Adding to DA's comment -- I too found the Arcsoft site which used/uses .phb files that may be album files. Here's a quote from Arcsoft: PHB files are proprietary album files used by some of our programs, namely PhotoBase. Albums do not store your images. They serve as links to files stored on your computer or removable drive. If you delete the original file, the thumbnail in the album basically becomes a dead link. For example, if you have files on a floppy disk and create an album, you'll always need to have that floppy in the drive whenever you want to view the full images. Likewise, if you have a digital camera that is read as a removable drive, you would need to have it connected if you create the album directly from the camera. The best thing to do is copy all of your images into a folder on your computer, *then* create the album referencing those files. Albums are useful because they let you preview and organize files on your system in a convenient fashion. It is also from albums that slide shows are made with some of our programs." They still offer ($) software that may be able to translate your pics to jpeg or they have some free help. Some of their software can be downloaded for trials which might enable copying to jpeg. Here is a link that might be useful: Arcsoft

Pam do you in fact have a DVD burner installed or only a CD burner? Look at the front of the tower and it will be visible on the CD or DVD player. If you have a DVD then there should be software. However I will caution that using a DVD for photos is daunting when you need to find a photo - unless you are far more tidy minded than I am, and that would not be difficult when it comes to sorting my photos. Taking a 1 meg photo as an example you would get close to 800 on a CD. Using a 10 megapixel camera at it's highest setting creates an image around the 3 megapixel mark so you can still expect to save close to 260 photos per CD. I have no knowledge of Picassa or anyone space oriented photo saving site, I like my photos in my possession and under my control.

Bree look on the side panel or top of the case and there should be a sticker there telling you Windows XP is inside and there should be a product key listed too. Was this a new computer? Was it local built? Go to my link below and download the small SIW program. It does not need to be installed, just double click on the exe file and it will run. This will tell you so much about your computer it is amazing. On the first screen click the second choice down on the left side - Operating system. In the new window you will see it tells you if your is XP Pro or Home and if it is full retail or OEM - I suspect OEM but that is fine. This is the top line on my computer, yours would look similar and hopefully say the service pack 2 is installed. Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 Look further down the right window and record the Product key (not the serial number as that is not so important) for future reference (this is the key that should be on the sticker somewhere on the outside of your case. I would suggest confronting the vendor but at this stage we do not know what you purchased or what you paid Here is a link that might be useful: Gregory Topala's SIW program

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.