I dont understand the use of the term com ports? Its like a comm port is just a logical thing like a logical drive in an extended partition. Am I correct in understanding that comm 1 is not necessarily a specific hardware connection? Like if my secondary serial port was called comm 2, and I disabled it, then comm 2 might become the port my modem is on? If so, I dont understand, modem is in a pci slot, not a com slot? Or am I right in thinking of a "comm port" as a set of resources designed and designated for communication devices, and assigned as needed to communication devices? Like a profile, eg..this irq and this memory address is "comm 2", but could be given to any one of the numerous communications devices (one at a time) I may have at a given time? I seem to remember once I ended up with a modem installed twice, USR Modem1 on comm 1, and USR Modem2 on comm 2, even though I only had one physical modem installed? Please explain what comm ports are and how they work. Thanks a million. This has confused me for a long time.