I also live in the country and use dial-up, as that is the only thing available other than satellite. Satellite is 3x the price, and just not worth it for me... What is your connection rate? Mine is 46.6. If it is really low, you may be able to get the phone company to do something - but it is very difficult to get them to do so. Have them do a line test, etc. They are usually not very cooperative - but if you are persistant (and nice about it) the sometimes will work on getting better lines in. I do have a v.92 modem. Along with call waiting and caller ID it allows me to see if I have an incoming call and who it is. I can accept or decline the call. You would need to check to see if your ISP is compatible with the v.92. It will still work as a modem if they are not, but the call waiting feature will not work. Most people find it hard to believe that I can exhist on dialup, lol - but it works fine for me. Also, the free dial-up services do not have any local numbers in my area, so I am unable to use them...

Hello again nice people, I have a question. Since Zep has led me through so many steps and has helped me clean up some of the junk on my computer my question is this. What will the results be if I can find no way to get Java downloaded? Is it absolutely necessary that Java be on the computer for things to work right. I see no results from NOT having it, other than not being to play some games, I play most any game I want without any trouble, most of them very graphic. I still need to delete the Firefox Beta version and keep the right version, but I've got to straightened out the shortcut Icons on my desktop, they're both intertwined. Other than that I don't seem to be having any problems. I don't know if there is something else on the Hijack list that needs to be addressed, Zep didn't say so I assume that there is not. I did get the problem with Incredimail straightened out. That also was a register error. After today I am headed for hopefully a wonderful trip to Yellowstone National Park. I will check on this thread as soon as I get back to see what you think about leaving well enough alone. Thanks again for your time and sharing your knowledge.

how was this so called "optimization" done? did you use a registry cleaner product or did someone do this at a shop? If the registry was messed with it could be bad news. There is no real reason to do registry cleaning on the versions of windows from xp forward and doing so by someone that is not very very versed with the registry can lead to serious problems. I never advise the use of any registry cleaners and if you do by all means back up that registry big time before doing so. Let us know exactly what was done I see it is vista

Tried all options you have said - menu that came up still wouldn't activate. Googled replacing cmos battery/pc won't boot and was advised to boot without the battery. Did that and it worked, menu now was accessable and working. Reinstalled Windows Vista (this PC is now on my dining room table) everything working fine. Shut down PC and daughter-in-law took it home. We did not replace either new or old battery, putting a battery in is what started out problem to begin with. Daughter-in-law sets up PC, boots up and is back to the begining problem!!! Menu shows up but is not usable. PC is going to the shop. Will let you all know what the repairman does, it is now beyond my efforts. Thanks for all the advice.