Eliminating static electricity is a good suggestion. I have used grounding straps myself, but I don't believe they are absolutely necessary as long as you dissipate any static electricity when you first begin to work. The link below has a good discussion about the realities of doing this. Whatever you do, just remember to unplug the computer before doing any work inside so there isn't a shock hazard. Here is a link that might be useful: Grounding

Go to the link below and follow directions. All malware related topics should follow the example. Where not really trained 0r set up here to deal with Malware removal or give instructions, providing the wrong set of instructions using Google searches can make matters worse. There are forums trained specifically for this purpose please use them. Here is a link that might be useful: .landzdown

It may be IE7 as it had been causing a lot of problems with some people with WinXP. To get rid of IE7, go to Control Panel>Add/Remove>find IE7 and remove. It will revert your laptop back to a newer version of IE6. But, you will have to your laptop off of Windows Automatic Updates, otherwise, the next time it goes for updates it will download and install IE7 again. You will have to do your updates manually. I like that option better as you can see what you are downloading and whether you need it or not.

Deb, I don't have many tips, as this is the 2nd batch I've made. I did find that I had to dunk the ends of the sticks in the coating, then stick them into the cake balls and freeze them before dunking to coat or they just slipped off the sticks into the melted coating. I have to confess, these are not the crumbled up cake and frosting mixture, I made those once and just found the texture too disgusting. These are made with one of those "Babycakes" baking pans, Makayla got one for Christmas. You just fill the indentations with cake batter, bake 5 minutes and have little balls of cake. You still have to dunk the sticks in coating and freeze them, though. To put the ears on the cake, though, I had to cut little slits in the sides of the cake balls to insert the ears. Some broke in half, but I "glued" them back together with coating, figuring that after they got dunked, no one would notice. I was right... Funny you should mention "Hello Kitty". The first batch I made, with the frosting/cake mixture, was supposed to be "Hello Kitty". I used butterscotch chips for ears and made fondant bows. Dunked the cake pops and tried to make faces with those edible marker things. I got something that looked more like zombies with horns and pink bows, LOL, they'd have scared the dickens out of "Hello Kitty". The worst part was that they also tasted disgusting, even the kids wouldn't eat them. So, I guess you don't want pointers from me. (grin) Annie