98 Contour AC Compressor!!!!!

I have a 1998 Ford Contour, 2.0L Engine. I have owned this car since buying it new. It only has 60000 miles on it and so far, it's been a decent car. Last week, during the heat wave, my car died after driving about 30 minutes while using my AC. I could feel the power changing with my AC on, so I shut off the AC and my car was fine. The next day, I drove about 2 miles with AC on and the car wanted to die again and started doing the thing where I could feel the power being drained by my AC...so I shut off my AC. The next time I turned on my AC, I heard a loud screech and shut it off immediately. It started making a screeching noise and then I saw a small poof of smoke. Took it to mechanic and he said AC Compressor. $767.00 to fix. I'm still deciding wether or not to fix it....

Yesterday, my windows were fogging up so I tried to turn on the defrost, which I assumed had nothing to do with AC.....I could feel a power drain and it started making a wierd noise.

Is this an electrical problem that fried my AC compressor? Why would the defrost not work properly? Does it have something to do with the AC too?
I want to take it to Ford Dealer but don't want to get sc%#$ed!:banghead:

Your opinions are welcome!:frown:

From the way you explained it, it does sound like the A/C compressor clutch is seizing up or starting to lock up. If you do not care about A/C at the moment, then have someone unplug the compressor so it does not kick on when flipping it to "defrost" mode. The A/C compressor normally turns on in "defrost" mode.