JohniK, yes, I had the problem of reinstalling W98SE with IE3, so bad that I still couldn't get on the web. I updated IE from a coverdisk, and that allowed me to get to Microsoft for updating. Although they say they don't support it, it still checks and suggests updates. 16 minutes this time, as it was fairly well up as far as it would go.

I do consider moving to XP, but some of my software is unlikely to be compatible, and I have two computers, and I find Microsoft's attitude to me installing one 'their' OS twice to be arrogant. I'm still undecided which way to go. When I first got into computers I went with Amiga, which has coloured my thinking since, and caused me to be wary of Mac, or Linux, for instance.   
Interesting that you think it might be a SonyHole that I was suffering from. None of those disks were reputably sold here in NZ, but my relative in the UK, now.....    Regards, Chris.