SORTED! I can't believe I forgot about troubleshooting rule no. 1 after 10 yrs on Macs. DELETE PREF'S! Now I'm back to wading through miles of spam again, because I haven't rebuilt my word filter and list of blocked hosts yet.

But at least it's working as normal ... I wonder what in the pref's could have caused such a bizarre symptom. Usually corrupted pref's cause crashes after certain actions. But this is running on a Java VM, so that might change things.

Love your signature <g>. Sounds just like my first husband. I once asked him for a hand to adjust the chain on my first dirt bike, a three-handed job; showed him which end to hold the spanner and everything. I only found out when I took a steep, muddy downhill and put my foot on the rear brake pedal to have it practically hit the dirt with no result, that he'd been unwinding the rear brake adjuster instead. A mistake anyone could have made <g> (or so I told him through gritted teeth), and I was only forced to use the front brake alone, and consequently went over the handlebars and had a 250lb dirt bike to pick up afterwards; no mean feat, when you're a skinny weakling like me. C'est la Vie!

Thanks for replying ... And enjoy your Christmas, even if you can't have it on a sunny beach. I just spent Christmas Eve performing live locally gratis (another kind of music sharing altogether), nibbling avocado and a take-away chicken (cold) for christmas lunch on the verandah under the banana clump, and partaking in some of the local green stuff and home-brew at the venue, and that's my favourite passtime, so my Christmas has been pretty good.

Especially as I'm getting one of the new MacBook Pro's (when it arrives) as a present from hy current husband (who's blessed with just as many thumbs; I seem to attract that kind of man - they want a father figure, I think ... Someone who can change a fuse/ tyre/ light-globe, chase pythons out of the house, comprehend bush plumbing arrangements, troubleshoot the diesel Landcruiser's mysterious ailments, remind them that it works better if you plug it in, and distinguish the blender from the juicer <sigh>)