"Don White" wrote in message
...
RCE wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message
news
RCE wrote:

"Reggie Smithers" wrote in message
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

--
Reggie



Because I am currently bored, I tried that Microsoft SafetyLine link
that someone (JimH?) provided (thanks). I did the full scan doober
(took a while) and it reported my computer was fine, no viruses, no
screwed up files, no de-frag required. Everything is just hunky-dorey.

What's interesting to me is I have never, in all the years I've had a
computer and been on-line used any kind of anti-virus, anti-spyware,
anti-anything software. The only thing protecting this computer from
the cold, hard world is whatever firewall Microsoft uses in XP and
whatever my ISP firewall is. I tell people this and they are
horrified - and they advise me I am going to get hacked, mutilated,
screwed and all kinds of horrible things.
To date (knocking on wood) nothing has ever happened. In fact, the
only problem I encountered with this computer was after Microsoft did
one of those automatic updates, which I didn't know it was going to do
until I shut the computer off one day and it told me to wait while some
updates where installed. The next day I could not connect to our house
Wireless router. I did a "recover" back to a date just prior to the
update installation and everything has been fine ever since. After that
experience, I shut off the automatic update option as well.

My wife, the worry wart, has all kinds of anti-bad stuff installed on
her computer and she is constantly having crashes and problems. Norton
seems to be the biggest culprit.

The way I figure it, I just can't allow myself to worry and get paranoid
about a stupid computer. If I get a virus and it breaks - I'll take it
to a computer repair place and let them clean it up. If, in the
unlikely event the computer is totally trashed - I'll decide if I really
want a new one. I am very careful not to store anything of any
importance on the computer.

So, has all this hacking and virus stuff been over emphasized to sell
protection software, or have I just been lucky for the last 15 years?

RCE

It is a racket... *but* I ran a year or two without protection and got
infected by a friend. Cost me about $ 125.00 to have it cleaned and
Norton installed.


Of the $125 bucks, how much of it was for Norton? This is timely. Since
I posted the above, Mrs.E, who just returned from a week trip, called me
complaining that she could not get on-line. I checked the wireless
setup - fine. My computer using the same router is working fine. So ---
I clicked on the Norton thing ... WOOAAAHHH! Big red alerts, updates
required, impeding critical mass - everything but the sky is falling. I
disabled Norton. Clicked to connect on-line. Bang. There's her
homepage. Everything is fine.

Told her to leave Norton sleeping.

RCE
$ 50.00 - 60.00 CDN for initial program.
My subscription has expired too and I keep getting the messages.
The computer store said not to re-new on line... just come to them and buy
a new version. (I get a new CD).

Bull****. Renew on line if it's cheaper and you're happy with the program. I
say "if" because I don't know how that sort of thing works on other planets,
like Canada. But here, it was cheaper just to renew the NAV I already had.