Deleted master.apmaster files--how bad is this?

Macbook was going really slow and I stumbled upon hundreds of files with "master.apmaster" or scrambled letters. I thought I had a virus so started deleting. Just found out they were/are necessary. How screwed am I? Please help--I'm scared that I've messed up all my pictures of my kids!!

Hard to say. You have definitely destroyed the iPhoto database, but may not have destroyed the actual photos themselves.

Do you have Time Machine set up? You may be able to restore your iPhoto Library back to the way it was.

Let us know what version of iPhoto you have so we can advise you further.

PS. There are no viruses for the Mac.