invasion of the computer snatchers

[Johanna]

I get about a thousand junk emails a day. I'm lucky my ISP has a good filter.

A router is a device that allows you to split your broadband service to different areas, either with a wired connection, or wirelessly. If you have one of these, flip it over and "log in" to your router and secure your network, if you haven't already done so. On the bottom there is usually a sticker with the default user name and password, and a web address to log in and set it. If you don't secure the router, the neighbor may use your connection to do something illegal, and the law will want to talk to you.

You can turn off the automatic reboot in XP & Vista by going to Control Panel> System> Start Up and Recovery Options and untick the automatically reboot. This will result in the computer getting a "blue screen of death" which has a helpful code number that lets you start to guess or Google where the problem is, but if that is your only computer, and it won't reboot, well, that could be a problem. A lot of times errors like this are caused by incompatible drivers (like getting a new DVD unit) or power surges (hardware failure) or a bad update...sometimes Windows recovers and carries on, and sometimes it just coughs and dies. (Life is often mysterious just like that, too!)

I would do BACK UPS of anything of value to you on that computer, just because you don't know how sick the patient is. It might be nothing, and never do it again, or it might be the start of a headache. Computers are like that. Gotta love 'em. But, thanks to computers, I've met some really neat leatherworkers from all over the planet...

Johanna