This needs to be modded to the top.

I think it can compare to when you first wake up or come out of a dark area. At first all of the light hurts your eyes and your initial reaction is to shield yourself or go back to the darkness.

It has to be a slow transition to open information flow or it will be overwhelming.

He's right. You never, ever, ever want an angry Klingon on your case.

Amen to that! Comments and object names in Indian/Russian aren't doing me any good.

I've used XP Embedded with the EWF enabled. It redirects writes to an overlay in RAM and does very well. I've also seen some card audio forum postings indicating you can get EWF working in XP Pro, which would be excellent for an SSD based machine.

"bogosity"

Do you mind if I steal that word and use it in any debate I get in for the next 6 weeks? It was stuck in my head after one reading.

I get this attitude all the time. My reputation as a "computer guy" spread through the neighborhood like wildfire. Next thing ya know, people are knocking on my door at least 3 or 4 nights of the week expecting free tech help.

My best response is to demand an annoying chore in return. For example,

Neighbor: "My DSL isn't working...you got a sec to check it out?"

Me: "Sure! I'll get started after you have finished cleaning my gutters! You've got a ladder, right?"

They usually smile and think you're kidding at first. If you don't budge, you've either got a paying customer (via services) or one less knock on your door when you're trying to eat.