thank you for the wonderful explanation about node types. i have always
been curious, and although it was never a problem in the past thank you.
seeing the answer makde me realize that not understanding the basics
could lead to problems.

does anyone have any input about my other problem? on a very simple
level - what conditions could cause the registry parameters to be
missing? (example -
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servi ces\Netbt\Parameters\Enable
Proxy", there is a listing under parameters, just certain varibles are
missing)

thanks so much!