computers! friend or foe? love 'em? or hate' em? as for my self, it depends on the moment and how responsive the computer in question is being at the time. my pc is a five or six year old hp, one of those christmas time wally world door buster specials with so-so speed and memory. over the years i've boosted both of those to the max to be had from what is a very entry level machine. my i.s.p. has boosted speeds available over the years, i just haven't seen them translate to my machine. don't get me wrong, for the applications i use it has been quite sufficient. of late however, it has been performing exceedingly in the snail lane. when i got home from work on thursday, i couldn't sign on to the net at all. how am i supposed to check for the latest installment at "the monkey heart discourses," if i can't get online? none of the tricks i've used in the past to solve the problem seemed to work. same deal on friday night. oddly i could sign on the net via the wife's lap top using my wi-fi connection but nuttin' honey when it came to my pc. when i got home from work on saturday night i still couldn't sign on. i thought, "i'll give it one more try. if it doesn't work this time, i'll swallow my pride and call for tech assistance". as a variation on a theme, i decided to disconnect the wireless router and cable modem, shut down the computer, wait a few, then reconnect everything and bring the pc back up. having done this multiple times on thursday and friday, i had no expectation that it would work this time. my pc takes forever to boot up. when it finally finished, not believing in anything like success this go-round, i clicked on the internet and turned around to watch tv. in a bit the wife said, "look it's working!" and there it was, the internet, back from what?-- an early summer mini-vacation?. and not just back, but the old pc was cranking out connect speeds worthy of those promised in the suddenlink ads? what the ....? where has all that speed been hiding? no matter, i'll enjoy the lighting speeds while they last. i think it's best not to look a gift i.s.p. in the mouth. aio