Computer Problems

Computer Problems

I’ve heard few sounds more chilling than the disembodied voice from the back of my computer that said this morning, clearly and with icy professionalism: “Your hard disk ... may have a problem. Your hard disk ... may have a problem.”

The technician is on his way. I will be computer-less for ... well, I don’t know exactly for how long. Let’s hope it won’t be too long and that the problem isn’t too severe.

Technology is wonderful. When it works, that is.

UPDATE: It’s Sunday, and I’m still computerless. The machine is being worked on in the shop even as we speak.

So, all you computer users, take a lesson from me: update your operating system. Frequently. Keep a close eye on that system tray. Go on the Net and look for updates. Don’t wait for them to come to you. That was my mistake, and wow, do I ever regret it. It turns out that my hard drive was not only very old but also full of viruses. According to my technician, updating my anti-virus program—which I did regularly—was not enough.

And here I thought I was being such a good citizen. Well, I guess I still can be. So, while I’m here: Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy have new versions out. Actually they’ve been out for some time. If you don’t have them yet, go download ’em. (If you have a previous version of Ad-Aware installed, the program will helpfully uninstall it. Not so for Spybot Search and Destroy, though—you’ll have to uninstall the previous version yourself.)

And learn from my inconvenient and very expensive mistake. Update that operating system.