Those hubs can't run a bunch of things simultaneously, though, so having more USB plugs on the box is still a good thing. On the old machine I had seven plus a firewire, yet I still used a hub to plug in devices that didn't run at the same time and that I didn't want to reinstall. (A bad habit of my Win2000 software was making me reinstall if I forgot and plugged it into a different plug from the last time I used it.) I'll probably do something similar now for camera cables.

I lost the cable for a little Q-See digital (2.1 megapixel) camera I picked up for running around the house and photographing stuff that I send in email. (An electronic engineer friend is building an energy efficient house in West Texas about 800 miles from here, and we compare notes, so we usually send email with photos.) That was one of two camera cables plugged into the hub that went out the door. I couldn't get another cable where I bought the camera because they don't have them now, and it's a proprietary piece of equipment. I looked Q-See up and emailed and asked if I could buy a new cable. I think they're just going to ship me one gratis. Very nice of them. This was a little $100 camera that can do lots of stuff but isn't meant to stay plugged in or run all of the time. Perfect candidate for the hub.

I actually had thought about a server of some sort when I was first setting up our home computer network. But we have no basement, and the attic gets so hot in summer nothing could live up there, especially computer bits. And a closet is also too confining. In short, there's really not a place to conceal such a device that wouldn't do it in for lack of cool dry dust-free circulating air. We've opted again for a wireless network. I ordered a Dell again for the kids--we've had good luck with them and I work with Dells at the university library. We have IT folks who have taken enough training now that they're certified by the company to work on the machines (this is all in a state contract), and they're also handy for asking questions. (A banana bread or blueberry muffin bribe will get a lot of mileage with those guys! Can't necessarily say that about the techies down at the local computer store.)

SRS