My arms are in the air! I'm happy and less confused! Thanks for your response!

Yeah, you know I think most of the people doing the specific sort of griping I was talking about are the less experienced users. I'm just the sort of person who doesn't wanna offend ANYONE because:

1. You never know what sort of day someone is having and you should be nice to everyone. (Being nice doesn't mean avoiding sarcasm, though.)

2. What if some dude you offend (even if you really didn't do anything wrong) is the only person who has a specific file you want?

Anyway usually I have really good luck with both downloads AND uploads, it's just that some days are better than others and every so often I have good downloads but crappy uploads. I use Norton Personal Firewall 3.0 with port 6346 open (or the whole things disabled) by the way. I realize I have more reading to do, and I find all this very interesting! I just wanna be clear in my head on some things before I share at all.

:o)