I have been quite content with my decision to stay with AOL's 5.0 version. When the newer versions evolved a spam folder - and "button", apparently - I decided to see if I could access mine. I entered "spam folder" into the Keyword, and up popped the spam folder. This was perhaps two years ago. I have always set my mail preferences for saving all in and out mail directly to my personal filing cabinet. But I also set my maximum AOL-saved on-line mail for 28 days for Sent Mail, and 14 days for Old (Saved) Mail (those were the maximums allowed). A few months ago, I noticed my Old Mail (on-line) was only 7 days. I went to the preferences and the scrolled numbers would now only permit me to save up to 7 days. I experimented (something all AOL-ers are accustomed to) with deleting the 7 and typing 14 into the box. Surprisingly, it worked !!!! As all of my mail is saved routinely to my PFC (and later, to backups) where I delete the unwanted letters, the AOL saved-on-line has only been of use when I screw-up in the short term, and have to go to the AOL-saved letters. Two or three months ago, I lost my ability to access my spam folder. Joan thinks I still might have one, but cannot access it. I'm not sure, and it's hard to tell as I get so few spam letters at all. I'd hate to think that AOL would put any mail addressed to me, into a folder which I was unable to access. The strangest situation occurred this month, when my Old saved Mail - previously set to a maximum of 14 days - started saving letters back to December 2nd, last year. About 4000 letters, which take forever to download on my slow dial-up connection. I have found that I can stop the procedure with the Stop Loading button in conjunction with the Escape Key. But it's still annoying, and the temporary stop still seems to require a long time before I can do anything else on the computer. My Sent Mail, from the Mail Center also, likewise includes everything back to December 2nd. I don't suppose any of this is likely to change........and the saved-on-line-mail- downloads will take longer and longer. Who knows what is coming next? AOL is not the most transparent of organizations, I would say. As long as I can keep and control my PFC, I'll probably remain with AOL. As Joan says, it has a fine e-mail program - which does about all I want it to do. However.....waiting for the next shoe to drop, I am: Pete - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts </HTML>