Thanks to all for the many tips and suggestions. I'm printing them out right now. It's good to know I'm not alone, at least. But I want to share with you the latest trick. My grandson left me a sticky note from the wee hours of the morning saying AOL had deleted itself! Just prior to doing so, the message said it was outdated. I'm running 9.0 Optimized SE. Sure enough, it was GONE but I had it on my external backup HD and that's the only reason I'm able to be here to write this at all. Running AOL computer checkup and PCPitstop will be my next moves, to rule out a virus. Vanette