Hi Precision,

I think what Mister E is saying is always use an external resistor either in a pull up or pull down situation. Don't make an unused pin an output and just leave it floating. Look at the data sheet for the particular PIC you are using and search for the state of the pins ON RESET. If you are leaving a number of pins unused and they start as inputs on powerup or on reset then you need to make sure they are properly terminated with a pullup or pulldown resistor.

HTH,

BobK