Considering that the Wall Street Journal's servers were affected... and they reported the news about the flaws and the patches, I doubt if we can single out BBay or any other smaller company for not being quite timely in erecting defenses against a moving target.<<< No one was trying to "single out" BBay. It was clearly stated -- "But, then, BBay was not the only one. As of this morning, there are reports that anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 systems have been compromised (A lot of lazy managers. Install the **** patch people!)." I enjoy BBay. I think very highly of the people behind BBay, have purchased many items from them, and will in the future. But BBay, like tens of thousands of others, got their shorts pulled over their heads when the resources were available that could have prevented it. It was an avoidable security breach. Companies must be accountable when security patches are available and, for one reason or the other, they fail to install them in a timely manner. It is like a surfer on the Net not using a virus scanner or deploying a firewall. An avoidable disaster is just waiting to happen. And the next disaster could be much worse than Communist computer drones playing cyber-vandals on websites and trying to tie up Dubyas house computers. Responsibility for security is a two-way street. Microsoft should be much more concerned with security issues than they are. That is not going to change. I think it is a cultural thing with them. So if one chooses to use their software you had better be prepared to make use of whatever tools are out there including the immediate installation of patches. I realize it is much easier and much more fashionable to simply slam Microsoft for having the security awareness of a farmer using a fox as a guard dog around the hen house. However, if you choose to use MIIS, you had better be checking for patches very, very often. And if Microsoft releases a patch, I would think there must be a reason. Wouldn't you? And if I were running their software that the patch is meant for, I would consider it prudent to install that patch. Wouldnt you? According to the latest bulletin from CERT, at least 250,000 hosts have been compromised by the Code Red worm. Now, thats a lot of cyber-wedgies. So, as stated before, BBay was not alone. There are quite a few people walking around with their shorts over their head. BBay just happens to be the closest to our hearts. Take care and Godspeed.