I think my computer has caught some kind of creeping cybercrud! I deleted 5 or 6 pages of photos from my PB account and was able to upload only one pic before it crashed again. Now all I have to do is click on "browse" and it automatically throws me back to the desktop before I even try to open anything. Or it gets stuck with the browser window open and the hourglass icon going, but you can't open or close anything. Somehow I don't think starting a new account will help, but I could be wrong. My email browser, on the other hand, works fine, but I don't want to email them to anyone to post, I'm too much of a control freak for that. ;-) And besides, I want to FIX IT. *sigh* (banging head on desk) BTW, Bob, my apologies for hijacking your thread!

If you are running MicroSoft Windows, they offer a free malware cleaner. In fact, Microsoft sends that cleaner out about once a month with other updates; It runs once and then excuses itself. When it runs, it takes a long time for it to scan critical files and locations on your disk. Over a year ago, I converted to Uverse to get the better internet speeds and at about the same or less cost that I was paying for DSL and the old analog phone (voice) service. I was renting 2 lines from the phone company: one for the computer and the other for phones. IN addition, I was paying $240 per year for dial-up internet connection. But with the increased amount of data that flows today and high graphic content, dial-up no longer was practical. Also, software and software updates no longer arrives on a CD of DVD, it is downloaded. Dial-up is too slow and error prone for effective software installations or updates. I chose Uverse when it became available and the sales force was knocking on my door touting all its good points - they did not adequately explain all the changes required. Uverse has been very convenient since it sets up a wireless network within your house. A number of things can be connected wireless PROVIDED they contain a radio to converse wirelessly with the gateway. A PC can connect wirelessly or through the air. The computer needs a wireless card if it does not have built-in capability. (Most newer laptops do have a radio.) Many newer printers have a radio, but the lower end versions may not. I direct connect my printer to the desktop computer with a USB cable, but I can also at the same time, activate its radio and then it can be seen by other computers. The Uverse set-up negates your analog phone connection. Once Uverse is installed, phone signals arrive in digital form and a converter-to-analog is included in the incoming box so that the analog phones continue to work. Here;s the rub. Most 911 emergency calling systems today have locater capabilities for the older dial up phones. That is, the 911 operator is able to locate the phone that is making the call. This is critical in case the caller can not speak, That capability may be negated with a switch to digital phone service. At my location, AT&T assured me that the location feature was available at my phone exchange. The second rub: Depending on what kind of phone you had, some older simple phones did not depend on house current to operate, but ran from the power supplied by the phone company. You could still make a call if your power went out. With Uverse service, that function is handled differently. Part of your installation is a battery box that is plugged into your house power. It keeps a battery charged that can maintain your phone service for about 18 hour. After that, you are without phone service until power is restored. That also means you have no 911 capability after the battery runs down. After that, you will be dependent on a cell phone. For Uverse service, you will need to dedicate one electrical outlet to power the installation. It is recommended that a transient protected extension be used. My gateway can handle 10 channels, i.e., 10 signal sources such as printers and computers. Our typical load is 2 to 4 computers and 2 printers. My original gateway failed early. The replacement unit has ran trouble free for over a year. I have rebooted it only twice during that time: once because power line glitches upset the system, and once when it was shut down for vacation. Because of old telephone cables (outside) and the distance to the fiber optic node, the installer had to use 2 phone circuits to bring my service up to the intermediate speed they had sold to me.

I think somewhere a few months ago, someone suggested that 200 posts was the max for a thread, but this one has proven that to be incorrect. I do think that daniel_nyc should have the honors of starting a new one. He is truly our resident obsessed weather aficionado.

"I can use Google apps on my Apple iPhone, and sync that iPhone with my Microsoft laptop running Windows." Apple products are still less, not more, interoperable with third party products. A friend of mine, a pretty consistent Apple products user, has to maintain a Windows PC to use three very common financial products - Turbo Tax, Quicken, and Quickbooks. One of the three-maybe Turbo Tax - has a Mac version but my friend says it sucks compared to the Windows version. I think two of the others aren't available at all in Mac versions. These are widely used programs, with tens of millions of customers. As far as Apple compatibility with other standard products, well, duh. Maps are another good example. The iPhone map app has struggled, playing catchup for years and years and (according to iphone users I know) still isn't there yet. They could easily encourage use of the Google Map app to give users a more useful capability but they won't do so. My immediate thought concerning what lars was talking about when he said "I prefer to have more choices than what Apple offers". is how in the Apple world, there are few user configurable options and no alternative sources of equipment manufacturers (which keeps prices somewhere in check). As an example of inflexibility, I use Itunes as a "podcaster" or podcast aggregator. In it I choose what podcast series I want to receive regularly and when I trigger an update, it does the download. Itunes has this annoying feature that it periodically unsubscribes me from podcasts I've set up to have downloaded. . I called Apple support and asked why. The support guy asked "Do you ever listen to the podcasts on your PC?" I said "No". He said "That's one of the most useful features - when you haven't listened to the podcast in (I think he said) 2 weeks, we know you don't want it anymore so we switch the status to "not subscribed". I said - "No, not at all. I download the podcasts to the PC but then transfer the files to two different portable players that I use to listen to them. In doing that, I never listen on the PC. How can I change the setting so that it doesn't keep unsubscribing me". He replied- "You can't change that setting, it's made that way to be most useful to our customers" I got what I should have expected - a BS answer akin to the joke from long ago in the consumer-market software industry - No, that isn't a bug, that's an intentional feature. WIndows PC and Android device users are accustomed to being able to choose configuration options so that the devices behave as they prefer. I understand that at first pass sometimes for beginner level users, this can provide some difficulties and frustrations but all of it is well documented and can be learned. Apple products often don't offer options.