If it turns out that you do not have a hard drive or other hardware problem, there is something else to consider. Taking the machine to someone and paying them to figure out and fix your problem may not be cheap or quick. If your machine is capable of running Win 7, maybe your $ would be better spent to upgrade to that...unless you are trying to save files that you absolutely cannot afford to lose. Even if you fix the machine without doing this, you have to identify how and why this infection occurred in the first place. If you do not do this, then all your time-effort-money will be wasted because you will repeat the same errors and will certainly become infected again. Do you have any idea how this happened? Did you download any free toolbars-games-screensavers? Did you open an email attachment without scanning it? Do you normally click on unfamiliar links (especially on Facebook or MySpace) without checking them out first? If you did any such thing, you have to STOP until you learn more about how to keep yourself and your machine safe.

I didn't take any photos, but in honor of ElizPiz and the lovely group I will share my favorite dessert recipe. Eliz gave us all one of her faves! It was adapted from two different recipes. (all art is derivative). Very yummy and impressive. Hope it doesn't get weird when I cut and paste .... Pear Quince Tarts with Salted Caramelized Pistachio Brittle Yield: Serves 12 Ingredients 1 sheet (about 10 by 12 in.) frozen puff pastry (14-oz. package), thawed (I use DuFour) 3-5 ripe yet not mushy pears, I prefer Bartlett About 1/3-1/2 cup quince paste 1 large egg, beaten About 2 tbsp. raw sugar 1/2 pint whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly butter 2 large baking sheets. On a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll out pastry to 16 by 18 in. Cut pastry in thirds lengthwise and in half crosswise. Cut in half again crosswise. With a wide spatula, transfer the 12 rectangles to baking sheets. 2. Core pears and cut into ~1/4" thick slices; do not peel. Arrange, slightly overlapping, on pastry rectangles, leaving a ~1/2" border bare (angle slices if necessary). Use at least 1/4 pear for each tart, or as much as half a pear. Warm the quince paste (carefully and briefly on a low setting) in a microwave oven to melt, then brush over pears. Fold border over edge of pears, stretching slightly and pressing down to hold. Brush edges with egg, then sprinkle sugar over tarts, especially pastry edges. 3. Bake until pastries are browned, 25 to 30 minutes. 4. Whip 1/2 pint of fresh whipping cream and 1t vanilla extract, just until stiff peaks form. 5. Serve tarts warm or room temp with pistachio brittle (see below) on the top, and whipped cream on the side. Salted Caramelized Pistachio Brittle Servings: Yields 2 cups Ingredients 1 cup salted whole roasted shelled pistachios 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt (very important to the flavor) Directions 1. Line a baking sheet with foil or waxed paper. Butter the foil or waxed paper. 2. Microwave the nuts on high for 1 minute so they will be warm when you add them to the caramel. 3. Pour 1/2 cup water into a heavy 3-quart saucepan. Pour the sugar and salt in the center of the pan and pat it down just until evenly moistened (there should be clear water all around the sugar). Cover the pan and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 4 minutes. Uncover and cook without stirring until the syrup begins to color slightly, about 3-5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, swirling the pot gently if the syrup colors unevenly. 4. When the caramel is a pale to medium yellow, about 3 minutes more, add the warm nuts. With a heatproof silicone spatula, stir gently and slowly to coat the nuts with caramel. Continue to cook until a bead of caramel dribbled onto a white plate is reddish amber, about 3 minutes more. Immediately scrape the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it as thin as you can before it hardens. When the caramel is slightly cooled but still warm, slide the foil or wax paper with the caramel nuts into a zip-top plastic bag and seal the bag. Cool completely. Chop or crush. NOTE The the timing to make this varies widely with the btu of your burner, gas vs electric, etc. Hang in there if it takes longer. Watch it like a hawk in case it takes less.

Congrats on making progress. I second Lake Girl's suggestion, though. You probably should still do what you need to stack things for new flooring--just in case your husband might end up listening to a voice of higher authority, like some guy covered with concrete dust who's happy to help him save money by promising the old tile can be made to work. I.e., bring in your own authority--first--and supplement with properly coached friends and family. Surprising things can happen during a remodel, especially when time issues, even modest money issues, and a gang in agreement coalesce unexpectedly. BTW, in construction, the subs virtually ALWAYS feel whatever goes in fastest and on schedule is what should be done. Also, with the right (wrong) DH, just what constitutes an authority whose opinion outweighs one's own can be surprising. In the case of our tiny vacation home it was the voice from beyond of the previous owners being channeled through an old folding tray table they'd kept standing in the miniature kitchen to hold...absolutely nothing worthwhile. I was emptying this mess to join the mountains of other stuff headed for Goodwill when DH told me we should keep it there, basically because they did. I laughed, but he wasn't joking. Sigh. Unlike your problem, mine (the table, not DH) fit into the waiting garbage bag quite nicely.

Here is picture of my GH. It has an insulated north and northwest wall and an insulated north roof. The east and south wall as well as the south roof is twin wall polycarbonated. It has natural gas heating and a 50 amp electrical box. I thought it would take me a month to build and it took 4 months. Polystyrene insulates the ground to 2 feet deep. This winter I will put a pool cover on the south roof and it will come all the way down to the ground and cover the retaining wall on the south. I will leave some of the windows open to heat the retaining wall area but will keep it cool, just above freezing. Some citrus and avocado are planted in the ground there. Van