Thanks jon I already did all that stuff and searched out any other sources of err 'boobytrap' apps etc ...none - it is as I posted and what amazes me is that sometimes it is possible to trick windows into allowing this install to follow through. It is no suprise to me that RealAudio crashes so many machines. As it is certain there are many other users with this Award Bios in a VX chipset etc I will send RealAudio the details - err I may be mad at em fer fixin ma reg files (V 5) but I feel pain for any novice trying to deal with this. It is major crash stuff like - takes a reformat to fix under certain circumstances.