After installing the Java JRE 1.4.0 I get all sorts of crashes and hangs. I'm running in Win98SE, mind you (which may be the root of all evil ), but when I was running 1.3.1, I didn't get these sorts of problems.

I don't notice any faster searches and downloads on 2.3.3 with 1.4.0, so it may just be where you're hitting, and what times you're on.

M