A simple message buried in an avalanche of unnecessary words. The heading is enough for direction - home WIFIs should have WPA2 enabled. On the other hand, little mischief is accomplished on the millions of unsecured signals that exist. Newer versions of Windows require password authentication anyway, so with that and a firewall, it's hard to imagine there's much risk of unwanted access. Paranoid souls always have the option to turn off their WIFI signal and simply use hardwire connections.

Have you tried more than one CD? And more than one type? If for example you are trying a music CD now try inserting you XP operating system CD and see what pops up. Does the activity light on the front of the DVD player come on when you close the drawer with a CD inside and does the speed of the flashing increase after a few seconds of activity?

Randy, When I saw the title of your post, I wondered if you can even still get CD recorders, however, you can get DVD recorders pretty cheap now. What about one of those? The only issues I can think of are 1) most need a video signal to record, they won't run without it (but you could experiment) - it could be anything, a feed from a camera or a cheap test pattern generator... The other issue is whether you'd have trouble ripping the audio from the dvd, although there's plenty of software out there to do it, much of it free for download....of course, you could also just digitise it in through your audio inputs, I seem to remember Windows have that provision somewhere.... You can get a DVD recorder for less than $200 and the quality's good, even better than CD depending on your options....and the recording duration can be quite lengthy depending on quality levels ( it affects video, not sure if audio's scaled back too) and if you get a dual-layer recorder, well even longer. Lots of these recorders work with rewritable disks, so there's a saving for you.

I`m not pleased with GICs, CDs, etc. ... as they earn interest, and interest here is taxed at the top rate ... but dividends on Canadian stocks, that used to be taxed at a lower rate, for the last 5 years have been taxed at an even lower rate. That is part of the strategy that I`ve been using to reduce my Federal income tax to zero for the past couple of years - substantial charitable contributions and some political contributions are an important part of it, as well. At 80+, having been a personal financial consultant for something like 25 years, I have about 80% of my assets in equities. I have some bond and mortgage style of mutual funds, whose value stays quite steady. And haven`t bought a mutual fund in about 25 years. In the past, if I were short of money when markets were low and I did not want to liquidate some of the mortgage fund, I could borrow some, using the fully-secured line of credit, planning to either pay it off from ongoing savings, or by liquidating some stocks later, after prices had recovered. But, living rather frugally, by choice, and within my pensions, I have not needed to draw on such assets. When I had blood clots in the lungs about a year and a half ago and, unusually, had to make substantial use of the health care system, the result was very little out-of-pocket expenses ... and I have no medical insurance. But - I live in Canada - that helps! Recent tests show that the clots have dissolved. By the way ... sometimes I use a line of credit to buy more stocks, but that`s a different one, as the interest on the one used for consumer stuff isn`t deductible, but that on money used to invest is deductible and I don`t want to mix the two. With the financial hassles in Europe, that are related to issues on this side of the water, I`m rather skittish about the financial future ... ... but not so much that I`ve liquidated a major portion of my asset. Where would I put it, to earn anything to speak of (can`t use `question mark`). And - when should I sell (question mark). Yes - if there`s a major collapse, having cash on hand will be great, if, say the markets drop by half (or more). But - if they don`t (question mark). I`ll say this - it`s a lot more fun having a number of strings on one`s violin (or should that be `guitar`- that has more) than being up against it. There are a lot of guys in a local plant that builds railway locomotives that have been told to take less than half of their former wage. Some suggest that the employer plans to shut this plant and build them elsewhere. Plus - if I liquidate stocks that I`ve held for 30 years or so ... there`ll be quite a lot of capital gain to pay tax on (that I haven`t had to, thus far): it`s nice to have increases in value that haven`t been liquidated, thus taxed, so far. Avoiding tax is best - deferring it almost as good. It would be a good idea to liquidate some each year, and pay (low) tax now .. ... rather than have them all liquidated at my death ... and the personal retirement funds all added in, and taxed at a higher, maybe a substantial portion of them at the highest, rate. But - don`t forget - the only earnings that your CDs will make is done now ... and taxed now. I figure that, inflation being what it is, the U.S. carrying such huge debts (and other invisible liabilities), and printing money like crazy, that interest rates must go up ... and fairly soon. ole joyful