"What you are trying to do, is often to stay off line long enough for your IP to be allocated to someone else, which will then FORCE the server to assign you a new IP . Breaking the DHCP lease, and disconnecting equipment during this time, increases your chances of this." "Most people have dynamic IP's these days, which means it should be easy to switch IPs , yet for some people this may not work very well. In some cases, especially with new Fiber optic networks, even if you RESET, or UNPLUG your router , you still get the same IP when you return online. That's because there is a additional device, a fiberoptic bridge, that sits usually outside the house, is powered from the pole, and cannot be easily reset or powered down by the user. This device will continue to hold a live connection (and thus an IP)even when you fiddle with your router."

Snidely - good point about not removing things if they're not causing trouble - lest they turn out to have been needed. So I have left some things that I have no idea about. I did delete Dell Stage - bc. it's a real pain - gets in the way all the time (my daughter who's had this on her laptop for 2 years confirmed that it's just in the way). I did all the microsoft updates, ran a few antivirus, got rid of what I want to get rid of, and it's mostly good to go. Here's the trouble that remains: I can't get the printer working. It's a Canon Pixma MX850 - on the home network. I did not want to install the Canon disk bc. it has a ton of it's own bloatware. So I went to Canon and downloaded the driver - as well as the IJ utility software (I think that helps the computer find a printer on the network). Went to devices and printers, added the printer and made it the default printer. It shows up in printers and devices, but when I go to print something, it fails. Troubleshooting says the test page didn't print bc. something else is in the queue. But there is nothing else in the queue. I opened the queue from my pain desktop (that's connected to the printer) - and there's no documents in the queue. Went to the printer queue on DH's lapto; - it also shows nothing in the queue. I can print from other computers. Don't know what else to do. And I just remembered that I did not see Java. It didnt come up as needing updating when I ran the Secunia scan. I am not sure which programs need it, but can imagine my husband being stumped if he tries to do something that needs Java and asks him to install. I'd like to install it for him. Got to remember that. I also have a question about Microsoft Security Essentials. Twice now it found something bad - and I selected to remove the couple of files. Does this AV just run in the background or do I also need to run scans? Thank you. Lynn.

Hi John, I thank you so much for your comments. I live in Ma, so I'm not that far away. Since your first response I have done the following. I tightened up the chain to remove all of the slack. The noises the thing were making have drastically subsided!!! Every now and then you get a little clank or pop when it catches a pellet, but that's about it. I pulled out the outside air intake flex-hose and it really seems to burn much better. My father-in-law was like, no no no, the outside air will be much better. I told him to read the manual and it says the only benefit to outside air is for small tight homes or mobil homes..... Needless to say the outside air is gone!!! The burn pot is much cleaner, I do scrape it daily and the last two days the carbon build up is down. The only thing I noticed is the glass doors are a little more dirty on the sides, but if the thing will run like it's been, I can live with that!!! How often do you scrape carbon from yours???? and do you find the glass doors become dirty on the sides??? Frig Harman and their dealers, it seems the actual owners are much more knowledgeable.... Please respond when you have a chance. Many Many Thanks!!!!

If you want to convey the idea of separate spaces, you could use one big rug for your "office" and another for your "living room". I am not a person for rug decisions, but plenty of posters here are! Yes, to some bookcases on the wall with one picture stuck in the middle. You could get tall bookcases with cabinets below. Put all the loose messy stuff into the cabinets, so the room looks more spacious. You might even be able to get pull out file drawers for the bookcases. No doubt Ikea could fix you up with these. The bookcases need to be tall, since everything else is pretty squat. Add some conspicuous plants so the room seems more alive.