Ebbie -

Your original "statement of the problem" implied that you're usually careful to check what AdAware finds to make sure you don't delete something you want to keep. This suggests that you often do find some things to remove from the delete lists(?).

You can add a program that AdAware tags for deletion to an "ignore" list in AdAware, and once the program is on the list AdAware will NOT report it and try to delete it. This avoids the need to keep scanning the list everytime you run AdAware - which might perhaps make it more likely that you'll update and run more often(?).

Also - although AdAware probably wouldn't delete your music files in this case, as common as "deviant malware" is, there's the possibility of running into something that needs a "special program" for cleanup. A program new to you always runs the risk of doing something unexpected, and often "removal" of malware involves deleting whole program folders. This means you would lose your downloaded music files if they're in the program folder for something that "got infected." It's thus a good idea to backup the downloaded files somewhere else, in a different-named folder, and/or to CD - just on principle.

John