OK, it seems that on Windows XP Pro, that Socket has changed significantly,
breaking lots of my code.

Using "localhost" no longer appears to work to create a Socket object
on a port.  Have to use "127.0.0.1" instead.  Other aspects of Socket
also appear to be flaky/changed...  I can certainly "ping localhost" so
it's not that localhost has a problem.

Can someone please explain the plain Socket changes for this new 1.6 ??

java version "1.6.0-beta"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.6.0-beta-b59g)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.6.0-beta-b59g, mixed mode, sharing)