Thanks everyone. Lots of useful methods. Mikie - it's good to know about moving entire folders (I don't have my video's in folders - yet - but am just discovering how useful that would be for shows I've recorded for a few seasons - having them altogether). I'd like to double check and ask what "a cmd window" is - and how I'd get there. Again - I have Windows XP (SP3). Sorry to say, Mikie, but I also need more explanation for what "make a shortcut to the destination , within the folder the files are in... then select a bunch of what I want to move, cut&paste onto the shortcut" means. I know someday I'll understand all of this, but I don't know how to make a shortcut to the destination. And once I cut and paste onto the shortcut, what do I do with it? Absolutely there are some big files - so I'm glad to told me to break it up into smaller chunks. I have so far. Thank you. Lynn.

What is making you think the Hard Drive is Shorting out (I agree with zep516 on the hard drive)? I know you said that something is preventing your computer from starting! Are you hearing some kind of Sound or Beeping? Do you smell smoke? Do you get anything on the computer screen? Have you tried Restarting the computer (I'm sure you have but I need to ask)? Have you tried unplugging the power and then plugging it back in? Have you recently done any Upgrading/Updating, Installing new programs, etc...? What is your Operating System (Windows Version)?

I love to reset browsers to default when they get sluggish. In Chrome, it's under advanced settings. Warning, this will remove all of your plugins and extensions. Take this advice with a grain of salt. I once had someone really freak out after resetting Firefox because he had to reset his home page and add his extensions back. Don't forget to delete IE browser cache, even if you don't use it. Windows does use IE and stores temp files there. Speaking of temp files, before you defragment, clear out your Windows Temp files. Click start, type in run and press enter. Now type in %temp% and press enter. There shouldn't be anything in here that you need and you might be surprised at how much has built up in there.

Both Android and the Apple operating systems for phones and tablets aren't 100% safe (nothing in life is) but they're both sitting on customized versions of Linux (which has pretty tight security features). I've never heard of anyone having a problem with either types of devices but I'm sure it happens, however rarely. The best security is a careful user, no matter what device is involved.