Sushi has pretty much summarized the dangers ahead. There is no way to truly screen her calls other than you or your cousin being with her 24 hours a day. Allowing her the freedom of answering her phone, puts her at risk -- for physical, financial, and emotional harm. I'm also a "been there, done that." My mom used to think she was outsmarting telemarketers by telling them that she was a widow and in ill health, so she couldn't afford to buy their products. Some of the callers had her name and some address info. I'd tell her over and over again that she was saying too much and that the callers could come to the house. She'd promise to do better, but the next time I'd see her, she'd proudly relate how she told off a telemarketer. Eventually she moved to an assisted living facility and the situation was better. The address change in addition to the phone number change lessened the frequency of calls. When she moved into the memory care wing, her phone did not move with her. As far as doctors, etc., do what sushi recommends. Make yourself or your cousin the contact person. That's what I did with my mom even before she moved to assisted living. Perhaps you could "train" your mom to always defer to either you or your cousin when answering questions over the phone. For example, "I'm sorry. You need to talk to my daughter/niece about this. She takes care of everything for me." There's always the possibility of changing her phone number to a new and unlisted number.

I believe I had IE, but not sure which version. Now, I am not sure WHAT one is up! Right now there are 3 searches running- there are 3 'file card tabs' at the top of the page. Two of them have a small red/green/blue/yellow flag icon, the third has the 'Gardenweb' icon- the page that I am on now. Walnut.. I did not download anything that I am aware of.. If I move my curser to the top nothing happens- there is a 'wrench' on the far right, but when I click on it, it opens a list that has 'Google Chrome' near the bottom, yet the icon on the far left of the page (this page), is the 'Yahoo' icon. I don't even have a way to open my 'favorites' now. Did IE7 have favorites/back/forward arrows, file/edit/view/tools/help in the upper left hand corner?? I am wondering if I am in 'Google Chrome' or IE9 by some chance? How do I check which browser I am set to go to auto? Tx

I would suggest Avast but what do I know since my ASUS PC now appears to be bricked due to this virus. I started full scans of my spyware/malware programs last night to try to identify and clean out this virus, which I also got in the course of a recipe search, apparently from the Food Network. Unfortunately my son got up this morning, saw my netbook sitting there with the clamshell up, thought I'd left it on by accident, and shut it down. Now it won't boot, not even in safe mode. I know the winlogon.exe file was corrupted and had scheduled a boot scan in Avast, but what it does now is cycle constantly between the blue screen with a message that flashes past far too quickly for me to read it, and the windows boot screen. It never comes up. Since it was shut down before I got up this morning, I also didn't get to write down my XP license number, so even though I have access to an external DVD and an XP installation disk, I DON'T have a valid license # to enter. I fear my netbook is bricked, all because of a recipe for apple streusel pie.

Putting Vicks near--or in--the nostrils is a very bad idea. Plenty survive without incident, but when the actual substance (rather than just the smell) is inhaled it can lead to bad things. Onion plasters can do a lot of good, but you also have to be very careful not to burn the patient. You know the story the moms always told about the girl in the shorts who sat on the hood of the car getting her butt burned when it only felt "warm"? Same thing. The last thing someone with pneumonia needs is a second degree burn on the chest. That said, the heat and fumes from the onions can be beneficial. The problem with the onion around the house or by the bed stuff is that we only have the positive outcomes. In a properly done experiment, we'd learn if there were people who received no benefit, and could determine by the numbers if those with very good outcomes got them by chance, or if the onion was a likely factor. The fact is that most cures are just stopgaps while the body does its healing as its supposed to. A lot of medicine is like that. It's more about treating symptoms and preventing secondary infections than actually curing. Antivirals, if taken right away, can work wonders. They actually do cure. The rest of what they have to treat colds is just to make you less miserable. It's quite possible that the cut onion by the bed could release fumes that also ease misery. It's highly unlikely that it cures, however. Eating onions and garlic is documented as helping the immune system, so eating them are preventative as well as tasty. :) The thing about talismans, however, is that so long as you don't let your belief in them prevent you from seeking care when more is needed, they're harmless, and if decorating your house with onions pleases you, it can't hurt.