Attached Link: http://homeparents.about.com/cs/householdtips/gr/duster.htm

> Quote - Sounds like you might need to look at the fan

I dont' think there is room in that external drive casing to house a fan, so I don't think there is one in there. > Quote - heres how to clean your pc on the cheap....

Or you can take it into a professional and let them do it. Which is what I've been doing with my desktop. Although since I don't use it much anymore, I haven't had it cleaned in about 2 years. I have never even seen the insides of a computer save for pictures on the internet. I'm not about to start trying to take one apart and clean it, LOL That would be computer suicide for sure. > Quote - it's a dirty secret, but if you do a Google on Key words in the error message, sometimes it will pull up a solution for the problem.

Yes, I use google alot for stuff like that. > Quote - if u ar going to use poser again after that shit, u surely make some safes of ur poser runtime i guess.

Yeah. I'm moving a copy of my runtimes to my desktop today. But I have dishes duty and then dinner duty first :) > Quote - there may be another culpret with your maxtor external drive disapearing, if you have Win XP SP2 you might want to read the article in the maxtor knowlege base entitled "1394 External Storage drive stops responding in Windows XP SP2". I have been having problems with my external drive and it seems to be that XP is rejecting the driver for some reason. I reload the drivers unplug and replug the power on the drive and plug it back into the computer and Windows recognizes it again.

It's actually a Maxtor internal drive, housed in an external drive casing. Not sure that makes a difference. I do have XP SP2. Thanks for the suggestion about the article. I will read it and see if it helps. In October when I had this trouble, it was after a fresh reformat with fresh drivers and everything, so I really think it's something with the drive itself. > Quote - Ah yes. Plug 'n' play.

I can't say that I'm a big fan of that. It seems hit and miss. > Quote - Have you considered a virus?

Yes. I scan my laptop at least once and sometimes twice a week for viruses. My virus scanner is always active and up-to-date and notifies me if anything is detected between scans. The external drive is for storage only. It only houses my Poser runtime files, which I unzip to my laptop first before moving to the external drive. So the files are virus free. > Quote - Take off the side panel case cover. Just leave it off. It does allow more dust into the case, but the increased airflow actually let's less dust just sit in the same spot, and keeps the system drastically cooler.

Probably not a good idea for me. I have 2 kitties that shed. Computers attract that kind of stuff like magnets. > Quote - power surges

I do have a really good power surge bar, but when I'm home and there is a lightning storm overhead, I unplug my computer from the wall... just to be safe. ******* I managed to salvage all of my runtimes to my laptop. There are a few (3 or 4) items that had corrupt files that I'll have to reinstall. Once I get the files to my desktop, I think I'll format the drive there. On the weekend I did it on my laptop and it only took about 5 or 10 seconds to do that. My desktop took considerably longer to do it in October. So I'm wondering if my laptop even managed to format it at all and I only thought it had. At any rate, it seems that I can carry on with my addiction, LOL

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi