I cannot believe this...I thought buying an imac meant no crashes.

How to Perform an Archive and Install

An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.

1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.

Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions

Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.

2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.

3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.

4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.

5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.

6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

A cursory google and youtube search on limewire revealed that the program is known to cause multiple problems including viruses.

There are no virus' for Mac.
There is a trojan going around on pron sites and on bit torrent inside an illegal copy of iLife 09.
The trojan requires you to download a file from a sketchy site(a big NO NO) and install it-giving it your admin password.

If you do not know the difference between a trojan and a virus-go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

I know there are no viruses for Macs; however, the OP could have been using Limewire on a Windows partition..... where viruses are plentiful (and so it spyware, etc, etc).

Ps. Never download anything from an unsafe site-limewire and bit torrent are notorious vectors for malware, so are sketchy sites promising "free" software.
Only download from trusted sites(Apple, Adobe, Cnet, Microsoft, etc.).

No OS, anti-spyware or anti-virus software can protect you from yourself.

{quote}So macs can get viruses{quote}

There so far there are no known viruses for Mac OS X. Therefor you can't get something that doesn't exist.

{quote}crash then I take it.{quote}

There is not an OS available that is crash resistant. Mac OS X itself is rock solid until you add the user factor. People install plug-ins, haxies, and make system mods even though they are directly linked to crashes and instability. Check out the Safari forum area and you will find the number one cause of crashes is plug-ins. Leopard Snow is apparently going to help reduce Safari browser crashes http://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/.

I have been a Mac user since the early 90's and also worked in IT for a corporation supporting Windows and enterprise systems. Mac OS X is far more stable and less problematic than Windows.

{quote}I will not get Limewire or any other "free" download site again.{quote}

I wouldn't either. There is nothing 'free' about Limewire. It is just end to end criminal activity. Downloading crap from p2p sites will only bring security and stability problems as well as identity theft or legal trouble. If need free apps there are tons of open source software available from office packages to image editors - all available from legit sources http://www.macupdate.com/ .

garbageman.

this is simply not true. Macs do crash and it's not the user factor. Have a look at the iMac Freezing thread, remember the G5 desaster, remember the infamous bombs in OS 7, macs do crash and everything else is myth.

{quote}garbageman.

this is simply not true. Macs do crash and it's not the user factor. Have a look at the iMac Freezing thread, remember the G5 desaster, remember the infamous bombs in OS 7, macs do crash and everything else is myth.{quote}

You off your meds? Please do quote me where I said that Macs don't crash.... And at what point in time did I state anything regarding legacy operating systems like OS 7? It would be greatly appreciated if next time you actually read my post and limit your comments to my actual post and not some bizarre assumptions.

{quote}Have a look at the iMac Freezing thread,{quote}

The last time I checked my iMac as a piece of hardware - not an operating system... Hardware issues and software issues are two different things.

Mac OS X is rock solid and very rarely ever crashes. I work 12 hrs a day using several macs and they all work flawlessly. User's are the number one destabilizing factor - period.

"User's are the number one destabilizing factor - period."
Of any piece of technology or OS.

Manufacturers of hardware have something like a 15-20% failure rate. The stuff rolls off the assembly line, checks out ok and then eats it in the real world.
Machines fail-whether it is a Dell, Sony or Apple. It is irritating and frustrating when it happens to you-but it happens.

I have had 6 Macs-all of them worked/work perfectly. Only "crash" I had was caused by being forced to install Norton anti-virus on one machine.

Typed from my "freezing" free iMac.

It is entirely possible that you have hardware problems. Mac's are computers and they have about a 5% failure rate which is about as good as it gets in the computer hardware world. I'd say roughly 50% of the computers I've owned in my life have had hardware problems at some point, many of them mac's. but, all problems I have encountered have always been covered by warranty. So if you do archive and install to reinstall the OS and you have the same problem, you most likely have some kind of hardware issue. It should be covered by the warranty.

When my power mac was freezing it turned out to be the motherboard causing it and not the OS. Totally ***** but, even apple computers do have hardware problems. Crashing really should be a very rare occurrence on a properly performing mac. I can't even recall the last time my computer froze.... its been... I don't even know, a very long time probably over a year at this point.

What kind of freezing are you having? Do you just get the spinning color wheel? Or does the screen go all gray and it say you need to restart your computer?

Neither of my browsers (Safari and Firefox) ever crashes or freezes, but IMHO, it's most likely because I do not visit questionable websites and only download (and pay!) from reputable sites. I also clear the caches and cookies daily. So I don't think it's odd that your problems happen with both an HP and a Mac - it's most likely the sites you visited. I didn't even know what Limewire was until I googled it because of your initial question and it was quite evident that most/all of it could be considered illegal/copyright infringements/full of malware and/or spyware and viruses.

Another possibility is your power supply, if you plugged the HP into the same outlet. Maybe you are getting power fluctuations, maybe your power board (if you use one) is faulty.