Brian. Cornflow You are correct about your identification of my system I have taken ALL your advice and have even (briefly) disabled the firewall on my router. All without success. I have now asked two nearby friends ( different pooters; different ISPs) if they can access regnow, I await their response. I do use"Freeserve" for my email but my ISP is Freedom2Surf a paid for account, now owned by Tiscali. Thank you and every one else for all your help. What a friendly group this is! It will be a pleasure to be a member Barry I have now seen Brian Cornflow's statement that I will have to pay VAT even if I buy from the US. Please note - it is not the £5 I particularly object to, and accept your view about the "worth" of the programme; it is that the £5 will go to our wonderful Chancellor of the Exchequer and his comrades in Brussels. I had hoped to avoid this by buying from a US site. As it appears that I am unable to avoid the VAT, I will take up your (Barry's) offer. Regards to all Charles