A few weeks ago I decided there was nothing for it: I would have to reload hubby's desktop. The machine was not yet hanging, and had not yet shown what has become known as the blue-screen-of-death, but I figured this was probably imminent.
The e-mail client - Thunderbird - had started behaving badly and was slow on startup, but only when opening hubby's inbox. So, bravely, I backed the whole lot up onto DVD, dabbed my face with war paint and got ready to do battle.
Sadly, with the amount of information we store on our machines, only a DVD will suffice - that or a box of CDs and that's just plain impractical.
Several hours later, the PC was up and running, faster and free of all the clunky software inevitably loaded onto the machine. I restored the e-mail and went on my way.
Disaster strikes
Just when you think a job is well done, disaster will strike.
Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb
Just when you think a job is well done, disaster will strike. It's not very complicated. Somewhere in the midst of the epic reloading battle, the task of installing a firewall and anti-virus software was never really allocated to anyone.
Everybody knows what happens when a PC connected to the World Wide Web - even if only through an ISDN line - is left unprotected against the elements. What everybody does not know is that the rogue virus that unleashes itself on the PC will only do so when you are furiously hammering away at the keyboard.
This could be why the first time the machine rebooted itself I was a bit surprised. The second time, I was forewarned. A little box popped up with some odd error message and started a countdown. A bit like a spy thriller, my yet-again unsaved work self-destructed.
It was, said the anti-virus I managed to install in between bouts of re-starting the desktop, a worm. And not even a nasty one at that, I thought, glad I had yet again saved the day.
Until I opened my e-mail box. My entire inbox, all of it, every last bit, was gone. Drafts were there, junk was still intact, sent items remained, but my inbox was gone. And with it, the utility bill.
I'm on my way out to get a box of candles and matches now.
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