Virus in Free Download Version

I have friends who have downloaded LimeWire and use it... I went to the website and downloaded the free version there. The first time I tried to open it, I watched as all icons on my desktop dissapeared... I went to Programs and it said "empty". My computer is being serviced now and the word is that there was a virus in the download that erased ALL FILES on my hard drive except for a few system files which were in use at the time. Need I say that this is extremely awful??? I am having to have new software installed and have lost all my personal files. Yeah, I should have had a current back-up but still... this should not have happened. I wrote to the "bugs" email address at LimeWare but only got a robot response... Not only am I out all my files, but am having to pay to have my computer serviced...