As I recall, Findfast is an indexer program of sorts - supposed to make it faster if you go to search for files in Office, but mostly it just slows the computer down. I'd disable it.
How to disable it in Office 2000:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/199787
How to disable it in Office 97:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158705
Feeling better this morning? Wish you could see the weather here, it's sunny. Cold, but clear. I am sure I will be hating Iowa in a couple months/weeks but for now it's not bad.
I sat down and wrote 3k yesterday, the final 1k in a half hour "I just want to finish this scene, then we'll watch something" mode. It got easy and I think I know where I'm going next. I still want to finish this! My goal for this morning is 30k.
As for your plot hole, does your female character have anyone she cares about and is slightly responsible for? Like a little brother? Someone she could be blackmailed with? What is her background, is there anyone in it who would help her get away even though she's slightly evil?