"when I clicked on "help" (which, b.t.w., I had never even NOTICED before, it said: "A.T.&T. Yahoo HELP" .. guess that means that is my "CONNECTION" .. right? RIGHT??" If you were to click the "ATT Yahoo Help" line, you will be directed to an ATT HELP webpage, where they have a troubleshooting guide. You type in your problem in the form of a key word, then it will try to solve said problem for you. As per the idea that ATT Yahoo browser is part of your "MY CONNECTION", or is related to being a device that connects your computer, your modem to your dsl phoneline, or to the internet, no, this is not the case. Realize that the DSL modem that ATT provided (or maybe you provided your own)connects your computer to the dsl feed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even if your computer is off, the dsl feed is still comming in to your home and is ready to go as soon as you turn it on. ATT Yahoo gives you the browser, or "browser enhancement" when you sign up for the service because they want you to use it. They make money from advertizing. It comes with Yahoo! as its default homepage, and most people will just go with whatever the default homepage might be. When you sign up to dsl, they will tell you when the "switch" will be turned on from the phone company. After it is turned on, you hook up your modem to your computer and to your phone jack (with the little dsl filter box), and bam, that's it. Your computer is ready to go online. I believe that there may be a matter of setting up a LAN setting in the Network Connections area in the control panel, very simple, something that ATT will privide the instructions for, or walk you through, but none of the software they give you has to be installed. I personally like the software OK, but it is provided primarily to encourage its customers to stay on their sites, and ultimately increase their advertising revenues. --J

This is what he sent me. I have had this for awhile now, it might be a bit different now. Please follow the next steps to correct the issues on your Pandigital Novel: 1. Plug your reader into your computer using the USB cable. 2\. Locate the "My Computer" icon on your desktop or just "Computer". This can also be found by clicking on the "start" button in the lower left\-hand corner of your screen. 3\. Locate the drive listed as "Removable disk". 4\. This file should have Adobe Digital Editions as the first icon. Delete everything in this file except for Adobe Digital Editions. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Re\-run the firmware update. I have included specific instructions on how to update your Novel: If you should have any questions after following these directions, please do not hesitate to call our customer service phone number at: (800) 715\-5354. 1. Please visit our website on your home computer at www.pandigital.net 2. This will bring you to our home page, on the right\-hand side of the screen you will see a box with the words "Firmware Updates Click here", please click on this box. 3. This will bring you to the next webpage asking you to select your region. For your specific Pandigital Novel please click on the \[American/Canadian\] flag. 4. You have now reached our information page. On this page, please locate the blue lettering that states: "Click here to learn more and to update your Pandigital Novel." 5. This will bring you to the actual update page. Please read over the information on what the latest firmware update can do for you. The additional features that come with this update are something to be excited about and we�re sure you will be too! 6. Please locate the blue text at the bottom of this screen that states: "Click here to run PC Updater Application." 7. At this point if you have a pop\-up blocker in use, you may get a yellow/gold bar that appears at the top of your screen asking if you would like to allow this pop up. Click on "temporarily allow pop\-ups" and refresh the page by hitting the F5 key on your keyboard. If you do not have a pop\-up blocker in use, ignore this step. 8. You will now have a download box appear on your screen asking you if you wish to run or save this program. If you are using Windows XP with IE you will choose the "Run" option. If you are using Windows Vista, please "Save" this file to your desktop. 9. Windows XP: At this point you may have an information box appear that will inform you that the publisher of this program could not be verified and ask if you are sure you would like to run this program�Click "Run" again. The Updater Application will start automatically. Windows Vista: Please double\-click the download icon on your desktop to being running the Updater Application. 10. The Updater Application should now be on your screen. It lists the steps that you will go through to update your Pandigital Novel. Click on the blue text that states "Click here to start the process". 11. At this point, the program will list some steps you will need to do before updating your novel. These steps are: 1. Unplugging any other USB mass storage devices from your computer. These kinds of devices include flash drives, cameras, photo frames etc. Keyboards and mice are not considered storage devices so if you have any of those plugged into your USB ports, they are ok to leave plugged in. 2. Powering your Pandigital Novel with the supplied AC adapter (please ignore this step and just be sure that your Pandigital Novel is fully charged before you attempt the upgrade process). 3. Connect your Pandigital Novel to your computer using the USB cable that was supplied with your device. 4. Power your Pandigital Novel on (your Novel will go into "PC Mode"\- this means that your Novel will be inoperable while connected to your computer). 12. Once you have completed these steps, please click on "Ok" to advance to the next step. 13. The Updater Application will then display a screen and ask you to confirm the details of your device (serial number, model number, etc.). Confirm these details by clicking on the "Confirm" button. 14. You will now begin the download process. (This process can take some time depending on your computer and your internet speed). 15. Once you have finished the download the screen will display that you have successfully downloaded the firmware update. At this point you will see another text box on appear on your screen giving you more instruction. These instructions will include: 1. Removing your Pandigital Novel device from your computer 2. Informing you that your Novel may or may not turn itself off, if it does not turn itself off, please power the Novel completely off by pressing the power button and choosing the "power off" option. 3. Now it will ask you to power your Novel back on in a very specific way. Please press the power and volume up button (located on the top of your device and is the + key) at the same time (not one and then the other, they must be pressed at the same time) for 10 seconds. Please do these steps until you see two lines of white text appear at the top of your screen that states the boot count and firmware version. As soon as you see these lines of text, let go of the power and volume + buttons. This should begin the update process in the form of a blue progress bar appearing at the bottom of the screen that will state things like "verifying update." If you have reached this screen your Novel is now updating properly. If you do not see this screen, please power your device off once more and try the activation process of holding the power and volume + buttons again. Do not be discouraged if this takes a few tries, and be sure you are holding the edge of the power + button; holding it too close to the middle will not activate the update. 4. Once the update is complete, please power off your Pandigital Novel completely, then reconnect the device to your computer using the USB cable and power it on after it is plugged in. 5. Click on "Ok". This will then run a process called a "restore". Once this has finished please disconnect your novel and once more perform the activation process of holding down the power and volume + buttons. You will again get another blue progress bar at the bottom of your screen when done correctly. 16. Congratulations! You have now updated your Pandigital Novel successfully! I have attached a new user manual for your use as the interface of your Novel has now changed to the most recent version. We hope you enjoy your Novel even more now and make use of all of the newest features! Happy Reading!

First I have to confess that I have not gotten to backing up the hard drive - or working on the start up programs. Other computer issues in the family took priority - and then we had non-technological family difficulties. So my focus has been elsewhere. The internet connection still sometimes drops. Less often but it happens. I can just buy a wireless dongle. The laptop had been running cooler after getting all the bogus programs off. But lately it's sluggish again and running hot. The hard drive is making a bad noise. Not sure how to describe it but kind of like a car struggling to turn over. It does it just occasionally - some times if it's just trying to perform some action - and just now when I started the laptop. (It has not made the sound since it started up). Since hard drives are mechanical, does this sound like the hard drive might be failing? if it's hardware failure, is there any point in running chkdsk? or any other test? If the hard drive is failing, could that be causing it to run hot and slow at times? seems logical to me but I have no idea. I could inexpensively replace the hard drive. And get a wireless dongle. I imagine all that could be done for under $100 and just a small amount of time. The other troubleshooting I did was partly to learn. Here's what I like about the computer and why I may want to save/keep it: great size - 13", light - but has a great, great keyboard for such a small laptop. like the trackball and no touchpad. includes a free upgrade to Vista (so it could be used after XP is not supported) What I don't like: ongoing wireless adapter problems, sometimes running hot, possible failing hard drive, no web cam. Not sure if I'll put it to sleep soon - or try to resuscitate it. If I decide to let it die a peaceful death, there's no need to back up the HD. If I decide to replace the hard drive (if it needs it) or keep it if the HD's fine, I will back it up and make that a priority. And of course, now that I'm writing this post, it's behaving absolutely fine. Quick, cool, no noise. Thanks. Lynn.

From my point of view, Facebook is harmless and not annoying. For me, it's mostly been a way to find out about high school people and get to know a little more about about my brother's girlfriend. I think Facebook is fine, as long as you set your privacy settings the way you want, only add people to your friends list judiciously, and are sensible in what you do/don't post. Most of what happens on Facebook seems pretty superficial, but (imo) it's okay. To offer some thoughts for some of the things mentioned in this thread: * The suggested friends on the right side of my Facebook page are all people who are friends of people in my own friends list. I think their algorithm may give preference to people who are friends of multiple friends, because I do recognize some of the names that show up the most often as people from high school. It may also give preference to people within your network, if you've defined one. I haven't. * Facebook can access the e-mail address you have listed with them if you give it permission. When I access my Friends list, I always see a box asking me to give permission. I never say yes. * I've used the Hide [App] function to hide the Farmville, Fishville, etc. stuff on my Home page. There's a faint gray line between posts. If you hover your mouse under the right end of the post's line, a Hide button will appear. You can choose to hide the person or hide the application. I choose to hide the application, and I never see that stuff again unless I visit the person's profile page. * To make yourself unavailable for Chat, if you click the Chat thing in the gray bar at the bottom of your screen, a pop-up will appear that has an options box at the top. Click that. One of the choices will be Go Offline. Pick that option. No one will be able to contact you for a Chat session until you re-enable it.