Thanks so much for the info, Snowy. The laptop I'm having issues with is a Dell. It's about 7 years old, but don't hold me to that (I time warp a lot). I had the warranty and about 1 month prior to its expiration, I had a problem. Dell support strung me along for a month, ignoring my reports that the last "fix" did not work. Finally they said, "sorry, your warranty expired" and wouldn't talk anymore. I always got a rep in India and had such trouble understanding them. I think Dell has lost this customer.