Ed,

>Sure, would you prefer to talk about WinModems, video cards that rely on some amount of the system memory rather than video RAM of some sort, or the joys of flakey power line?

Don't know what you're talking about. Have no problems with my cable modem and my GeForce graphics card. Hm, flakey power line...that indeed can be a problem. In 2 out of 5 cases, when my wife irons my shirts at the same time I work, the 6 Ampère fuse can't take it. I hate that silence (and darkness) when this happens. That's the reason I'm buying only wrinkle-free shirts and I'm getting used to work on my notebook where my battery acts like a UPS.