Hi Ben and VicFirstly, pse don't laugh. I've solved part of the problem, i.e. 'can I use the chat rooms normally?' The answer is yes. I have not used chat windows before and was trying to type in the big window, not the text entry window at the bottom <s>
However, I still can't get to see the acars window. I've unblocked port 6667 on the router (waiting for confirmation from an ADSL website to confirm I did the right thing but I think so). At the same time I reduced the ZoneAlarm security to lowest on both local and internet, such that it warned me I'd turned the firewall completely off but that didn't help either. This is beginning to get mildly frustrating.
Paul Croft
10 miles south east of LHR