I have the Viking #1 and bought Origins with it. Over $2000!!! for the program. A few years later the company stopped making it, no updates available and there is no support for it. The just walked. There is an online group that I belong to that helps. The program only worked on Windows 98, so I bought a refurbished laptop with Windows 98 in case my desktop died. I do have the program on CD. I just bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and it works on it. It does not work on the two previous Windows upgrades. You are all right. It's a big racket. I would take your computer in and I believe it can be retrieved, as suggested by others. Good luck.