two techie questions...

VixxAnn

no. 1 first as it's easiest to explain... what is the best way to store my digital photos? I currently copy them up onto CDs but it takes loads of CDs up and I often have a gap of several months before I do it. I also worry that the CD may damage in the future so all photos would be lost anyway. I am considering getting an external hard drive but know nothing about them - what should I look for? Or how about loading photos onto somewhere online to save them? Is there anywhere best for this.. do they charge.. does it take ages to upload??

no.2. I access the internet via a TalkTalk broadband modem. At my last house I was with a different ISP and had a Netgear wireless modem so I could also get online on my laptop. However when we moved and went on with Talk Talk - try as I might I could not get the Netgear modem to work with Talktalk - I had to use their own modem. This has been fine and dandy for over a year now but at times I really would like to get online on the laptop whilst the kids etc are on the PC. Is there anyway I can "split" the usb/modem line to get another feed to my laptop (did I explain that ok?) will the connection power through to two computers at the same time from one modem (if I could find the correct cables/splitter plug type thing)??

appreciate any advice as I stumble through all technical things with a very confused look on my face

unrich

Any back up medium may fail. A CD is less likely to fail than a hard drive as it has no moving parts. If you require frequent access to your photos then you may want a long term archive copy and a working copy. Same goes for writing to DVD's. Although I seem to write more coasters in DVD format than I do in CD format.

Write a CD copy on a quality CD, validate it and make sure its a good copy (try reading it on another computer). Put it in a case and don't touch. That's your archive copy and pray it stays in good order. If you are paramoid, write two and keep them apart (one in the shed).

Write another copy for day to day use. Don't worry too much if this one breaks.

Another day-to-day option is to buy a portable hard drive that you can keep a copy of your photos on and access on a regular basis.
Keep making the archive CDs/DVDs but use the hard disk as a day to day store. The portable hard disk can fail but you should have copies on your hard disk or on archive. I'm looking at buying one of these pocket sized jobs from DABS LINK. One with USB 2.0 should work. I've got firewire and its has been tested a bit faster than USB 2.0.

If you really want long term storage make sure you always have a method of reading the disks too. Or when a new storage medium comes out immediately copy all your old archives on to the latest medium.

Finally, have a good printer with good inks and spend a bit of time putting an album together. Just your faves, title them, date them, comment under them. Then if all else fails you have a good old hard copy to leaf though. You don't need big pictures
6x4 or two prints to A4. Get good at editing. You can look at this by candle light when the lights go out.

superscaper

Backing up: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=597170

Talktalk: just use your Netgear router, it sounds like you just need the right settings. There's absolutely no reason why using a Netgear router wouldn't work with Talktalk (assuming it's an ADSL modem/router and not a cable modem). Make ssure you use the setup wizard on the router to autodetect the correct settings and then just put in the Talktalk username and password in the login details.