I'm not sure what to say, Alison, except not to focus too much on the "I'm in charge" big picture and just trust that you'll be able to handle whatever needs to be handled until your folks get back.

Would that I could help with the situation with your Grandma. I'd seen the same thing with my uncle for two and a half years; where everyone knew he was dying, but no one knew when. It was tough to talk to and visit him (the language barrier, along with other issues, just added to it.) I think it was better for both of us that I did go, though.

And your car will be fine (it's just a little cold.)

okay, so what do you do when your Grandma is dying (as made abundantly clear from the doctor, and it truly is only a matter of time, and there's nothing else you can do except wait), she's not doing well at all right now, your parents and your uncle and aunt are all on a cruise through the Panama Canal (and won't return for two weeks), your car hasn't started in a little while, and you're the eldest of all three relations still in the city?

I mean, what do you do?

I'm so scared.

Before you check out this link... try to guess what its about before you go to the site:
http://www.thethreeamigos.org/

Possibly because the casual user doesn't do anything important on the computer. Me for example, I don't give out credit card number on the internet and all my passwords are to pretty useless e-mail accounts. I guess I just don't trust the internet enough to do anything "risky".

Use a metal hat like the one Magneto has. It prevents mind reading for sure.

Actually, Albert, it's not the data on your computer that's valuable, it's the stuff you do with it. Passwords for e-mail, credit card numbers, online banking; all of this data is valuable in the hands of someone with bad intentions. But, apparently, this is not an important concern for consumers...

Alison, isn't the point of a tin-foil hat to prevent people from reading/controlling your mind with some sort of EM signal? Wouldn't antennae make it easier (at least, easier than for a hat without antennae) for them to do so?

Of course, I could be wrong; I was wrong about the term. Apparently the correct terminology is afdb (aluminum foil deflector beanie).

Just saw Star Wars holiday special... I want that hour of my life back!

so apparently I'm one of those secretly tinfoil-hat- wearing people who doesn't like spy ware for the fact that they don't like people spying on them... awesome. I think my tinfoil hat will have antennae.

Most people don't have anything valuable on their computer. Or if they do a hacker could easily get it using Kazaa or something faster. Therefore people care about how fast they get somewhere rather then if someone is hitching a ride. Well that is what I think anyways.

Oh, this is good. News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch (a.k.a. Beelzebub) wants to get into the video game market. I see only good things happening here. Titles like Doom 4: The Clinton II Presidency or Tony Fox Pro Skater. My personal favorite, though, will be All Your Base Are Belong To Rupert (only because I think most people will be reluctant to buy Worship Your One and True Media God, Rupert Murdoch XVI; sometimes game franchises just go stale.)

Random thought: Why is it that the reason people get anti-spyware tools isn't because they're afraid of hackers violating their privacy, but rather because poorly written spyware tools eat up bandwidth and processor time, slowing down computers? If spyware was written efficiently, and didn't have a noticeable impact on your computer's runtime, would people (well, specifically, people without the standard tinfoil hat) care?