This is from Poser 6 tech support. Can not belive they responded this evening, about 2 hour response time. I am not sure this would have solved the issue like (at least in my case) the firewall and virus protection shut down but I am posting it here in case it help any of you out there with similar issues. What if you shut off virus and firewall so that they did not run on start up. Then you restart and try the clean install again? Just a thought I troubleshoot a lot of computers but only basic stuff nothing like this. Really good luck. I am feeling for ya. "When Poser has been running successfully for a while, but then starts behaving badly, often it's because the preference files have become corrupted. This is annoying but easily fixed. Exit Poser and navigate to C:/Program Files/Curious Labs/Poser 5/Runtime/prefs and delete the Poser configuration file (Poser.ini), the LibraryPrefs.xml file and any Poser UI Prefs XML files that may be present. Leave the Default UI Prefs as Poser needs those. Second, if deleting your preferences doesn't cure the problem, it may be necessary to uninstall and reinstall Poser. When installing and running any Curious Labs software, we advise users to make sure no other programs are running and all startup item are disabled. This can be accomplished by using the msconfig utility. On Windows 98, Me and XP, you can see what applications are actually starting up with Windows by going to Start > Run > type "msconfig" > OK. This will start the System Configuration Utility. Click the "Startup" tab. Every checked item listed in the Startup Item list is running every time you start the system. Uncheck as many as possible, then disable nonessential services as follows. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide all Microsoft Services" checkbox and click "Disable All". Restart to boot into this "minimal" configuration. Uninstall and reinstall your software from the CD or downloaded installer file. Uninstalling will not remove either preference files or any custom or third-party content that you have installed to your Poser libraries, as only the items originally installed are removed. Immediately update the software with the latest updater (if applicable; check our website, www.curiouslabs.com/go/downloads/updates) Restart the system to return to the normal configuration. Launch the software and test its features to see if there has been any improvement to its behavior."