First, I'd very strongly advise getting the XP Plus 'upgrade' (read:MS really screwed up and there are too many bugs for a patch fix, so we're making it a 'plus' feature). Then I'd advise downloading EVERY bug fix on the MS site anyway. I've been told that the Plus fix misses several that are critical.

In a couple weeks when you've finished that (if you have DSL), search around until you find ANYTHING but IE 6.0. Contemplate getting trained hamsters on string if nothing else is available. A while back someone posted how to find the previous versions of IE - I think via ZDnet or somesuch.

Barring that, Netscape hasn't been stellar lately either. I used to be a Netscape Only booster, but they really killed the product back a few versions ago.

Given that many of the 'freeware' or alternate browsers don't display all features of the web, and given that IE has decided that starting with 6.0 they won't bother supporting Java, I'd personally advise finding the earlier version that you like and sticking with it.

M