Quote -   So, if I still do want to uninstall Poser 5 how do I do that?  I've tried thru the Control Panel Add Remove, clicked on Poser 5 to uninstall, took all of 1/2 a second (I thought that was mighty fast for such a big program with all that data), window told me uninstall succesful, but I can still open Poser5 from the shortcut and the folder is still there with all the files. I tried uninstalling again but I get an error message "following files don't exist or is not a valid uninstallation log file"

When you uninstall Poser, it only removes it's own installed files, not anything you have added in IE: textures, props, characters, materials etc.  It doesn't delete your own installed content, so the Curious Labs folder will still be there.  If you want to delete everything after you have uninstalled using "Control Panel", then just go and delete the Curious Lab's folder.  But if you do that you are deleting everything that you installed too.  And fair warning....the runtime is often too big to fit into your trash bin, so it will be perma deleted. So think carefully :)

Quote - And, what's the difference between an internal and external runtime?

None.  A runtime, is a runtime, is a runtime no matter where on your hard drive or external hard drive it sits. 

All an external runtime is, is a runtime that is not inside the Poser folder.

All "multiple external runtimes" mean is that you have more than one runtime sitting outside the Poser folder. They all have the same folder structure as the main runtime in your Poser folder.

Quote - And, I just noted the thing about compressed library files. Why are they compressed and how do I uncompress them?

HG Guy

Compressed files are sort of like "zipped" files.  Poser has the ability to compress files down to a smaller size in order to conserve space. It can also uncompress them too.

Standard uncompressed files have the extensions

.cr2
.pp2
.pz2
.obj
.cm2
.fc2
.hr2
.lt2

When these files are compressed, the extensions become:

.crz
.ppz
.p2z
.pbz
.cmz
.fcz
.hrz
.ltz

Check out this thread. I've explained how to compress files.  Scroll down to see images.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3169372&ebot_calc_page#message_3169372

Also, check out this thread on file organization:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2735068&page=1#message_3201632

Also, there might be information in this thread that you aren't aware of.
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2735068&page=1#message_3201624

"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