Aly, this is awful. But it happens more often than we like to think.
I do backup, sometimes,but not as often as we all should. And suffered because of it.
I use Norton AntiVirus and check for updates whenever I hear of a new virus, or every five days, whichever comes first. There was an update this morning.
I recently bought a Gateway (my fifth computer since 1983) and love it. On #4, I copied my data files to CDroms. I learned the hard way it's best to copy them as "archive", not "read only". Then I just copied them onto the Gateway, and I still have the CD as backup.
Good luck on getting your data back together. You'll have a new copy of the Name/Pets list soon.