The only think kreepier than the URL is poking into a UNC path of your policies. 
Welcome to KORG, by the way..
As far as GPO testing, have you tried opening a command prompt and run "GPUPDATE /FORCE" ?? I do that when I bring new systems onto the domain and the policies drop down in about 30 seconds. We use WSUS, and I can get it to configure, sync, and load the initial set of updates via GPO in just a few minutes.
Glenn
_________________________
Actually I
am a Rocket Scientist!
