>Bruce
>are you sure that the traffic light icon is a dell thing? have you changed security settings lately?

Sorry to be so slow in reply, I've been both away & busy...

No, it's not limited to Dell - I have the same "traffic light" on my older home Compaq. (It's not exactly a traffic light like you find in various Windows images, it has only 2 vertical "bulbs" that light up bright green during data-moves, one for data-in, one data-out.)

But your 2nd question is definitely "true." Before the traffic light vanished I went on a PC-beefing-up binge, and installed McAfee PFW, 3 new makes of anti-malware, and about 15 MS patches/SPs of various types (mostly non-critical stuff I had been putting off). I installed an Accelerator for my RAS dial-up, too. I did all this in one afternoon, and that was when the traffic light was replaced by the "2 monitors" icon, during the install-uninstall session. I didn't connect for a period during this, so not sure exactly at which point the icons switched, but it WAS that day. (Note: I tried uninstalling Accelerator, but the traffic light icon didn't return, so I put Accelerator back - not that it helps performance much.)

Also, as Fred noted, at the same time as the above installs, I removed Zone Alarm (in favor of McAfee PFW) - I've also had ZA on the old 98SE machine (with traffic-light) for a few years. So ZA could be related, too.

I also have a fancy "pickle-modem" for RAS I've used for several years that came with a bundle of software. I'm still using the pickle-modem, but perhaps the traffic light was included in a modem dll, etc., and was over-ridden by the 2-monitor icon from one of the above installs or uninstalls.

I've searched all over several PCs and the web for the connection traffic light, but no cigar. Lots of traffic lights, but none like that one. It does not seem to be a stand-alone image.

So, I guess I will say this, about now: there are more important things in life than losing a favorite connection-monitoring icon :-) I guess the monitors are not so bad, once I get accustomed.