i contacted my I.P for tech support. they tried to do a check on my pc ports and discovered that they couldn't. something was completely blocking access, even with my av prog uninstalled and windows firewall off. i discovered that the programme that i was having a problem originally was able to connect,running in 'safe mode with networking', so the problem was in the windows firewall. it was telling lies, when it said it was off!!! done a system restore and it is now cured!!:bounce: