I think everything is working now.

I completely uninstalled the software and reinstalled it to c:\guide8

i then installed everything on both CDs to the hard drive.

the program still was not showing any DSOs on the screen, but when i loaded the mark that Joe sent me, magically everything appeared.

i'm still not sure if the 'out of the box' behavior is normal.

i've uploaded a couple files of screen shots for those who wish can comment. they are in the Vince - Screen Shots folder. the first image is a full screen view of the default out of the box "look". the second image is that of the Display|Data Shown screen. Are those colors "normal" ?

I'm running on a laptop with a 1280 x 800 32bit screen.

thanks for all your comments and suggestions.

Vince