Hi Cindi in Baltimore, I have a Dell and am quite happy with it. It was a little pricey but I have been very satisfied with the performance. My husband is using a Compaq and he likes it. It was one of the Costco bargains. Costco has a very good return policy if you are not satisfied. I have heard some horror stories about Gateway but I really don't know. The thing I suggest is to get either a zip drive or a cd rewriter so that you can back up your files easily. I backup about every few weeks. I also suggest that you back up your files and give a copy to your grown children, or other responsible adult to keep in case of fire, heaven forbid. At any rate, there is so much work that goes into the research, so sad to lose it. I don't know about how to retrieve the information, but I understand that you can sometimes send your hard drive away and have it done. I would call my local computer store and talk to the real computer gurus, they may have some advice. So sorry for your trouble. Sammie Ford ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 3:03 PM Subject: [LARAPIDE] NGI/not genealogy--Do we have any computer whizzes? > Hi all, > > My computer went belly up recently and I'm devastated. For one thing, they > say they can't retrieve my files (NOT BACKED UP!!! DUH!!!) and for another, > it's not logical to fix it. So... > A) does anyone know about retrieving data? and > B) does anyone have any suggestions about a replacement (good memory, > scanner, color printer, graphics ability, surge protection...). I know this > is all wide open--need some concrete info about buying a system that's > compatible with itself (I've had SO many problems), and can handle all the > data I hope to recover (or replace! I'll be asking for help with that again > too, folks...) Dell? Gateway? Best Buy? other??? I'm really pretty > computer-challenged. I USE it, but I don't UNDERSTAND it... > > And if anyone is waiting for an answer from me, I'm really sorry! All I'm > doing is forwarding mail to myself when I get a chance to get on someone > else's computer. I know I've lost some (after 30 days--how do I adjust > that?), but hopefully most of it is in reserve for someday... > > thanks (sigh), > Cyndi in Baltimore >