Thank you DennisD [] and yes i have Skye and Ive been playing around uninstalling it and reinstalling different versions in an effort to get rid of the hideous new notice board (ads) part of it. Ive since completely un installed it and I'm back with my trusty trillian. yes i did delete the entrys too,i like to live dangerously and often don't press `back up` just for the thrill of the potential danger [] thanks for the response guys,its nice to know i don't have a hacker lodging in my PC with a bunch of ( i ) tools as that was my fear. also apologies for not introducing myself first and this being my first post (without an intro) thank you theredi