I miss the good old days when you actually had to download something to get a computer virus. I’m on google images when the Java program starts and suddenly these fake antivirus-program-looking windows pop up and completely disable my non-school laptop.
The same thing happened to my school computer last semester at the Spyhouse. The law school’s tech people told me that a virus can spread through the cafe wireless network. I don’t know if that’s true, but this certainly sucks.
I recently bought Windows 7 from the school, so I’m installing it on the main laptop and hoping it deletes all of my old programs, including the virus. My computer was non-responsive to opening connected drives, so I couldn’t save any files. I’m used to losing everything because of my long history of buying crappy Big Box laptops, but I just hate the prospect of reinstalling Ableton. Sigh.
Off to the lakes while Windows 7 keeps installing!
5 Comments
Alex
November 8, 2010 at 3:07 pmWell at least with Windows 7 comes Windows Live Mesh ( http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?os=other ) so now you have 5 GB of space you can use for synced folders which means no more lost files. 🙂
Jansen
November 8, 2010 at 3:35 pmOh fancy.
Carpecactus
November 12, 2010 at 3:54 pmbest way to get rid of a virus is system restore – it’s like a time machine for your computer! 🙂
TDot
November 14, 2010 at 10:34 pmYou should get a Mac 😉
*But*, if that’s not your thing, definitely get the NoScript extension — http://noscript.net/ — or its equivalent for whatever browser you use.
There’s a bit of a learning curve to it if you’re not the techy type, but since the overwhelming majority of web-borne virii run a background script to execute, you’re basically impervious to everything. It’s pretty nifty 🙂
Jansen
November 16, 2010 at 11:01 pmUgh. That’s too complex!