--> I tried opening Windows Task Manager before starting up firewall, then enabled firewall. Memory usage increases, no surprise there, but the graph of memory usage shows an oscillation of usage from almost none up to max usage, constantly, in near vertical peaks and valleys. These pulses coincide w/ packet bursts to the 127.0.0.0 loopback address, out one port and in the other. Disabling the Tiny firewall returns memory usage to a more homeostatic usage graph.
--> Any ideas? (or rather, am I just fascinated with bright shiny objects?)