2.) I get a "can't open swap file" error. This is odd,
because I have "nowritebackup" set in my vimrc.
While I'm not sure about your first problem, swap-file stuff
is controlled by the 'swapfile' option, not the
'writebackup' option. You may want to tweak or disable your
swapfile with ":set noswapfile" for your particular file type.
Alternatively, you can specify the location of the swapfile
in some place that you *can* write, via the 'directory'
option. This should allow you to have a swapfile in a place
where you can read/write it, if that's the problem you're
experiencing.
To learn more, read at
:help 'swapfile'
:help 'directory'
HTH,
-tim
