It's a shame about the Mac thing. I quit using Windoze in 2003. It took me about 2 hours to get used to the slightly different navigation. I will never touch a PC again.

I have 3 Macs now. All are run continuously, day and night. None has ever crashed or been compromised. Never. Not once. No viruses. No malware. Invisible updates.

Regarding your pix – every PC comes with a clean boot up disk. If you don't have it you can buy it. I suspect that if you can get to a point where you can see your files you'll be able to rescue them. And as I mentioned before – most security programs will have an emergency boot up disk in the pack. Good luck.

I'll be honest, I've never even SEEN a Mac /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />

Picture a computer which never crashes, takes care of its own maintenance, pops on like a light bulb when you turn it on, is immune to all types of viruses and malware and which requires no special security precautions to remain "safe".

That's a Mac.

One you go Mac…. you never go back! (ohhhh – no he dit-int! no he dit-int!!)

and maybe i'm wrong, maybe things have changed

but Macs dont have as many software options do they?

In 5+ years I have only found 1 computer program that I needed that didn't have a Mac equivalent. It was my original web development software. It turns out that the program I switched to as a result was much better anyway. (I switched to Dream Weaver.) Then I spent the extra $99 to get the MS office suite of products (Word, Excel, etc.) and that's pretty much it. If you're reeeeally attached to Windoze you can even load up Windows for Mac and run Windows as a program within the Mac OS. If you do that then ALL MS software works on Mac. I just didn't care that much.

Mac is about 5 – 15% more expensive up front than PeeCee. But the reliability and ease of use more than makes up for the extra $200 or so. No Norton to buy, no McAfee to update, no patches to download, no viruses to clean…. it is precisely as advertised. It works without a hitch.

When I say none of my 3 Macs has ever crashed I mean that literally. NEVER crashed. I have never lost a single file due to computer error while using a Mac. I can't begin to calculate the amount of time Mac has saved me with regards to maintenance chores.