It seems that I have become very reliant on the Internet to seek out product review information or to research a particular problem that I am experiencing with a range of electronic components (TV, laptop, stereo) or major home appliances (washer/dryer, stove, furnace, etc).
Several months ago I needed to search the Net to find information about a particular “bug” that had invaded my laptop computer. It was not a particularly malicious bug, just annoying. It was cleverly disguised as a Microsoft window, which I must have inadvertently clicked on (I only download files from “trusted” sources, and from a very limited group of big name companies – Microsoft, Java, Citibank, etc). I digress. Anyway … this bug kept prompting a window to pop up (again cleverly disguised to resemble a Microsoft window box), informing me that my computer has a virus and if I clicked on the box, it would solve the problem. Well, I was not going to fall for that.
I searched the Net by entering some key words contained in this virus information. I was able to find quite a bit of information and blog sites on this particular virus (search engines Rock!). I was also informed that this is not a true Microsoft window, and if the user clicked on the window, they would be directed to a site where they could purchased software to remove the virus – presumably from the same company or person with unleashed the virus.
Unfortunately, many other individuals had experienced the same virus judging by the many pleas for help. Equally unfortunate, were the number of varied help suggestions posted by bloggers to resolve the problem, many of then unsuccessful (as reported by those who followed the advice).
Needless to say, my hopes of resolving this issue quickly (and cheaplyJ) was rapidly fading. Then I remembered that my laptop (IBM brand – I only purchase IBM computers, now produced by a Chinese company under the brand of Lenovo), has a data recovery feature which wipes the hard drive completely clean, restoring it to the original factory settings. Additionally, my laptop has an automated hard drive backup feature which backs up data on a regular interval.
I proceeded with the recovery process after a review of my laptop’s manual. The entire process was completed in less than 1 hour, and when finished by laptop was renewed. After uploading my backup data (selected a date well beyond the period of this virus), I was up and running again – virus free. And to ensure that this issue (hopefully) never occurs again, I have download and installed a newer version of McAfee virus protection on my laptop (which I discover was offered as a free service from my AOL provider).
I was very much aware that, in this netcentric world, there are dangers lurking. It is good to know that there is a community of users (and victims), who can share their experiences to better inform others about specific issues and provide tips for possible resolution.
Please feel free to comment or post your related experiences as well.