Heartfelt sympathies. My wife's laptop has just gone do-lalley. If everything is working again I suggest doing a few things 1. Running scandisk in thorough mode to check for bad disk sectors. If any are found, start saving for a new hard disk. 2. Put your newly created Windows 98 rescue disks somewhere safe. Creating them should have been an option when reinstalling the OS. If you didn't do it this time, do it next time. 3. I agree with Laurie: build your own PC's. It really pays off. After all, didn't artists make their own brushes once upon a time? If there's any help you need, let us know. Mark