Hi everyone,

It was 2/6 and I shut off my computer for the night and everything was fine. Saturday 2/7 when I turned it on in the morning hoping to have a lot of time for Pet Talk the dreaded message from hell came on my screen.

Refusing to believe that my 4 1/2 year old computer had died, I started doing research - called Dell (talked to a woman in Manilla) - my brother gave it a try - a computer tech tried too.

OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND was still my message.

Buying a "refurbished" hard drive with a 90 day guarantee just didn't seem to solve my problem.

So, it was back to Dell to put together a new computer for me.

The pieces and parts started arriving..............boxes just left on my porch that clearly say DELL COMPUTER on them. No one knocked on the door - no doorbell. I about tripped over them when I was leaving the house. However, the work station and monitor arrived last Friday and happily I had to sign for them.

Last Saturday I put it all together with the help of my neighbor and Outlook Express WOULD NOT WORK.

McAfee Firewall was the problem.............that is after many phone calls to Dell and my server and finally to Microsoft. McAfee has a software glitch that blocks access to the internet for Outlook Express. After I changed that setting everything works just fine.

All of this came together just this evening at 7 PM and now I am once again a very happy Pet Talker.

I think I will stroll over to Thursdays and see if it is open and catch up on anything I have missed.

I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL....................

Love, Gini