Concur on the external HD for storing all that music on. If you let your HD get above 85-90% full a host of poxy issues can start happening.

The other issue when large number of files are being added, deleted and modified is that the permissions tree sometimes gets messed up.

There is a very robust utility you can install called Cocktail, which will fix that all up. The built-in DIsk Utility also has a clean up tool on it for permissions, and cleaning old caches, which may be part of the problem.

I run Safari myself and have never had a big problem with Flash things. I do keep a copy of IE on the HD for occasional encounters with crappy websites.

There is also a utility called Flip4Mac which you can install for dealing with .wmvs through Quicktime, very handy.

Check the amount of free space on your hard drive. You might even give the external HD to the lad with his own user environment, so that your workspace stays relatively untroubled.

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