Finally Gary says, "I don't really know what a deferred procedure call actually is -- but if this info helps for that reason or just in general -- please use it as you will. God knows you've helped me immensely with your column."

There may be some relationship between what Gary saw and my DPC problems, but I never noticed unusual file I/O activity. Ah, the wonders of Windows.

Back to a more recent topic: The whole cellular reception issue I wrote about and the has generated some interesting feedback.

Readers Jeremy Greenberg and (my favorite) A.N. Onymous wrote in to tell me about a new Web site that allows users to log their cell phone reception quality at any location and then shows it on a map. The site is and it is a neat idea, although its usability isn't great. Worth checking out.