my vista new security up date changed firewall and defender setings 5:00am 4-2-08 lost all girls and ability to download. watch out it's coming if you have vista

Nonsence.

You might have lost the ability to download if it is now being blocked.
You might have lost the model list if it has been corrupt (which might be because it can no longer correct).

You have not actually lost all the models. They are still on your hard drive.

Do you have any refernce to MS update? A knowledge base number? A patch number? Anything so that I can read more.

My updates ran yesterday (they always seem to run Tuesday, but that is probably just me) and mine is still working.

It might just be that you have got caught by two of the problems that are in 1.0.2.x (or possibly you have not even upgraded to 102x and 101x stopped working on 31/3/2008).
There is a known problem with model list corruption on 102x.
There is a known problem with the downloader going into a loop on the same animation with 1021.
There is a known problem with 102x where new purchases can not be downloaded.

If you have your computer hooked up to a router i would try booting the computer in safe mode with networking enabled. Then see if you can download stuff. The router in most case's will have some type of build in firewall and protect you.

changed graphics card $87. computer speed is better than out of the box- no vghd problems for two days of testing- wish I had bought new card 30 days ago (screensaver works perfectly. thanks you all I tried most solutions posted they would work for a day and then same problems)- anyone with ATI graphics card having crash problems- the cost is worth it