Everyone:

This morning I updated to the latest kernel. And promptly shut down and rebooted the immediate previous kernel, which is the Last Known Good.

Here's why:

1. The kernel, once again, is prone to an annoying flaw: it produces a Plague of Fives. Any time a text box opens up, a string of repeated digits 5 appears. The only way to shut it off is to type "5" again.

2. The computer became almost inaccessible to other computers on the network. File sharing slowed to a totally unacceptable crawl.

This last was a critical error. And of course it never occurred to me to suspect the kernel. That is, until I saw the Plague of Fives return.

No, kernel group! Do not tell me I have a problem with a sticking 5 key. If that were the problem, then pressing Shift would change "55555555555..." to 5555555555%%%%%%..." It doesn't. More to the point, the Plague of Fives tended to go away with the next iteration of the kernel.

Well, I'm not going to wait that long. I'm not going to use this version of the kernel. I will wait for someone to push another one.

Because when I reverted to the Last Known Good, the Plague of Fives disappeared, and the network file-share problem resolved.

Temlakos