Thx for coming back to me on this one. Unfortunately, closing LW isn't a problem- I had already done what you've suggested and LW closes fine. The problem is that after closing LW, when I try to disconnect from the net or open my start menu or >whatever<, I find I can't. My whole system appears to freeze up and I can't even shut down using ctrl alt delete. I have to power off and reboot.
spooky, huh?