As someone who's a real novice with Bryce, I just lurk, but I lurk every day :-). Am I correct in that Pandromeda has aquired Bryce? And that there will be a version 6? If so, I have one thing to say: YIPPEEEEEEE! :-)

If you installed Poser 4 and then installed the 4.03 updater, and are launching the program with shortcuts created by your original Poser 4 installation, delete the shortcuts and create new ones. You can then set your preferences and they should stick.

Hi again all. I agree with Spit that some people are over paranoid about security issues. I use the list on the site I posted carefully. I don't follow every one of his recommendations, but there are a few that are serious risks. As for this pop up problem, I read about this a few months back. It's not about pop up ads on web sites. It's some other exploit, the details of which I don't remember at the moment. I've had the messenger service disabled for quite a while (which solves the problem), with no ill effects at all. It's not the MSN Instant Messenger (which is a pain in itself, unless it's something you use-I uninstalled it). I also use Black Ice, which has application protection similar to Zone Alarm.

Here's a good site with info about all the services that run in the background, and how to disable the ones that aren't necessary and the ones that are also security risks. http://www.overclockersclub.com/windowsxpservices.shtml