i dont know....id like to think my comp can handle it my specs are 4gig ram, windows vista 64 bit ultimate, quad core with a 8800gt card....by just glancing at the cpu and ram usage meters on the vista side bar (i dont know if its as accurate as checking the other stuff) its not over loading at all. while running the 4 instances of wow i can still browse the internet, run aim, listen to music etc on my 2nd monitor w/o much lag / lack of performance at all. ill do the things u suggested tho but i still think its more specific to the one char since it all seems to go to hell when i load him up. as u pointed out as well its hard to tell why the internet is going out as well. any other suggestions would be helpful!