First sugjestion, is contact Dell and see if a replacement disk is available. An even exchange if you will.

I know a lot of people seem to have complaints with Windows, though they do seem to be getting better. I remember loads of people complaining about how bad Win98 was. I didn't realise it myself until I got XP (In the 3-4 years of using XP, I only ever saw a blue screen ONCE). So after some vast stability improvements -- and after a million or so security fixes, it looks like MS finally has a fairly solid OS.

So if Longhorn (now called Windows Vista) follows this trend, I look forward to upgrading. Mind you I'm a little pi$$ed that they've probably removed the sidebar...it was one of those little additions that I was looking forward to trying.

On to the topic itself, with the virus that targets the new OS. Frankly, I'm not surprised that this happened. After all, with all the MS haters out there, you probably had hackers out there determined to create something the second they got their hands on it.

there was a perfectly solid M$ o/s once - DOS. DOS 6.22 was a wonderful o/s and far more flexible than most people bother to remember.

WinME was the worst. what an abortion, should never have been released, shameful, 98 with a 2K skin and just about the worst USB connectivity ever. 98SE was rock solid compared to that (and 98 was ropey at the best of times)

yet for some reason ME was generally okay on laptops - never did figure that one out?