Actually it just sounds like a typical Mac problem I run into at least once a month with my customers. The OS gets into a permanent state after an app crash or a telecommunications glitch. Although there are other things you can try the easiest fix is: 1) Reboot off your latest OS CD (8.6 or 9) 2) delete your old System file, Finder and Finder prefs 3) reinstall off the CD the truly paranoid will do a "clean install" but then you will have the contents of your old system folder to deal with. The whole process will take 20-30 mins tops. If it still crashes then the problems goes much deeper. jje