After 5 years of reliable service my Packard Bell Multimedia S621 computer has finally gone to the big computer lab in the sky! As a result my Internet access will be severely limited. I can't say that it really surprises me that my computer finally went, For the past year the hard drive has been making this horrible grinding noise everytime I turned the power on.

I've been giving some serious thought about what exactly I should do and I would appreciate any input to these ideas.

1) Trash the old computer and replace it with a new computer that I saw which has Windows XP, a Pentium IV chip, DVD Player, Writable CD rom drive, 56k modem.

2) Replace the hard drive in my current computer which costs about $100-$120 for the hard drive, installation and sales tax, Keep it and just continue to use it. The only disadvantage is i'd be stuck with a computer that is five years old with a Pentium I chip and Windows 95 which unfortunately would not allow me to use a bunch of computer CDs that I got as Christmas gifts because they require a computer with a minimum of either a Pentium II or Pentium III.

3)Again, replace the hard drive and instead of keeping it, give it for free to or sell it really really cheap to a friend of relative if they aren't picky about or don't care what kind of computer it is.

4) Say "Screw It!" and not buy a new computer at all and just use one of the computer at the public library which itself has some disadvantages, The first is I wouldn't be able to download or run anything from these computers because access to the desktop and hard drive are restricted, The second is security concerns, Information that I enter into the website may end up becoming an archived file in the Temporary Internet folder which may be accessable to anyone who knows how to view it. Also as a security concern not being able to log out of a secured website after entering the username and password which may allow someone else after your leave the computer access to the same restricted information. The third and finally problem is my library is using on their computer really really old versions of Netscape which really don't work anymore and I've told them again and again and again to STOP using Netscape and start using Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Of course before I do anything one of the main things I have to do is figure out HOW I am going to pay for this new computer while at the same time trying to pay off the ever mounting pile of bills that I get every month.

== Rick ==