Monday, February 07, 2005

A Virus By Any Other Name

is still a virus. Well, this weekend was certainly interesting. I learned two new things - that virus scans can miss computer viruses occasionally, and that God definitely has a sense of humor. I discovered last evening that my computer had contracted a virus that wouldn't allow me to access DOS programs - which of course I need for one of my jobs. I finally found information on this virus and found a web page where the issue is addressed and gives step-by-step information for getting rid of it. Step 1 - run a full antivirus scan on all of your computer. Okay, no problem - except that the scan took a very long time, and by 10:30 I was ready for bed, so just left the computer to do it's thing. At about 2:00 I woke up and decided to check it. It hadn't found a thing. Nothing. It declared my computer "virus-free". Oh yeah? Try running WordPerfect for DOS! (At 2:00 a.m. I am entitled to talk back to my computer). I turned it off and went back to bed. I got up this morning and started again. Okay, where was I? Oh, yes - step 2. Use your original Windows XP disk and replace three files corrupted by the virus. Hmm - can't find my XP disk. I searched everywhere, and could not find it. I turned my house inside out. I asked Tom at 6:00 if he had seen it and he said no. Well, I decided that now was a very good time for another prayer. (The first prayer had been said the night before, asking for wisdom to figure this thing out!). I prayed for help finding my disk, but afterwards I felt a little nudging about spending more time on housework, and less on, well, everything else. I prayed again - message received loud and clear. Please help me find this - and yes, I promise to be better organized. By this time it was time to get Andy up, so I figured I would have to wait to get back to looking. I went downstairs to put some wood in the woodstove, and just happened to remember that not too long ago Tom had asked me something about Windows XP. I again went to his room and asked him if he was sure he hadn't seen the disk - at which point he got up and announced that he just remembered that he did indeed have it! I figured I would get Andy on the bus and then fix the computer and be on my way. Well, here's where God's sense of humor comes in. When I finally got back to Step 2 - replacing the corrupted files, I figured I had better read all of the directions through once to make sure I didn't mess anything up. That's when I saw what was written further down. It said "However, it is possible that you do not have the original XP disk at your disposal, so here are the three necessary files. Just click this link and your XP will be restored." I could have sworn I heard laughter. Anyway, it turns out that my XP was restored this way, but I have a bonus - I know where my disk is should another virus be missed! Now I need to get busy. Oh, not working - housecleaning. I have a promise to keep!

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