Hi, All-- First of all, I want to thank all you good folks for your suggestions concerning my problem with CFTW. Perhaps I should also try to answer a few of your questions. That might help you help me. At least I hope so. 1. First of all, I know computers about as well as I know Cindy Crawford (i.e., in the Biblical sense), which is to say, not at all. Before I lost my central vision, I was a college English teacher and musician. The closest I had ever come to a computer in my entire life happened one day in Sears and Roebuck when I got off the elevator on the wrong floor. So: one might say that computers have become somewhat of an overnight necessity for me. Without them, I would be totally unable to read and write. Of course, in the last few years, I have come a long way [baby], if I do say so myself--i.e., I have come all the way from an innocent neophyte to a very dangerous semi-literate bungler. (I tell you this just in case any of you are given to fits of pique when dealing with a raw amateur.) But, be that as it may, let me continue with my responses (such as they are) to your questions. 2. I always run defrag and scandisk at least once a week, whether my wife needs it or not; 3. Today, I downloaded a huge Windows 95 upgrade--the download took 43 minutes to complete. I hope it helps but, for all I know, I might simply have been downloading Pittsburg. 4. Of my 2.98 GB hard drive, 1.91 GB is still available. 4. At START UP my system is usually 90% free. The following programs are running: MSN Internet Access (Quick View); Explorer; Loadwc; Msmsgs; Systray; and Navapw32. (Compaq also has some kind of thing called WATCHDOG. I usually END TASK and get it out, but it always comes back. Just like Bill Clinton, it never goes away entirely.) 5. When my computer crashes, I don't get an error message--at least not that I am aware of. The computer simply freezes. Nothing works except the pointer. The only way to get out of the freeze is to shut the computer down with the power switch. Ctrl + Alt + Del has no effect whatsoever. 6. As I mentioned before, most of these freezes occur when I have both CFTW and Outlook Express running simultaneously, but not always. On the other hand, I really can't remember at any time my computer freezing in the same way it does when CFTW is running. Usually, whenever a freeze does occur without CFTW, which is almost never, the ctrl + alt + del will get it going again. 7. As best I can determine, my Windows 95 version is 4.00.950b; the IE is a recent download. It is 5.5.50.4134.0600. [There are so many dates in Windows, Ira, I can't really determine the most reoccurring one.] 8. I don't really use the Accessibility Options. I simply use white text against a very dark blue background, large fonts and, when I need it, Zoom Text, a screen enlargement program. I rarely run Zoom Text, however, when simply reading text. I use it primarily for hard-to-see attachments, files, pictures, naked girls, etc.. 9. I think I have already downloaded the 2.51x upgrade. And I will certainly consider the 3.05 version. Let's see how it goes. 10. And finally, I ordered a CD from Compaq which boasts a few "fixes" for very weary 4508 Presario owners. Perhaps it will do some good. Okay, so I hope some of these hopeless literary cripples (i.e., my answers) help you good folks decipher the reason for my computer and/or mental breakdowns. As always, I am open to any suggestions. (By the way, I don't suppose any of you guys might happen to have Cindy Crawford's telephone number handy, would you?) walt boswell [email protected]

Walt, when a system freezes up so that even the mouse pointer won't move, and a CTRL-ALT-DEL won't work, 99.9% of the time it is a problem with a driver for the graphics card. You might try checking on the web site for the maker of your video card and see if there is a later driver. SgtGeorge At 07:46 PM 03/10/2001, walterboswell1 wrote: *********START OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT********* >Hi, All-- > >(snip) >5. When my computer crashes, I don't get an error message--at least not >that I am >aware of. The computer simply freezes. Nothing works except the pointer. >The only >way to get out of the freeze is to shut the computer down with the power >switch. >Ctrl + Alt + Del has no effect whatsoever. >6. As I mentioned before, most of these freezes occur when I have both >CFTW and >Outlook Express running simultaneously, but not always. On the other hand, >I >really can't remember at any time my computer freezing in the same way it >does >when CFTW is running. Usually, whenever a freeze does occur without CFTW, >which is >almost never, the ctrl + alt + del will get it going again. >(snip) **********END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT**********

Walt, I must say your personality towards your situation is amusing. It does get frustrating at times. With so many programs, one has to play pick and choose to find the actual problem. Recently our computer crashed bigtime. We lost all our information. Thank goodness we had burned my tree! I really don't know what caused the actual problem but, outlook express did have problems while running with other programs. We use chat programs so I may talk with my family in the US. Of course we use internet explorer. There are many other program we run at the same time. It was only when using outlook express together with other programs that our computer would freeze up. I believe it had something to do with the configuration in the actual program. Since everything was completely deleted from our computer, we had to start from scratch. There are no problems now. I do not suggest starting all over. Possibly reconfiguring outlook express would solve the problem. There are fixes for outlook express as well. This may or may not be the problem. This is only my personal experience. I will include a link to outlook express, if you'd like to try it out. Dawn http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/welcome/outlook.asp Hope this helps.

Dawn....Another solution would be to switch to Netscape.....I've used it for years. It appears, that besides carrying a lot of viruses, Outlook Express has more than it's share of problems. Amy. Dawn Conner Jeppesen wrote: > Walt, > > I must say your personality towards your situation is amusing. It does get > frustrating at times. With so many programs, one has to play pick and choose > to find the actual problem. > > Recently our computer crashed bigtime. We lost all our information. Thank > goodness we had burned my tree! I really don't know what caused the actual > problem but, outlook express did have problems while running with other > programs. We use chat programs so I may talk with my family in the US. Of > course we use internet explorer. There are many other program we run at the > same time. It was only when using outlook express together with other > programs that our computer would freeze up. I believe it had something to do > with the configuration in the actual program. > > Since everything was completely deleted from our computer, we had to start > from scratch. There are no problems now. I do not suggest starting all over. > Possibly reconfiguring outlook express would solve the problem. There are > fixes for outlook express as well. > > This may or may not be the problem. This is only my personal experience. I > will include a link to outlook express, if you'd like to try it out. > Dawn > > http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/welcome/outlook.asp > > Hope this helps. > > ==== CFT-WIN Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from CFT-WIN, send an e-mail message to: > [email protected] (for individual messages) > [email protected] (for Digest mode) > Subject: unsubscribe > In the body include only one word: unsubscribe > (Turn OFF your signature file when sending this command) > > ============================== > Add as many as 10 Good Years To Your Life > If you know how to reduce these risks. > http://www.thirdage.com/health/wecare/hearthealth/index.html

Thanks for writing, Dawn. I too believe that Outlook Express has something to do with the issue. A friend of mine in South Africa, who also despises Outlook Express, sent me another mail program to use, but I couldn't get MS to let me use it as my default mail server. So, obviously, that didn't help matters much. Of course I may simply have not know what I was doing, which pretty much my excuse for getting married the fifth time. At any rate, I appreciate your commetns. walt [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dawn Conner Jeppesen" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2001 4:47 AM Subject: Re: [CFTW] A Lot of Thank Yous and A Few Responses > Walt, > > I must say your personality towards your situation is amusing. It does get > frustrating at times. With so many programs, one has to play pick and choose > to find the actual problem. > > Recently our computer crashed bigtime. We lost all our information. Thank > goodness we had burned my tree! I really don't know what caused the actual > problem but, outlook express did have problems while running with other > programs. We use chat programs so I may talk with my family in the US. Of > course we use internet explorer. There are many other program we run at the > same time. It was only when using outlook express together with other > programs that our computer would freeze up. I believe it had something to do > with the configuration in the actual program. > > Since everything was completely deleted from our computer, we had to start > from scratch. There are no problems now. I do not suggest starting all over. > Possibly reconfiguring outlook express would solve the problem. There are > fixes for outlook express as well. > > This may or may not be the problem. This is only my personal experience. I > will include a link to outlook express, if you'd like to try it out. > Dawn > > http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/welcome/outlook.asp > > Hope this helps. > > > ==== CFT-WIN Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from CFT-WIN, send an e-mail message to: > [email protected] (for individual messages) > [email protected] (for Digest mode) > Subject: unsubscribe > In the body include only one word: unsubscribe > (Turn OFF your signature file when sending this command) > > ============================== > Add as many as 10 Good Years To Your Life > If you know how to reduce these risks. > http://www.thirdage.com/health/wecare/hearthealth/index.html >

Dear Walter, >Ctrl + Alt + Del has no effect whatsoever. I believe, after crippling your fingers as above, it pays to wait a while for some time-outs to take effect, before reaching for the reset button. Also after killing programs in the task list the system waits for time-outs which may take up to a minute. Are you on-line when the crashes occur? Greetings Harvey Nimmo