Thanks for that Darrell. Thing is I only need to learn a new PIC every 12-18 months, so I tend to forget how to set them up. I had really never seen it as "everything is already OFF". As I blunder around a new spec sheet I get distracted by all the registers and features and tend to lose sight of the basics.
Sometimes it takes someone like you to make the obvious clear. Like Charles, I tend to start off in shotgun mode and try setting all the registers. I see now that I have to think of the PIC as a blank slate (except for the comparators).

I guess I should re-word my rant to: "Why the heck do PIC chips all come with the blasted comparators enabled by default!" That has always tripped me up in the past. I don't see the reasoning behind it personally. Never used the comparator feature in all my years of PICing (15 and counting). But then I'm a simple soul...