when I issue # dpkg-reconfigure noflushd I get this ;Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server Xlib: No protocol specified
dpkg-reconfigure: cannot connect to X server :0.0
Just means your X session isn't allowing requests from any user other than the one that started the session. Very sensible really. If you do an 'xhost +' before su-ing you'll be ok.
Cheers, Steve
P.S. MJR, thanks for being patient. Think I've tamed the beast that is yahoo mail now. Got to better than Outlook though ;)