thank you all,
i unplugged everything and labelled it all, then went to a place called Microcenter in fairfax, va. i walked in with the tower thing and a screwdriver. someone stopped me at the door and pointed me inside an office where a man watched as i undid the sides and found the battery (when he identified it) and promised that i would not blow myself up if i took it out carefully. hey, i build houses and do plumbing all the time, how hard could it be now that i knew what it was. i had a terrible time removing it because of the tiny, tiny metal clip that holds it in place. i borrowed a teeny, tiny screwdriver and got it out. i got a new one from the salesfloor and popped it in, screwed the side back on and left only $1.04 poorer. thank you. the man was kind but insisted, (rightly) that he was not a technician, he was a salesman and did his best to convince me that it was time for a new computer since mine dates back to 1990. i did not want to tell him how far i dated back!!!!
