In .Net 1.0 and 1.1, we got used to creating a private constructor if we wanted to prevent someone from creating an instance of our class.  If we did not define a constructor, the default constructor was compiled for use, and the user could create an empty instance.  So we prevented this by creating the private constructor.  In C# we have classes, but in VB, there are classes and then modules which can contain only static (Shared) methods.  In .Net v2.0 Beta 1, C# can have the static keyword applied to classes to prevent them from having instances.  Now, I’ve deleted my private contructor and applied the static keyword!  There’s not going back now!