Although others clearly have not had the problems with Access Connections, on my previous ThinkPad it was nothing but trouble and I have disabled it (but haven't yet uninstalled) from my new ThinkPad.

Interestingly and annoyingly, even disabled it spawns (as a look at Task Manager will show you) several processes that more than once have been the culprit in a freeze when coming out of hibernation.

I guess I need to uninstall completely. Thanks for the reminder.

I'd be interested to hear whether even uninstalled if AC is running any background processes/services on your machine.

As always, I also recommend you get subscribed to the ThinkPads listserv. There is, in fact, a very active discussion right now on the merits and drawbacks of Access Connections. The folks on that list are incredibly well-versed in TPs.
http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad