Thanks, cultiv8r for helping me with a very nice attitude...I appreciate that, unlike SOMEONE who is so blindly in love with Gnutella that they can't even think straight and must use insults to respond to someone seeking help. I know who has a partner here; the one who could even conceive of it. And, cult, I just got the puter, so there has be noone else on it yet. I realize now, since I have good help, that the fact that I have cable modem at home will be part of it. And yes SOMEONE (Mrgone) I am still working on my MIS degree and may be wrong at sometime, but that is what help is for, so to my friends cultiv8tr and Morgwen, thank you so much for your friendly advice...I appreciate you for being knowledgable without being information hogs and treating those that are learning with respect instead of contempt.
I'm trying to learn some things now, (my fiance being a software engineer) and I am dipping into some waters I don't know much about..I have a tracing program that he uses for work here, and the day I got the pings, they all came from the same area of the country and from the same person. This is why I suspected hacking, especially since this puter is used for some coding my fiance uses that are related to security. Obviously if I didn't know anything I was doing, I wouldn't have even known this. But whatever..Cult and Morg...thanks for the help

And, Mrgone...take your attitude..and turn blue I don't live my life on the computer!! And I forgive you your insecurities!