Tonight I've tried to install a new program and every time I try it doesn't respond. I've also tried adding songs to the iTunes library from my computer, both by dragging and dropping and importing, but they don't get entered. And for several days I've been trying to backup to an external drive with no success. Is it unlikely that these things are coincidental? Seems like there might be a connection. Any suggestions on where to go from here? Thanks for your help.

ealvin, dunno just what's causing it. My paranoia makes me think of a nasty. May/may not be the deal, but a scan won't hurt anything. An AV scan is kinda obvious. Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean , other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, Superantispyware can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.superantispyware.com/ among other places. They have a Vista compatible version if needed. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Ealvin, Your post makes a great intro to a mystery novel, but is of no value trying to understand what the exact nature of your problem is. Some background into this would help. 1. What are you installing? 2. How are you installing it? 3. What are you installing it to? Versions, makes, models, etc. You know all that boring stuff. 4. What errors/messages are you encountering? We need the precise details in order not to just guess. 5. What errors is the system reporting in Event Viewer? 6. Is this machine patched and up to date? Have you upgraded any software recently? Do you need to upgrade any software? Sure it's probably unlikely but maybe not. 7. Is the disk in good shape? Have you cleaned it recently, and checked it for errors? Then, you can explore some of the malware concerns. 1. Have you updated and scanned your system recently? I could go on and on....but suffice we need more details. J. j e r u v y a t y a h o o d o t c o m

Sounds broken to me. Not sure which way to go. Might start with a system restore point to a time when it did work correctly. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10