Yes Moira the UK has different accounting rules and tax regulations. We produce "statutory accounts" and a "tax return" which may say different things, but must be reconcilable.

In the USA your tax return is generally identical to your accounts so "tax concessions" are built into the accounts. This is why they use LIFO (last in first out) for inventory valuation, and "double declining balance" for amortization (depreciation) for example.

My problem with the Windows XP machine was partly that it had onboard video that was taking 16 megs of the 64 installed

The other thing is that it was a "default install", which really wants 128MB.

It is surprising how little resource XP will run on if you know what you are doing I would generally recommend 512MB of RAM or better for average home users, simply as a precautionary or pre-emptive measure.