Okay. You guys are great. Clearly the collective wisdom is not to throw money at the problem - but figure the problem out. Owbist - in my thread on not connecting my husband's vista laptop to our network, I tried quietly, methodically to troubleshoot the issues - to no avail. I found lots of similar frustrations on google - but no solutions that worked - and I think I tried them all - at least to the best of my ability. thanks for those great, easy-to-follow instructions to transfer to an external hard drive. He'll want to do that anyway - even if he keeps this computer. This computer guy is pricey - but where I am in DC they seem to fall in the $125-140/hour range - and they can usually fix a problem. Others that charge $40-75 - that the uninformed think are good - but their know-how is less than what I find here. I tried a few of those locally recommended guys - and they accomplished the simple tasks but also made mistakes I had to hire the more expensive guy to fix. My main complaint with him is that he's wedded to his biases - he hates Vista - so his recommendation is usually to avoid or ditch it. Our struggles with Vista seem to often be how often we're blocked from things or performing simple tasks have all sort of obstacles - for "safety's" sake. Thanks to everyone for pointing out that Windows 7 is just a revamped Vista. I got my first issue of Smart Computing and they were tauting it and described some features I thought I'd love. DA - if W8 is in process, is there any indication of what it will be like? Probably worth waiting for - or at least waiting to hear more about how Windows 7 is panning out. So I'll keep plugging away on my other thread to get him connected. If I don't succeed by Tuesday, the computer guy will come and fix it. I guess we'll stop there. Thanks. Lynn.

Macs can have exactly the same issue with browser incompatibilities. Many people don't use Safari for that and other reasons. Internal hardware for electronic devices essentially come from the same or similar sources and despite what many Apple owners think, there's little special about what's inside their products in this respect. What does differ is software and firmware. Apple's strength and emphasis is ease of use and the automatic integration and interoperability of its products, something it can do because in its ecosystem, it's a one source supplier. They do a great job with this, but: The downside of its approach is the built-in inflexibility. Apple products are akin to cars with drivers seats in a fixed position. You may want something to be slightly different, or more flexible, and the fact is, too often there's no choice, there's one setting and that can't be changed. I say this from a few decades of being the family "tech support department" in a mixed household of devices. My wife still uses an iPad and when she's having a problem or wants to do something a bit differently, I often get so frustrated I want to stick a fork into an eyeball. She won't have an iPhone so she has an Android as I do and I'm happy to configure them in ways WE decide are most useful. I should mention she has a new iPad because the old one, which worked perfectly well, got turned into a paperweight by Apple locking it out from the App store and making existing apps incompatible with a variety of things. This is a common experience with older but still functioning Apple devices, being forced to replace otherwise functioning older devices. It doesn't happen in the Windows or Android world.

What you've pictured is a 12 volt male "plug" with USB sockets on the back side. There are many, many kinds of electrical do-dads, ranging from spotlights to tire pumps to vacuums to coolers , fans and what not that use 12 v male plugs (but without USB slots) for the connection to the 12V sockets often found in RVs and boats as well as cars. The socket used to be called a cigarette lighter socket in cars, now just 12 v. Cars always have one or more. Those work, of course. The limitation you have with using a thumb drive in the car's USB slot for audio books is this - there's no way to have personal mobility to listen to the book when you leave the car. Imagine a Kindle or book copy that can't be used outside of a car. And when you remove it from the USB socket, you lose your place. For those for whom reading a book is a continuous process of repeated sessions, one of which may be in a car but the next one out of the car, audio books are more easily listened to if on a smartphone (and most will play in the audio system over Bluetooth) or using a small MP3 player. I choose the latter, they're smaller than my smartphone and I can use them all over. If they fall or get damaged, I don't worry about them because they're inexpensive. Sandisk still makes and sells MP3 players. not sure for how much longer. WIth a spring loaded clip on the back that will clip onto your top when exercising, working indoors or out, etc., that you can use cheap earbuds with. Go in the car, use the 3.5mm cord instead. Leave the car, disconnect, plug ear buds back in to keep listening. Lots of choices, each with advantages and disadvantages

Thanks. My laptop is 9 years old and it is slowly coming to the end of its life. Since I don't have internet at home I have to use the mobile hotspot off of my phone but I can never get a signal. I have Firefox and Edge on my laptop but it's almost impossible to get either one to work at this point. The IT department at my work said one of the issues is the fact that it is so old which is why I'm considering getting a new one. If I do or when I do Chrome will be the first thing I install on to it. Thanks so much for the info.