Thanks for all the help, everyone. I'll tackle this next week. And Genes, I leave the auto-update on because it really is very convenient. I'm not sure this problem had anything to do with that because they have been begging me to download IE7 for months--but they never did it without my permission before. I still have not installed it or decided to. Just don't want any headaches I can't fix.

Loralee, regardless of the software you will eventually settle on, you will need to use multiple DVD's unless you opt for an external hard drive. I suggest that you take an afternoon and use a disk burning application (I can't stand Roxio, more on this later) to back up the files and folders of your choosing. If your DVD writer is capable, use double layered DVD-R's as they are 8.5 GB each. Then, get in the habit of backing up new files to dvd on a regular basis. A real simple solution would be to buy an external USB or Firewire hard drive and copy over your precious files, though I would still make DVD's and put them away. Most, if not all, external drives come with some sort of "back-up" software. As Ravencajun suggests, Trueimage is pretty good. I do not recommend anything by Roxio as their software has proven to conflict with hardware drivers and also creates problems when installed with other software. It doesn't play well with other software. I have made many repairs to friends and family computers that Roxio has caused. There are many other cd/dvd burning software solutions available, I am partial to Nero. I also suggest Total Commander as a file manager. It far exceeds the capability of Windows Explorer and once you use it, you'll never look back. If you get an external hard drive and use total commander, you'll be done in no time at all. Good luck.

I picked the easy way out and bought for under $100 a USB turntable that connects to my computer. Software made by Cakewalk came with it as well as Audacity, but the Cakewalk software is very easy to use. I can save in different formats, burn to CD, etc. So much easier than any of the other methods I have read about. The turntable I bought is made by Audio-Technica, although there are several different brands available. I found mine by doing a search using Google, and after I decided on this brand, I searched for the best price I could find. I bought through an online merchant for a price much better than CC or BB for the same model. Sad to say, I haven't done very much with it as yet, converting only a few albums to digital, but I listen to the albums just for the fun of it. By the way, it has a dust cover, so I have it sitting on a little table next to my computer desk.

I think we have been jumping back and forth between specifics of my particular post and questions posted in general. I don't have enough experience in this computer forum to really add anything to any general discussion beyond my own personal, very minor experiences, so I will go back to the specifics of my post and my own situation. In the past, when I was a Windows PC user, I was an intermittent visitor to a number of computer forums, not this one very often, because of low traffic here, but all the forums had very friendly people who were generous with their time and expertise and seemed happy to help. Since switching to an Apple computer, I have barely stepped foot in a computer forum. I have not needed to. My laptop just works 90% of the time and when it doesn't, I have a 3 yr tech support policy in place. Something I've had with every computer I've ever had since I first started getting on the computer in 1995. It has been a big relief, because maintaining a computer and straightening out technical problems even with help was a very frustrating task that I never enjoyed. It always felt like a 'big black hole' of wasted time when some issue would present itself. Even with an 'expert' to help figure it out, you'd never know how many hours you'd have to take away from whatever task you were trying to do, to stop and figure out why the computer wasn't responding right, 'again'. Or how many days your computer would not be working. Even with a tech support policy, I might call and get the wrong information and no fix with two techs, and have to call back again and then a third tech might know just what the problem was and fixed it in about 10 minutes. So, even though I was less technically literate, it seemed like even among the technically literate, there were a lot of people who seemed as confused as I was. I always tried to understand what I needed to know. Always tried to find out what I could do using the computer that would be preventative and avoid problems. It didn’t seem to matter, tech problems always seemed to present themselves regardless. So again, I can’t even express how relieved I’ve been not to have that experience with my computer any more. My husband has a windows based computer with Vista on it and I don’t even want to touch it. Which brings me to my thread that seems to have triggered this discussion. I wasn’t even asking for help with a problem with my computer. I had already been working with my own situation for 3 days and taken steps to resolve it not only with GW but with my own Apple tech support. I was not satisfied with the responses or information that I was getting from either about whether this ‘downloaded file’ was a problem or not. That was why I posted here. And from the information that ravencajun offered, it would seem that I had reason to remain concerned about the ‘possibility’ that it could be a problem and one I wanted to take steps to avoid in the future. Even if the file that was downloaded onto my computer was not a problem, it might have been. So, what was it about my thread that has caused a negative response? What did I do or say that was wrong? I’m still here defending my thread, why? Have I even done any of the things that some of you are expressing you have a problem with? I was very appreciative for the help ravencajun gave me and I even tried to smooth over my initial response to Mike, even though I still think he was wrong in both content and attitude in his response to me, I was more than willing to give him a break and overlook it. At this point, I am at a loss to understand how what seemed like a simple question has resulted in my feeling like I have to defend myself for asking it and now defending all people who come to forums and ask questions. That doesn't seem right to me.