Sorry, I've been away a bit. To take your comments in order, Kudzu: Well, I'm glad to know it isn't something MS is doing, but there is really no way someone could have gotten access to my computer, unless they came in as a burglar and left no other signs. We have very few guests, and the layout of the house makes it impossible for anyone to enter the computer room without our knowing it. I'm beginning to lean more and more to your second suggestion, that the files came along with something else I downloaded. I did download a video on YouTube a few days ago, and now a search on the site doesn't bring it up anymore, which is strange. DA: I did click to see when some of the files were created. Several were from 2005 and 2006. Do those dates refer to the time they were "created" on my computer (though I do not think I had bought this computer yet in 2005--too lazy to go hunting for the receipt tonight), or to their original creation on someone else's? If it is when they got onto my computer and I just hadn't checked the All Users folder for such things, I am still left with the puzzle of why some got into my personal regular music folder. However, I usually access My Music through the Start menu, but I had gone through My PC>C:\, etc., when I came across this problem. Can it be that the files were there all along, as Gndms suggested, and I just never happened to notice them? (In that case, I will owe everyone an apology for taking your time, and also feel like the boy who cried wolf--though unintentionally!) So long as nothing sinister is going on, I will be content. RavenCajun: I ran scans as you suggested and all seems well there. However, yesterday I checked the History section of MSE and found this: But it wouldn't have anything to do with the strange files, would it? I am wondering how it "exploits" the computer and whether or not it did any exploiting of mine before it was detected and removed. This is the first time MSE has found anything "severe." Up till now, it has always been just cookies. Didn't find any suspicious log-on activity. RUBotted found nothing, too, but thanks for telling me about it; I have Bookmarked the site for future reference. When I checked the administrative tools and event viewer, there was a great long list of events listed as warnings, dating back to April of 2006, which I am assuming was when I bought the PC. All those "warnings" are scary. Can you tell me what they mean? Should I be doing something about them? Thank you all so much for helping me. Just as a final touch for my peace of mind, I am going to run Kaspersky's scan now.

Joy, Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful treasures!!.....I snagged a WHOLE BUNCH!!!!!.... : )) FlutteringBy

OK, I believe you all, I guess my experience was different. I turned off my ad-blocker and refreshed the page. An ad appeared on the right margin that was producing music. I then re-enabled the ad-blocker, refreshed the page again, and no more music. Without trying to sound too persistent, try a different browser or a different ad blocker. It was publicly revealed a few days ago that some ad-blocking software producers will agree to allow certain ads to slip through, in return for $$$$. Fair enough, business is business. Could that be at work here?

They are cracking down bigtime, but it's a global problem. A lot of these websites are hosted in Asia where it's more difficult to enforce copyrights. And you need to closely examine the terms of usage - some of these websites put language into their TOS that says sharing copyrighted movies and music is illegal. That means they are off the hook if one of their users gets caught. The user gets prosecuted, but the website doesn't. Read the TOS for Limewire and Kazaa! Students are a big problem (as in the link above) - they just aren't sensitized to taking intellectual property as being theft. You can see that universities and colleges are taking measures to curtail piracy. Producers are trying to eliminate piracy at the source as well. For example people aren't allowed to carry cameras into movie theaters. I remember one news report about a man that was arrested with a camera in his belt buckle! They are also implementing rigid security in the print labs, where one lost print can mean a million pirated DVDs on the market. Producers have also gone to a same day, same date opening for big movies. That means it opens around the world on the same day instead of rolling an opening out on different days for different continents. That stops someone from pirating a movie in the US and selling illegal DVDs in other countries where the movie hasn't opened yet. Anything that is copyrighted is protected by law. "Free" downloads should always be examined carefully.