So after much thought - we decided to talk to our daughter and let her know that we wanted to get her a laptop - but that we also have concerns about her use of technology - and that we would only do this with a contract. I'm going to be working on the contract for a while - and would welcome any ideas. So far, I know it will include that I have administrative control of the laptop - which will be used to update programs, run antivirus and antispyware - and generally ensure me that I have access (unlike her ipod which she changed her password on so I don't have access). It also includes that all technology (ipods, laptop, etc) will be in the parent's bedroom - from when it's time to get ready for bed - until after school the next day (or the next morning if there's no school). (not having it in the kitchen over night bc. she'll sneak down and get it if she's awake in the middle of the night. She won't sneak into our bedroom to get it.) This will prevent her from using it in the middle of the night (esp. tempting when her friend lives in Vietnam is is available to chat at those times) - and thinking she can have the laptop open in the bathroom while she's getting ready for bed. For now, I am not setting time limits - but will include that those could get added in the future if we think she's using it too much. The reason to not add it now is that she is using it a bit too much. BUT - that's bc. she loves her new Sims game - which is actually motivating her to do her homework as soon as she comes home. For the first time ever, I do not have to monitor her homework and keep asking her to do it (I still pay attention to what she's doing, but it's nice that the impetus to do it and stay organized is now coming from her). She's also coming out of a serious depression - and having some pretty terrific, responsible behavior - so any limits on amount of her free time spent on the computer - when she's meeting all her responsibilities - isn't as pressing for right now. She's also healing form a broken ankle - so in fairness to her, there's not as much active stuff she can do with her free time. ------------------------------- I have some questions about how to set up her computer so I have administrative control. I have that set up on my computer now - and she can use it as a guest. But if my computer is off - and restarts, she needs the password to get on. She doesn't have the password to my computer (which is how I want it). But I do want her to be able to log into her own computer without me giving her the administrator's password. Is there a way to do this? Set it up so she can start the computer and log in as a guest? Thanks. Lynn.

The laptop's all set up - and dd received it on Tuesday. For now we'll try open office. She does have a desktop pc with word if she needs it. And at school they use Mac's. So no matter what we use at home, it won't be quite the same as in school. abreeze - thanks for the link. It's beyond anything she or I will do now - but one or both of us might get more versed in powerpoint over time. That's a helpful comparison. I created recovery disks - but when I went to create a password reset disk, the laptop kept asking me to insert a disk. There was a disk in there. I even switched disks in case one was bad. But it was birthday day - so I figured I'd get to this later. Well - it came back and bit me in the butt. Birthday night had some trauma. After dinner, my mother fell backwards and hit her head on the sidewalk. I took her to the ER. My daughter was distraught - and the parent controls had logged her off at 9pm. Husband thought this was a reasonable exception - so he logged into the admin account for her. She immediately eliminated the time controls. No big deal, I thought - I'll reset them another time. Somehow she tricked my husband into entering the admin password again - told him she'd restarted the computer by accident. Well - that sneak had gotten him to enter the password in a field that allowed her to change it. She changed the passwords and locked us out of the laptop. So this is where that password reset disk would have been helpful - to override what she did and reset a new admin password. So this is partly a note to people about the important of creating a password reset disk (or set up on flash drive). I'd never even heard of this before. We're at the beach with my daughter and friend - it's instead of a birthday party. So we're not having the confrontation with this weekend. Monday - we tell her she has to hand back the reins for the admin account (or no laptop). The joys of parenting preteens. It took her less than 24 hours to violate most of the terms of the contract she signed. Sure wish I'd had that reset password disk. When I get admin control back, I'll be sure to create one somehow. (I assume at this point my only option is getting her to give me that new password she created.) Thanks. Lynn.

I didn't know MS was skipping 9 and going to 10 - thanks, Emma. Yeah, I'm a little leery about buying a laptop online without trying it first. I love the keyboard and feel/response of the touchpad on my current laptop, so I want to find something as comfortable. I think it's best I wait until Windows 10 comes out... it might be less Windows 8'ish; although I've been using W8.1 on a desktop, so I'm familiar with it - and I don't absolutely hate it, like many people do. I didn't dislike Vista (my laptop), either, like many people do. I actually like Vista. Guess I'm not too hard to please when it comes to operating systems - lol.

ritaweeda, I think Brushwork was advising that you remove McAfee if you've installed Norton's. Having two Active Anti-Virus Programs on a computer isn't a good thing. They usually end up fighting with each other thinking the other is a virus. Download the McAfee Removal Tool and run it. Windows Defender is included with Windows 10. It's not Microsoft's intension to stop you from purchasing a Good Anti-Virus product such as Norton's. Windows Defender will Disable itself if it detects another active anti-virus program such as Norton's, McAfee, etc... Microsoft's intension was to make sure Everyone had some kind of Basic Virus Protection. Many people think they don't need or just don't know they need an Anti-Virus Program. Microsoft is making sure these people are somewhat protected, keeping the rest of us a just bit safer! From what I've read, Microsoft Defender is a little better than Microsoft Essentials. I'm not exactly sure of the differences, you'd have to do some research on that one yourself!