Well after only a day of messing about with Gaim I am now able to get onto MSN from home. Now I can talk to all my mates and stay at the cutting edge of the Aberystwyth CompSci social life...pfffft.

I also found that the 56k connection to the Internet from my machine doesn't seem to go down at any point - despite the fact that the number I dial is supposed to be for evenings and weekends only. Hmmm. I've now been connected continuously for over a day.