>> P.S. As a measure of my naivete about these matters, what is IM ?

>IM is that miserable Instant Messenger thing that is now built into your OS,
>that you cannot uninstall or even shut down if you are connected to the
>Internet. If you run Windows you are stuck with it. It phones home every
>two minutes - or tries at least. I DID finally manage to shut the thing
>off.

IM can certainly be uninstalled. IE-SPYAD is but one easy way to
uninstall it.