I dropped my computer off at Best Buy yesterday and the Geek Squad confirmed that my computer was hijacked and is riddled with viruses.
So I paid them $199 of Dan's hard earned dollars and in 3-5 days, they will remove all the viruses.
Hopefully.
If after running 15 different virus removal programs, they are unsuccessful at removing the viruses, they will have to wipe the hard drive completely clean and reload Windows.
Ouch.
Luckily after the last appearance of the dreaded blue screen, we bought an external hard drive that backs up all of our files in the wee hours of the morning. So if they do have to wipe her clean and start fresh, at least our files have been backed up.
I hope. I've never trusted that the back up program is actually running and backing things up while I am sleeping.
So the moral of this story ladies and gentlemen (do I even have any male readers?): if you are going to surf, please make sure you use protection...virus protection that is!
Safe surfing to you all!
20 comments:
Good advice. I'm signing up for McAfee today!
I had the dreaded blue screen last year. Cost me about the same amount. Ouch is right!
My husband runs a computer services company here in Nashville and he would wholeheartedly agree on the backup!
He recently saved my niece's Macbook from near death finals week. (who is a senior at Vanderbilt)
McAffee didn't catch HALF of what CA did. It is thorough and wonderful.
I am in computer hell too. Not from viruses but from all the little quirks and whatnots brought on from age. We have an external hard drive for the same reason. Bought it 5 years ago. It worked well. We wiped out all the viruses and reloaded everything. But for me, at this point, I would be better of with a new laptop. Both batteries are fried and every time the blasted power cord unplugs (which is often!) I lose everything. I feel your pain, completely.
And thanks for your positive words... I was awakened not from the Boogeymen at 4:00 am but by the final member of my family not to get stricken by this blasted bug. He too has now been "stricken!" Hopefully this is the last of it!
I am going to add you to my blogroll, btw, at some point today.
I need to take some advice from this. I am the worse when it comes to using protection...w/computers that is:)
Eek! I bought a year's worth of protection when I purchased my laptop but that has been up since September...maybe its time I actually do something about that! I was smart when I bought the desktop though and I got three years worth so I think Im ok there. My only other problem is that I have never once backed up my files...I always mean to but it just never happens. Im a very bad computer owner :(
I use AVG 7.5 antivirus and it works great. I also have an external hard drive for backing up, but have to do it manually. I need to take your advice and have it set up to back up automatically as I often forget to back up manually.
Just goes to show us that nothing is safe. everyone and everything needs some sort of protection.
Just goes to show us that nothing is safe. everyone and everything needs some sort of protection.
EEKS! You have inspired me to hook up my backup! I purchased it a YEAR ago and it is still in the box... not backing up anything! :)
I've had this experience and it cost a lot to fix, but well worth it. I can never believe all the junk you can accumulate on your hard drive even when you have protection. Good luck and I hope your computer doesn't get hijacked again. I'm hoping mine doesn't either. What a pain.
Ouch indeed. I've been through the 'clean wipe out' stage and lost some things. Hopefully your back up was successful
I hate paying that kind of money. I hope that all your viruses are gone never to return again.
Thanks for the advice!
Dang, they're expensive. I hope they do the job right and well.
Just be careful that you didn't back-up the viruses.
It is a shame we have to learn all these lessons the hard way. We have a external back up too, but only after getting the blue screen first.
I really hope they can get all the viruses off, I know what a pain all this is.
This scares me. I haven't used protection in a couple years. It made things slower and dulled everything just a little bit. So, I just took it off and haven't looked back.
Wait, what were we talking about?
KEEP BELIEVING
When I first saw the title to this post I thought you were talking about (water) surfing. =}
I have a friends whose hard drive crashed and Geek Squad declared it unrecoverable. She had a lifetime of pictures (from her baby's birth, family, friends, etc.) that she had never backed up or printed hard copies of. She's been asking friends if she ever e-mailed picts of her kids to them, can they please send them back b/c she's desperate!
It's totally NECESSARY to have a good backup system in place!
I know how that feels... except we didn't lose ours to a virus, we had a lightening issue. Wiped out EVERYTHING. Needless to say, we back everything up now and my hubby always insists on virus protection for those pesky bugs!!
Great advice!!
i am ALWAYS worried about that!!!
Megan
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