Okay ... doin' something right. Checked my system over at Gibson's Research and, by all reports, my system is "PERFECT" against unwanted intrusion. Very kewl. Guess I'm doing something right.

However, I've got this really buggy system, that eats system resources like yesterday's lunch, and it often unexpectedly terminates my system ... as in *shuts down* without warning. I'd already figured out that part of the problem is a system-overheat issue (dammed thing gets so hot you can't put your hand on the bottom of it - it's a laptop, btw). So, I tore the poor thing apart today and cleaned out the cooling system. *That* was an experience. ::pop:: "OMG ... was that supposed to make that sound?" ::click:: "Oh, good ... that's *supposed* to come apart that way!!" and on the experience went.

I'm fairly convinced that the system needs a fresh XP install, and while I'm at it, I intend to partition so that I've got a separate data drive from the OS/programs drive. As it is, before I can do any of that, I have to back up over 7GB of data. ::sigh:: What a royal pain (I've been avoiding it long enough ... all this stuff comes back to haunt you, don't it?)