It sounds like you had some major problem. It is hard to diagnose after the fact. You could have had a virus, or a dead hard drive. I've been close, and in my case it was due to a JavaException Enabler trojan virus that got through to my computer....It wiped out some vital stuff in the registry pertaining to virtual memory, and I just never recovered. I was in over my league with Windows 2000 Pro. I am temporarily out of the job loop, and there are not too many people I could go to for advice. If you have Windows 2000 Pro, it is assumed you are one of the PRos, and that you don't need a lot of help. If you're not that advanced, stay with Windows 98, ME or XP.