Yes, a lot of money on what? A recompiled kernel, a lot of flashy effects (.net3) and service pack 1 (before the O/S is even out there).

A quote from RedHat: Microsoft refutes monopoly claim - holding up box of RedHat Enterprise Linux. At the moment, RedHat is Microsoft's biggest threat. SuSE has been tamed but RedHat doesn't use any 'Microsoft produce' and therefore can't be bought! Says he, running XP!

Weren't they free before? I didn't read the EULA.

Sorry, Next time I'll just not bother trying to help. Viruses written for Windows 95 (and compiled in 32bit) can still have an affect on XP FYI.

Learn JAVA and install the JRE on the Linux environment - this way your programs work an any Java enabled platform.

Try the Microsoft Help Centre before even attempting to mess with explorer.exe! Are you sure it isn't on autohide.

If there is no Kernel and no Shell the coding goes something like this public void main() { return null; } If there is no kernel and no shell how do you interact with the system? The definition for an OS without a kernel or shell is firmware - but even this has a kernel - why do you want this?

Using .NET2.0 (in VB) you should be able to type something like My.Computer. etc...

I've never used IIS - so I can only suggest changing servers (http://www.aprelium.com) Abyss X1.2.3.0.5 supports ASP.NET2 and works fine. Try using PHP instead!

Assuming you're using a CRT (they do not die after a year). Does the monitor actually turn off or just go black. I heard about a virus that painted the screen black when I was working with Win3.1 - I don't know if it still exists. If you have anti-virus installed (as you should - http://www.free-av.com) then try another monitor.

It's not currently connected to the network. Right. Have you removed the trojan? If not: get a free anti-virus from free-av.com and then remove the trojan. If you still cannot regain network access - delete the connection and start from scratch with it (does Wn2k3 have a "Create Network" wizard???). This should enable access. ps: If this doesn't work try just unplugging the network lead!!!

A recent hardware or software change. Have you added or removed any software recently. You may need to reinstall XP - or just switch to Linux (Fedora Core's good)

Pressing a key on the laptop should wake it up - if nmot try viewing the power settings for your system: Control Panel > Power Options

Don't use IIS!!! www.aprelium.com has a free release of Abyss X1 and it even supports ASP.NET2!!! You don't even need a static IP address. Just go to http://www.dyndns.com/ and there you caan create a dynamic address which you can even point your real domain at. Keep it simple! AMict.co.uk