David W.

I have a Compaq Presario laptop whose hard drive just failed utterly--it won't even boot past the XP welcome screen. I've pretty well decided to junk it and get a new netbook, which should do well for what I use the laptop for (mostly email and browsing while on trips), given the price of a new HD and trying to find Windows XP.

Should I pull the HD and destroy it? There is some personal info on it that I'd rather not risk. And is there anywhere I can donate the laptop without the HD?

The hard drive on my Compaq has apparently crashed, while I was on vacation and couldn't do anything about backing it up. I get a an opening message about an imminent drive failure and backing up, and it tells me to hit F1. When I do that, the Win XP screen comes up, then there's a click and it goes back to the "imminent failure" screen. I have a Seagate outboard drive that I can use, but can't get to the screen that installs it. What are the chances of recovering any or all of the data on the HD? I've searched the Web, and found some possible programs, but are any of them any good?

I have a large (5 feet tall, 5 around) hydrangea that got beaten down by heavy rain. The shrub is too big and heavy to tie up (I've tried!), so I wonder if something like rabbit fencing would help; would the bush recover? The blooms are 6 inches or bigger. Or should I give up for this season, cut it back in the fall, and hope for better results next year?

to the NE Panhandle of West Virginia, where will I likely find the best gas prices--OH, PA, MD or WV? I figure I'll need to fill up at least once both ways.

The desktop icons on my Windows 7 have suddenly stopped responding to mouse clicks, and several of the icons on the taskbar have disappeared. I can run the programs from the All Programs line, but nothing happens when I double click on the desktop icons. Any ideas?

preferably cats only, and preferably on the south side of Indianapolis. I've been using Fussy Felines, but they appear to be out of business (phone "temporarily disconnected"). Her excellent service has spoiled me, and I'm fussy too.

I have a 13-year-old calico cat who began getting noticeably skinny last year. After a while, I took her to the vet, who diagnosed her as hyperthyroid and gave us a prescription (I don't remember its name). When we'd finished the pills, the condittion didn't seem to change, and she's still constantly hungry, even though there's Purina out for her all the time. I've also tried Natural Choice "adult" chow, with not much result, and I can't afford canned food. Any recommendations? She's constantly hungry, and wolfs down the canned food. Her fur is somewhat ratty-looking, but she's normally active (for a 13-year-old) and seems otherwise OK, except for being bony.

Last fall I planted 100 mixed tulip bulbs in a narrow strip between a chain link fence and a retaining wall. They haven't started to come up yet, but I'm wondering if it would be safe to sprinikle Preen along the strip to keep down weeds and grass, or could that harm the sprouting bulbs?

and has lost a good bit of weight over the last month or two, yet she's perpetually hungry. Is there any sort of richer food I can give her to bulk her back up without getting her too fat? (Yes, she's under treatment for it.)

Like everyone else who's ever sung the Chorus in church, I loved the Silent Monks' version on YouTube, but does anyone know who originated it, and when and where? All I could find from a long Google search was "a high school group."

I recently cut back a large hydrangea plant for the winter (Indianapolis area), and about a week later, two ugly pink tubular shoots appeared together from the soil about two feet away; they look vaguely like boiled shrimp! Are these roots or rhizomes, and what, if anything, do I need to do with them? I haven't yet mulched the cut back plant.

and everything appeared to download and install fine. Now, though, when I click on the desktop icon for OO, it opens a window in Windows Explorer that lists the file folders on the hard drive, but I can't open any of the applications; none are listed, only file folders. Is this enough info to help?

When I try to get into Internet Explorer on my Compaq (2 GB RAM, Comcast Cable modem), it either loads the home page very slowly or not at all; the green progress bar sometimes doesn't move for minutes or at all. I've tried changing the home page from Comcast to Yahoo to Google, with no difference, but was able to log on to the Macafee web page, and browse from there. I had a "visit" from the GreenAV virus a few days ago, but think I stopped it before it got in. My Macafee is up to date and I've run a disk cleaner and defrag; any ideas on what's holding up the logon? IE finds the home page OK, but it won't download. Could the cable modem be bad, or is my hard drive going?