Logged In: YES 
user_id=552329

I do not get this behaviour (I get the expected ImportError):

C:\>c:\python22\python
Python 2.2.3 (#42, May 30 2003, 18:12:08) [MSC 32 bit
(Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.
>>> import curses
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ImportError: No module named curses

C:\>c:\python23\python
Python 2.3.4 (#53, May 25 2004, 21:17:02) [MSC v.1200 32 bit
(Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.
>>> import curses
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
ImportError: No module named curses

C:\>c:\python24\python
Python 2.4 (#60, Nov 30 2004, 11:49:19) [MSC v.1310 32 bit
(Intel)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.
>>> import curses
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
  File "c:\python24\lib\curses\__init__.py", line 15, in ?
    from _curses import *
ImportError: No module named _curses

What version of Python is this with?  Do you possibly have a
curses.pyc that shouldn't be there?