I don't think these points need to be laboured - they are unlikely to affect the rest of us. The original poster had a problem because the clock was wildly incorrect and NetTime did not appear to correct this during boot before the email download, but did 15 mins later, causing all the new mail to be promptly expired. On the other hand, when my machine had a flat battery and the clock was wrong, the time *was* corrected during the boot process, which is what NetTime is expected to do. So the real question is - why did it go wrong for Harriet? I never run any mail etc apps during boot, but only once the boot process has completed. My machine uses DHCP for networking - there is a delay of 5 secs or so while it is being setup during boot. Are you using DHCP, Harriet? -- Chris Johnson --- To alter your preferences or leave the group, visit //www.freelists.org/list/armini-support List-related queries to info@xxxxxxxxxxxx