Thanks for the reply. On the page where I found Portmon, they indicated Win95 - Windows NT/2K. On the link indicated below, there is no reference to "XP" ( at least Firefox search didn't find it), only "Windows NT/2K". But later I did get a response from PortMon on COM4, and appeared to be working OK. On COM1, PortMon was quiet. I guess it is possible the COM1 hardware went defective. I have 2 Intel motherboards, a D845-WN, and a DP965-LT, on neither one have I been able to get the COM2 (2 x 5 header on mother board) to work. I have several (at totally different times months apart) rang out the header to DB9 cable per Intel's info, and still doesn't work. Had PCI to COM boards, and went that route. Maybe one of these days will take a header and ribbon cable out and take a logic probe to see if there is any activity on any of the pins. There was considerable issues with XP SP3 on this list when it came out, have these been fixed? On KDE, speed and bloat isn't an issue, I don't use lap tops, and my desktops have enough speed and memory. After many years of Windows, I can generally fix things, but I'm still a very much beginner with Linux. The other night I printed the Kubuntu desktop guide. It is a little help, but I need better info on command line (punctuation, format, commands, etc.) as a Linux (wider than just K...) reference and learning tool. Xiaofan Chen wrote: > On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 6:15 AM, Carl Denk wrote: > >> I installed PortMon 3.02, noting that XP was not one of the OS's >> supported. It didn't respond to anything. >> > > Hmm, XP is listed as supported. > http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896644.aspx > > >> I guess with Bill Gates dropping support for XP SP2 in a few months, >> they are shutting things down for us.:( >> > > XP SP3 is okay. > > >> Last night printed the Kubuntu desktop guide, guess I should >> spend my time learning that. :) >> > > I have since removed KDE from all my Linux installations. > It is too bloated. I like Vista more than KDE. ;-( > > > > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist