. Dave, good idea, although I would use a 486 DX100 or even a Pentium-1, as I recall Fractint ran quite well on those. Problem is, easy as chips are to stamp out now, there wouldn't be enough of a market to justify anyone doing it. Best idea practical is to make a DOS/Fractint boot CD, and if you have at least one FAT32 partition boot up with that and run it. That's what I do. Also, I have long thought that MicroShaft could team up with AMD or Intel, and create a "windows" chip which would have all the core OS functions stamped in, and still allow for software upgrades, installations, etc. This would go a long way towards eliminating malware threats. Jim - don't let the bad news get to you! You will end up like me 20 years ago in a downward spiral of depression and drinking. Realize that the origin of the Universe is by design, purpose and destiny [I will leave it nebulous; whatever you and others want to believe], and that the "designer(s)" and "originating power(s)" must still be in control ; things are proceeding as planned, however $h1+y it looks to us at times. Cheers .