Not sure how helpful this is but I'll post anyway.
You can still take the V5 C|EH exam if you're strapped for cash, you can find study guides/books on Amazon for a fraction of the price for official courseware from EC Council, for example 3 books for $85.93 http://www.amazon.com/Certified-Ethical-Hacker-Exam-Publishing/dp/0789735318/ref=sr_1_2/188-4411279-0787436?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226692777&sr=1-2#productPromotions

You have around 7 months to take the V5 exam:
"The CEHv6 exam is currently in beta and will be available on the 5th November, 2008. The CEH v5 exam will be available until June 3rd, 2009 then retired."
http://www.eccouncil.org/Exam/312-50.htm
Something to consider 

Bill,

I think as a start it would be good to see that the ECE points/requirements are reset if the credential holder re-certifies or at least increase the points earned for retaking the exam, referring to topic: http://www.ethicalhacker.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,54/topic,2916.msg13642/#msg13642

For everyone: Here's a link to the ECE requirements: http://www.eccouncil.org/ece.htm

I like the idea of not having to pay any annual fees to maintain certification, I hope that this will never change.

Overall, I think it's relatively easy to achieve the minimum ECE credits

Free practice tests available online @ http://www.free-tests.com/comptia.shtml

I can't comment on any other self test software but I used the same book that you mentioned above as well as the C|EH Review guide by Kimberley Graves as well as other books on security and for practice tests I used Boson: http://www.boson.com/Product/131.html $50
The Boson self test is good and I'd say worth buying but what helped me most for the exam was reading my study notes and playing around with the tools mentioned in the books - gaining hands on experience helped loads.

Good luck!

I usually create two partitions one that hosts the OS files (approx 6 - 10GB) and then on the other partition I install apps and data, that way if I need to reinstall I never touch the data partition. Most people that I know create one partition that spans the whole drive.

You could always install an Anonymous Proxy and track usage via the IP Address.

What about your policies at work/school, do you have any policies in place that employees are forced to sign it terms of company equipment usage?
What I'm getting at is it might be fine to state that the material the employee is viewing might be inappropriate, it's whether the employee has had fair warning and has agreed to the terms of company equipment usage that has been signed and agreed to.

Here's a great link provided by a EHN member and how he studied for the CEH exam: http://www.ethicalhacker.net/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,54/topic,1369.msg4925/topicseen,1/#msg4925

It will definitely help to familiarize yourself with the tools you have learnt about on the course. The CEH exam will ask about details that mostly experience will help with. I'd also recommend the following books for additional studies for the CEH exam:

Certified Ethical Hacker Exam Prep 2 (Exam Prep 2 (Que Publishing)
By Michael Gregg (Author) 
# ISBN-10: 0789735318
# ISBN-13: 978-0789735317

Counterhack Reloaded - Ed Skoudis (great book, well written and topics are explained in an easy to understand manner)
# ISBN-10: 0131481045
# ISBN-13: 978-0131481046

Practical hacking and countermeasures - by Spivey D. (another easy to follow book with plenty screenshots of servers configured with VMWARE, basically a step by step hacking guide)
# ISBN-10: 0849370574
# ISBN-13: 978-0849370571

HTH and good luck with the exam

Good post and good questions, something I too have been thinking about lately.
I don't think ethical hacking or the requirement for pen testing will decrease as more secure and "intelligent" code is written. There will always be a requirement for testing IT security. My reasons are that code is written by humans, and as the saying goes humans are not perfect so there will always be some vulnerabilities to explore/exploit. There are methods to evade IDS, and with regards to more secure code, if you can't directly exploit that code then try other methods, for example MITM/session hijacking.

Just my two cents
It's also my first post, been a lurker for a long time, great site Don