ATM I wish I had a dollar for every virus story...

["Stanley A. Schultz" <schultz@ucalgary.ca>]

One and All:

I'm a research technician at the University of Calgary's Faculty of
Medicine.  In the labs around me, within a hundred yards, there are
literally hundreds of PCs and Macs.  Over the last 15 years, I think I've
seen more than 75% of all the things that can go wrong with a desktop
computer, and it's not a pretty sight.

While there is no iron clad guarantee against getting a virus and having
it trash your computer, your best defense without a doubt is to go out and
buy a good anti-virus software package, install it and update the virus
config files real often.  They're not expensive in the first place and can
save you big bucks and tons of frustration in the long run.

Fdisking and/or reformatting may or may not work, depending on the type
and strain of virus you're infected with.  They're like rats.  Even if you
tear down the house and rebuild you won't be rid of them. They'll just
come back tomorrow.  You need something that actually hunts them down and
kills them.

Consider the down time after a full scale virus attack when you can't use
the computer until you can afford a new drive if it's permanently gooned,
the time and effort in maybe replacing the drive (maybe several times
before you get it right), reinstalling the operating system and all the
programs (maybe several times before you get it right), wishing that you'd
backed up your data, and lastly, the irritation of having to go through
all this because of someone else's pure maliciousness.

Over the years my favorite antivirus software package has been Symantec's
Norton AntiVirus, but I've also heard really good things about McAfee.  
Go to your favorite neighborhood computer store and check these and all
the others out.  Don't buy the cheapest because it's cheap.  It could be a
false economy. Choose one based on after-market support, number of methods
used to detect viruses, and the practicability of the instructions and
advice they give you for removing viruses and keeping them out.  Do they
supply you with a way to reboot your system "clean" and purge all known
viruses without having to resort to a complete disk restructure?  Do they
supply you with any means or hope of resurrecting a trashed disk?

While you're at it, pick up one of the disk utilities that allow you to
make an "image" of all the critical parts of your hard drive in case it
really is trashed.  Norton Utilities will do this, but so will several
others.  Look them over and pick one to rely on.  They're unparalleled
insurance.

Then, make sure you have an up-to-date emergency boot disk so you can
resurrect the operating system after a massive attack and your consequent
antivirus counter-offensive.  Without one you're a dead man walking.  
With one you've got a small prayer.

Lastly (or maybe firstly!), back up *EVERYTHING*!  I wish I had a dollar
for every sad story I've ever heard about people who backed up their data
and thought they'd done good.  When a virus trashes their system, they
find themselves having to reinstall the operating system and *ALL* their
applications, one at a time.  They have to literally rebuild their system
from scratch and it can literally take weeks. Worse yet, they're never the
same old, familiar programs with all the little tweaks they're accustomed
to.

It would have been so much simpler and far less time consuming if they'd
backed up the operating system and the applications along with their data.  
With CD writers only costing a few hundred dollars and the 2/3 gig disks
costing little more than chicken feed, it's insane not to back up
everything, often.

"Oh, it'll never happen to me.  I practice safe ..."

I wish I had a dollar for every story ...

Cheers and such!

Stanley A. Schultz 
Voice: (403) 230-1911 
FAX: (403) 270-8928 
Webpage: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~schultz

"I am NOT a tourist, I've been on this planet for just HOURS!"