thanks for your reply. Did you mean that LW makes a simple "ping" before every search to see who is on the network? Our server blocks LW, but I inadvertently left it running in my icon tray while I was at work. Noone has contacted me yet, but I don't want to get in trouble with the network admin guy- he scares me. If my computer is only pinging to see who is out there, OK. I simply make sure that the settings are changed and it will never happen again. Right?