wow, talk about computer problems

[CREWZIN]

Got a call this morning from my neighbor. A nice guy, retired school teacher from New York. His computer wasn't working right and he can't find his files and other things that he had. I almost knew right away what had happened and when I questioned him, sure enough he opened a file from someone he didn't know. You know what's next. Probably a virus or worm got into his hard drive and messed everything up. All I could do his comfort him and gave him the name of a couple of computer places that I know of in the area.

I must blow away half a dozen emails a week that have attachments and aren't from anyone I know. If they're important, the sender will get back to me another way. So far I've never heard from any of them.

I also KEEP telling my wife that while she's on her computer not to open "anything" she's not familiar with or she cold loose her book (she's a writer) and that scares the heck out of her.

[wazzzzman]

Another thing to remember is to have a good virus checking program with daily updates. Use hardware and software firewalls. Do regular maintenance as well. Not opening mail from someone you do not know is not necessarily always the only way to stay safe. Viruses can come in many ways; believe it or not a jpg here on this forum could contain a virus. I am sure the administration and server management do all they can to make sure that does not happen. You can just as well get a virus from a friend as well as a stranger. What these lunatics do is attack your contacts list, pose as your friend and send you virus. So the word is backup off line anything you must keep. Make sure it is in a safe place outside your home in case your home is destroyed. Make sure you can read the data on another computer. I made the mistake of making a backup, but it was really no good but looked good on my computer because Windows brought the data out of temp storage for me and not from the backup which was really blank. Just words to the wise from someone who has done this as a profession.

[CREWZIN]

Thanks for the info. I know a lot of people don't like it but both our computers have Norton with constant updates and run a couple of spyware/adware systems every night.

[bobs turbo pt]

i had a computer crash of few months back lost everything !! over 2400 songs etc, sent the hard drive to a place in calif, they were able to get all info off it,they sent it back on cd/dvd's, after they checked it all, they said no virus were found, it was just that the hard drive crapped out, its a horrible feeling .

[bertone]

Or simply just buy a Mac...

[soonercruiser]

Kinda like havin' someone you don't know working on your PT!
(Yah, get a mac and then don't expect to get anything done!)