I've calmed down quite a bit, and I think we've finally got most of the problems cleared up.

Last week we started having Active-x and registry key errors. Started with a coupon site, which McAfee later reported as a malicious script from the printer download!!!

Ran some basic registry programs, did some fixes, still had problems.

Googled on McAfee, which we have, and found what was purported at their recommended software for registry errors. I didn't catch that it was NOT www.us.mcafee..... but was www.mcafee.... Anyway, they had free software, downloaded, ran, came back telling me I had hundreds of errors, but to FIX them, I needed to purchase the Error Dr. software. $50. But it had tied my machine up, so I purchased it. It sort of ate my computer. Slowly.

Saturday I started getting email from myself (?) with malicious scripts, so decided to scrub the computer and download AOL again. Scrubbed off Mozilla and firefox and all, downloaded and reinstalled AOL, and ended up in an infinite loop. Somehow AOL was triggered to reset the firewall before it finished installed McAfee, so it could not install the antivirus, and so it kept crashing, infinite loop. AOL was NO help, 30 minutes in auto answer HELL, then their service rep hung up on me and I ended up on hold with Walgreen pharmacy! We don't even HAVE a Walgreen. Ended up with 20 copies of AOL9.0 on the machine, and working one on one with MCAfee, charged by the minute.

Working with AOL, DH removed all the software we had PREVIOUSLY purchased from McAfee, and for some reason it had to be repurchased.

Total software and computer service time ended up being around $300! And, all of my receipts, purchases pending, emails from 12/3 to 2/14 were lost. So, no records, nothing to claim, no membership numbers, no problem log numbers, etc. Still trying to total up what the costs of that will be.

This is a BIG dent in my budget, and unnecessary. I feel SO foolish for paying for software that screwed up my computer, and paying to have it fixed, and being DOWN and out of a computer for two days.

A big lesson for me, though to remember to take the time to print out everything, and back things up. I hate wasting paper and killing trees for electronic paperwork, but some records really do need to be made. Sometimes I get so caught up in what I'm doing I forget the common sense things. Now I'm paying for it.

I guess the bright side is, I learned that some other ISPs charge $2 a MINUTE for technical assistance. The extra investment in AOL and McAfee instead of the less expensive choices did pay off in the long run.