Joe - thank you for your tips. Please see notes below - NAV and video
drivers were the culprits. However I still have some questions
chipset and zonealarm

Chipset
I don't think I updated that -unless it came with a BIOS flash. I was
advised that whether or not I need the chipset drivers depends on
which version of Windows I am running. The chipset drivers are built
in to Windows ME and Windows XP, but not in other versions. Iwould
only need to update the chipset drivers if I have recently reinstalled
one of these other versions and did not install the chipset drivers
when you reinstalled. Please note: this appeared to not be the
problem (see below).

Zone Alarm
Wont that slow down my surfing the web substantially?

The Norton AntiVirus (NAV) re-install had set the system to SCAN all
files downloaded/created from the web. Since IE caches everything,
everything was being scanned - thus the lag with mouse movement during
downloading. I changed my Norton Antivirus setting to not scan
everything - just documents I open or execute. (as well as scan the
tar out of all my email). Now pages are back to loading fine!

With the directx - I went to Nvidia and downloaded the WHQL certified
driver 30.82. Then, I went to my game (UT) and removed the ini files
for the game and my user settings. UT recognized the new drivers -
and does not lag anymore with d3d drawing of walls/textures. I still
don't have the respectable 46fps I had before in utbench (down to
36fps) in medium 800x600 settings - but it is playable. The mouse,
cablemodem, display, audio, all seem to be in order. And - best
thing - it still lets me shutdown/startup/restart with no problems and
no BSOD (my initial fear of not installing new 30.82 driver for
TNT2M64).

So - for now - I wait and see. I am leaning toward a small vid-card
upgrade of that Gainward GF3 ti200. Who knows what new trouble that
will bring - but I think it will let me keep the same driver I am
using (30.82 nvidia)?
-BobNoxious
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Dimension 4100 Series,Pentium III at 733 MHz,
MS Windows 98 SE,
128MB RAM-512MB crucial RAM,
NVIDIA TNT2 M64 (32MB) AGP,
Driver: Nvidia 30.82,
DirectX 9.0b,
20.4GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA Hard Drive,
8x/4x/32x CD-RW,
DVD ROM with Software Decoding,
SB LIVE! Value Digital,
MS Optical WheelMouse w/Intellipoint,
NAV 2001,
NIC Card w/ RoadRunner Cable Modem,
HP Deskjet 970cse,
HP Laserjet 6.
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