Ok, I think I finally found the problem!  crosses fingers

I did reinstall my firewall and antivirus program earlier as was suggested. I used the saved files I had on a CD.

Now having gone to the error log I see a whole bunch of red X's that say "True Vector Service" and I recognized that from my firewall and / or antivirus program.  So I turned off both and managed to copy the "My Documents" folder 3 or 4 times without my computer rebooting.

I tried to get to the Computer Associates site to see if t here is a more current version of both programs, but I'm currently getting errors when trying to login there so I'll have to try tomorrow. I can live without a firewall because I have a router, but I definitely can't do without my antivirus software.

Hopefully this really is the solution and that there isn't anything wrong with my nice shiney new computer after all!  :)  I know I've been super unlucky lately but man, there has to be some good luck due to come my way,  LOL

svdl, the computer hasn't gotten even mildly warm thus far.  But...I just finished installing my last runtime and  I think I'll try taking Poser for a spin and see how it does!  I'll let you all know the result.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi