Curiosity: what means "mmsnothread"; and why might I need it?

[Howard Orgel]

GiP v2.86, WinXP Pro32 SP3, 4 logical processors.

I'm curious:

Installation of a previous version put "mmsnothread 1" in GiP's system
options file <C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\get_iplayer\options>.
It has survived updates/reinstallations to present.  What does it do; and
why might I need it?  Removing it seems to have no effect.  (Using
"--prefs-add --mmsnothread" puts the line into GiP's user options file
<C:\Documents and Settings\Howard\.get_iplayer\options>, so that's where
it remains.)  I haven't been able to find any documentation for this
option beyond the one line description "Disable parallel threaded
recording for mms" in the in-line help listing.

A secondary question: is there any reason, other than historical, or
it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time, why there are separate system and
user options files in a WinXP installation of GiP?

-- 
Regards, Howard.

Howard.Orgel at orgels.demon.co.uk
http://www.orgels.demon.co.uk
PGP public key available.
Geek Code available.