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Yes and yes.

For several days now my computer sits on the splash screen for several minutes during log-in. Once logged in, everything appears normal. My Internet connection is operating normally.

Define "best".

Right ... key files only. I have my data organized so that everything I most hate to lose is in just 3 or 4 directories. I copy those to DVD monthly, which takes about 15 minutes.

I do a monthly backup to DVD and store the last 6 copies in the trunk of my car. It's not very elegant, but price is right. I do a daily full backup of my main computer via Acronis. I am guessing it takes about 20 minutes, as I have it set to run automatically during the dinner hour. I...

I have never had an OS update that broke TWS. You might try removing and reinstalling TWS.

My understanding of drive mirroring is that a second drive is a continually updated copy of the first. You will need RAID for that. If what you want is a drive clone, you can do that with True Image backup and restore. If you're doing that more than once, you might look at Migrate Easy, also...

I have a similar story except that I bought disk online. I have both versions 9 and 10 (for WinXP and Win7). I only do full backups, and I have done full restores a couple times, plus numerous partial restores. I like the product a lot.

@paulgun: You might have a look at cool-trade (cool-trade.com). It requires no programming expertise to set up systems, and it's designed to run unattended. As Ash1972 mentioned, there is no trading without stress because there is no trading without losses, and losses are stressful...

The downside of trading is that the failure rate is very high. There is no certain path to success such there is for most occupations. There's no standard course of study. Some people will never make it regardless of how long they try. The upside of trading is pretty obvious. It's the...

My experience with portfolio margining with stocks was that it cut my buying power substantially. I expect it would be the same for mutual funds. You can experiment by logging into PMDEMO (pw=demouser), opening simulated positions, then checking balance.

This is pretty good advice. The only qualification is that you will likely fail, but that you can come back and try again later. Failure only become permanent when you lose interest. Persistence is more important than determination. I also agree about doing your own thinking and testing...

A half percent per day works out to about 250% per year with compounding. That's a nice return if you can get it. What's a good return depends on what you want it for. If you're looking to raise capital, it matters how sophisticated your investors are. If they're any good, they will want...

My comment is slightly less facetious than most would think. @jeffbeil: I sounds like you're feeling some uncertainty in your trading. That goes with the territory. The more certain you are, the more likely you are to be disastrously wrong. Embrace the uncertainty.

Get a dog. He'll listen patiently and give you better feedback than anyone in an online trading room.

I think the most relevant statistic is the ratio of national debt to GDP. The higher the GDP, the better able we are to carry debt. Wikipedia has some interesting numbers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

If you sold a stock at a loss in July and didn't buy it again until December, then it is not a wash sale. A wash sale is when you sell a stock at a loss and re-purchase it within 30 days.

There's good news and bad news about IB's Schedule D Worksheet. The good news is that it contains all your transactions for the year with purchases and sales matched the way the IRS wants to see them. The bad news is that, while they list all wash sales, they leave it to you (or your...

That's a good analogy ... It's a really big poker game, but I believe there are "tells". They're not necessarily easy to spot, and they can change. My computer has the ultimate poker face. I never know what it's thinking.

I think you're being a bit rough on the OP. His question indicate that he understands some of the complexity of keying off the order book. At least, his questions seem more sophisticated than your rather simplistic responses. When we look at the order book (I'm thinking of a central book...