers rather than on your computer. This allows you to access your Favorite Places from any location or computer that you use. For example, if you sign on as a guest on another computer, you will automatically have access to your Favorite Places. Or, if you buy a new computer, you won't have to worry about how to transfer your Favorite Places. I still can't find my Favorites :( I will have to contact AOL again and see if they're stored somewhere in their cybervault.

I like simple, free and private... I have XP Pro and just Copy & Paste to Notepad... ( I have a Shortcut on my Task Bar for it )... I Save the recipes ( and the pics too ) to a Folder called Recipes... If I want to find something I Right Click on the Folder and go up to Search, Right Click on that then type a word into the box that says Containing text:... It can be anything thing you're looking for: beef, pork, cream cheese, AnnT; anything that's in your recipes... Once you hit Enter a list of everything with that word in it pops up... If you happen to remember the full recipe name, as it was typed, ( such as Cream Cheese Danish Coffee Cake ) type in the whole thing and just that recipe will come up... ( I haven't found a way to type in two words that aren't together like AnnT and Rolls or ground beef + tomatoes... Not yet anyway... lol ) I use Notepad out of habit... On my first computer I didn't have a lot of memory and I was on dial-up so if I used a bigger program, while I was online, the computer would get really slow or lock up... Besides that the Notepad files are a lot smaller than any other word processor files... My 250 recipes and pics only come to 3.5 megs and more than 1/2 of that is for the pics... I also make a back up of them every few months... Although, that Recipe Circus does sound like a good way to keep a back up... But then I'd have to edit out a lot of stuff first, like the replies and links to the other CF Members.... Another reason I like Notepad is that it's really simple to make the font larger before I Print them out... Just like Westelle.... LOL Rita