"Calif Bill" wrote in message
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"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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"Don White" wrote in message
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RCE wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message
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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.


Cheaper to buy a new disk. Costco had a rebate program, \so the cost was
about $10 after rebate. Watch the adds from Fry's and Office depot or
Staples. Almost 100% rebate.


Sometimes, uninstalling & reinstalling software in the Windows environment
causes "interesting" problems that you can't fix. Renewing the subscription
for existing software is much safer. If he's got unlimited time on his hands
to deal with nightmares, then fiddling with new software is the way to go.