I'm glad there was a camera, hopefully it still has the tape and stuff for it... I's a shame that this happened to you in a new place...is this your first year there? and did you know anyone there already? Hopefully it's just a prank between friends, in which case needs some hefty retribution! If not, and they dont keep the laptop for personal use, (which would be really stupid) check out any local second hand pc shops...the ones around here will buy old pc's for a very minimal price, fix em up, or rebuild, or use for parts and resell... would be a place they might dump yours, or for you to get a "in the mean time" pc... There's one here that sells OLD OLD laptops with minimal requirements for as little as $200 or go all the way up to about $1200 for top of the line used ones. I wish you the best of luck Drac! and am glad you can still come here to talk with us, even if you can't make anything (yet).. Jen