DCOM is only an issue if you enable DCOM over the Internet or you don\'t have a hardware/software firewall in place. If you visit the Control Panel instructions above you should see the different options. DCOM should be enabled, but not over the Internet.
Currently NEWT needs DCOM to be open, but again, if you\'re using Windows firewall and have a username/password set up on the laptop, no one should be able to harm it unless they have the proper credentials (username & password). The normal home user doesn\'t need DCOM (as Mr. Gibson states (grc.com)) and many home computers don\'t have a firewall set up, but most all businesses do.