Ok, well after listening to a session last night where the snare mic was picking up an incredible amount of cymbal bleed (grrrrr) .. I broke down and purchased the Debleeder plugin from the website (on for $30 USD) in hopes that it would work on my system, using FXPansion, since it is VST.
Good news: IT WORKS!! And though i only tried it briefly on that one track, from what I can see, it works WELL! Much better result than a gate and more natural.
Anyhow, in case it helps anyone else still stuck in the past with an older PT system and windows 32 ...