With regard to itunes, I have found a further dependency though I'm not sure of its nature - I uninstalled internet explorer using xplite on xp (obviously) and.... itunes won't open - except as 'itunes.exe' in task manager. Then without even rebooting, an xplite reinstall of IE allowed itunes to open fine. (obviously had to end task in task manager in between). My original install is from an nlite created sp2 cd - perhaps this further complicates things? (also on a dual boot imac - 2.0ghz 1gbram - although same effect on an old dell) Cheers