Re: Backing Things Up and Copying to CD
 

It's really not that complicated, Lady Z, although it sounds that way :)

I was just in Sam's Club today and saw a big external HD for around $80... that would be the best approach, by far. Checking on-line showed two moderate drives... take a look at the list <a href="http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=5795&prLiPage=1&sortby=1">here</a>

Save early, save often... that's what Mama Hissy always said!

Re: Backing Things Up and Copying to CD
 

Hey...I heard that Maxtor was owned by Seagate and that there was a problem with them. Whenever I worked at CC, the techs told customers what that problem was, but I don't remember. Anyway, Seagate themselves are the best choice. In the four months I worked at CC, I saw 3 Western Digital Externals come back because they had stopped turning on. I never saw a Seagate come back for any issues. (And it goes without saying that we never sold Maxtor, nor the the other namebrands that nobody's ever heard of).

Re: Backing Things Up and Copying to CD
 

Thanks for the info Bungleau. :) You know, Zone Alarm has been trying to get an update for a few weeks now, unsuccessfully, until now. Finally got the thing downloaded and installed, and so far my computer has been acting normal again! I'm not going to get my hopes up, time will tell me if it is truly fixed or not. But now I'm wondering if my problem has been some sort of hacker or virus or something that Zone Alarm now is able to block with that newest update? Hard to tell really. Would figure though huh, that the problem wasn't my hard drive (which would make more sense since my PC is only 2 years old and not used all THAT much) but some jerk loser virus maker. If my PC stays working normal for a good week, then I'll know that is the case.

Re: Backing Things Up and Copying to CD
 

Very possible...I've yet to have a hard drive fail, but I've only owned a computer for, at most seven years, and I think the seven year old one hasn't ran in months and months.

Re: Backing Things Up and Copying to CD
 

I had similar sounding slow down issues with a previous computer. I tracked it down eventually to my anti-virus. I had gotten into the habit of clicking the firewall to suspend all connections when not using the internet. Turns out every time the anti-virus didn't connect to auto-update, it would set the timer for a shorter period before checking again. Once it got to the point of continually trying to connect for an update, the computer was very slow.

I've also seen the same problem from some spyware before I got rid of it. Same kind of deal--it was unsuccessfully trying to upload info to some server (which by this time, no longer existed).

If you saw the speed improve right after a Zone Alarm update, it was probably the culprit. But it's never a bad idea to run an anti-spyware check (which is different than anti-virus).

I hope your computer continues to behave!