[flash8pro]

You're very welcome - glad we figured it out. It isn't too often that an experienced computer user asks for help on these forums, so our dialogue was a nice change of pace from the usual "type the procedure and send it to them" routine (not that there is anything wrong with people asking questions!).

I'm really surprised it was the anti-virus - I would have suspected the firewall WAY before the anti-virus. It must be running some service that interferes with NetBIOS and/or authentication procedures. I suppose it makes sense that some viruses might use these as vectors of attack, but I find it strange that there is a permanent resident process that interferes with normal traffic.

In my experience, when a firewall (or in this case, an anti-virus!) interferes with some normal function in a way that is fundamental to its operation (i.e. a critical process it uses), the only way around it is if the author of the software updates it or you need to switch products. A couple years back I had a McAfee firewall installed, and it totally prevented me from synchronizing my PC and Pocket PC. The only workaround was to switch firewalls.

Good luck with the investigation...

BTW, I'm half Swedish according to my known genealogy - so I was just helping out a fellow Swede [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]