looks like i need to add zone alarm. i don't want to learn all this stuff. why can't a compter be as easy to use as a refrigerator? whine whine whine.

this computer came from comp usa, mail order. excellent service.

what i haven't done yet is check the startup menu. sigh.

original crisis was that i took the 98 in to have the cat hair cleaned out. i don't do the registry and i don't open the case. unfortunately something happened to my usb ports and i couldn't use my external cd to back up. then i got really sick and didn't deal with anything for a year. the friend who helps me with computers, and who built the 98 as a student, announced that the time had come to buy a new computer and found me this XP one. she told me not to bother backing up anything because she would put the old hard drive in the new machine.

unfortunately the cables or something refused to cooperate. so i have no backups for the last year, i have none of my old programs, i have backups on floppy but this doesn't have a floppy. i am going a little nuts here.

she has when she has time been zipping things off of the old drive and e mailing them to me but of course not the stuff i really need. she has two full time jobs and a life.

so when this thing got attacked by alligators i pretty much lost it. you have no idea what a comfort you are.