well, it gets curiouser & curiouser... I suspect the REAL truth lies somewhere in the middle. I have seen folks say they CAN view any files they want to, and I have seen reports by pretty competent guys who say that there ARE files that MS tries to keep you from accessing easily and deleting.

In this, as in many other things, it bears an attempt to get the truth, hmmm? And in the meantime, you'll humor me if I err on the side of caution. If MS were so beneign, would all those states have filed lawsuits and would the Justice dept have gotten so deeply involved?

There is a lot at stake...money and power...and as Enron and other debacles show, when money and power are issues, people, acting thru coporate entities just 'may' engage in many practices which assure them of continued dominance......and if being able to 'read' my PC at their leisure someday might give them leverage, why, I have no doubt they would try to design the system to make that possible.

Can they...have they...really tried and managed it? *shrug*...I will never be the expert, but will I continue to read opinions and articles? *grin*..... It would be nice to have it PROVED that there is no danger and no 'plot'....and that one can simple choose the product that works best for them.........lets see what we all think in 3-4 years...