My hard drive is beyond repair, it would seem.

It's dying on a daily basis...

If i'm not around... that's why.

currently, I'm on Abby's laptop - but she uses it too, so my time online is restricted now.

I'll try and sort out things as and when I can.

Hey. If you are considering a whole new computer rather than just a
hard drive, consider a Macintosh.....

Powermax, in Portland, Oregon, sells refurbished Macs of all kinds for
quite reasonable. Somewhere in their inventory may be the iBook of your
dreams. It's all viewable online at their website.

Oh, and they're great to do business with -- very professional!

http://www.powermax.com

No, I don't work for them....

I'm not sure I can do that, as I live in Michigan.. I don't know nor pretend to know my USA geography, but I think Oregan is a good while away from where I am?

Oh...and DO check your local public libraries for public
internet access...

Yes, a good while away. Oregon is the state just north of California, and
just south of Washington (the state where I live.)

However, doing business with Powermax is extremely easy by mail. I've
done it myself -- it's the only way I ever have, even though they are only
130 miles away.

:funny:
Oh boy, that's like a day trip in England... but yes, here in the wide open US of A, it's like "a trip to the local shop."

My hard drive is beyond repair, it would seem.
It's dying on a daily basis...
There's a lot of it about Karl. But you're using state-of-the-art western stuff and I'm using Korean surplus junk.

Must be like bird-flu - knows no borders.

Karl, could it be software instead of hardware? You probably know the following tricks already, but just in case:

Start | All programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Cleanup.

Clean temp files in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp and C:\WINDOWS\Temp. First use Tools | Folder options | View | Show hidden files to show all files.

Clean IE's cache. IE | Tools | Internet Options | Delete files. It may also be benificial to reduce the cache size under Settings to 50 MB.

Check for spyware: http://www.webroot.com/. They have an online scan. Many, many PC's are infected.

Check for viruses: http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp. You need Internet Explorer for this.

Otherwise, you're probably out of luck and need a new HD or computer. Personally I've always preferred Dell workstations. Expensive, but trouble-free.