In response to the above DO's and Dont's:

Disabling IR ports is only required if the port shares the same IRQ as the com port that you are using to connect. (This can be checked by right clicking My Computer and choosing Properties and then the Device Manager Tab)

Crashing out halfway through an upload can be caused by a too high a baud rate. I have tried 38400, but this only has a 50% success rate. A rate of 19200 is more effective. There is nothing wrong with Win 95,98,2000,XP or 2003 when configured correctly. (With my professional experience of serial comms, this is unusual behaviour, as if the baud rate, data, stop and parity bits are wrong, then comms simply doesn't start. It's almost as if the receiving equipment can't keep up with the data stream. Stick to a (s)lower rate, but get better results)

It should only be necessary to disable antivirus etc if the laptop has such a poor processor, that CPU loading is at 100% when doing a simple task.

Meridian G61R, HD621, DSP7200L+R, DSP3300C, DSP3200