Hi Kannan, thanks for taking the time to try out the reader :) In the latest build (#4) I've put in a progress indicator along with a Cancel button, so you won't be totally stuck if the reader hangs. The EXE has the code that communicates with the web service, and it's a COM server that contains a coclass used by the SearchBar. The coclass has methods to return the latest newsflash, articles, etc. As for working with a firewall, I use the MS XML parser to download the XML feeds, and the parser is supposed to handle all the HTTP communication. I don't have a firewall here so I can't do any testing with that situation, unfortunately. --Mike-- "Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things." -- Silent Bob 1ClickPicGrabber - Grab & organize pictures from your favorite web pages, with 1 click! My really out-of-date homepage Sonork-100.19012 Acid_Helm