All of you need to be very careful which sites you visit. I have been down since sometimes Tuesday! # different virus' that I downloaded from a "freebie site" listed by someone here on CUTE! I guess I got very lucky that it did not cost a bundle to get it back up and running ..this time. Last time was a few yrs back and I stayed down for 3 months plus. I do know that I downloaded from a couple of sites that I had never been to before. It was just a few minutes after downloading a Christmas design that my computer locked up and I all I could get was someone trying to force me to buy their CLEANER to get my computer back on. Yes, I do have Microsoft and it was up and running but I had no access except to the False security that was trying to get me to buy their security. My son could not get here until around 10:30 last night. Thank goodness that I spent the money yrs ago to send him to school for computer tech!! We were still not sure that it was fixable until he came by this morning to check to see how much damage had been done. He unplugged something in my computer had Microsoft ran for about 7 hrs. It was showing this morning that it had 3 trojans installed. Microsoft cleaned it and he plugged it back up normally and I have been trying to catch up today! He did restore systems back for several weeks and I have been cleaning up my desktop most of the day! I have racked my brain trying to figure out which site it was but I think I lost as much as the computer did! I will be alot more selective before I go to every site from now on! If it is not a regular site I use, I will not be going there!

Yes I am very careful about where I download designs. Free doesn't always mean good when it comes to worrying about destructive viruses. There are only a few sites that I go to regularly to see what's new.

I ran into a problem last year with a site that required me to register before it would let me download any designs. One of the things that I downloaded with the design was a virus.

From now on I am very very selective on where I visit.

Lois W

Not all software is good. Just because it's well known and expensive doesn't keep you safe. I had Norton for many years and they didn't stop the virus a couple of years ago. I paid 79.00 a year and they let me down. Good thing I had MOST of my stuff backed up on an external drive. I no longer have Norton. I took the laptop to two different guys and both said it couldn't be fixed. One of the places I ALWAYS get the red flag from is Applique Hut or something like that. I stay away from there. I now have a new desk model, a new laptop, and two different anti virus software running on both.

My computer locked up this week too - we ran the "whatever it is" (thank goodness hubby knows what to do) and it found 850 "fragments" and fixed them. So, I'm running again. Didn't find any trojans though. I too have been leary about going to some of the unknown sites, but I guess I'm also so anxious to find new designs that I keep searching.

My antivirus blocked D/L s from some of the free sites since there were nasty viruses there. It's always alarming when red banners go up and I see the words downloading malicious... or some such. Reflex is to close computer immediately, an even better idea is to invest in really good antivirus software. These days, you'll get your money back in no time.

Thanks for the head's up. I have also gotten very nervous about getting free designs from sites I am not famiar with.