Virused

It took me a day or so to recover from a virus that gave me, and the rest of my family, sore throats. I recovered quickly so I spent most of Saturday swimming with my son. It was a perfect Melbourne day - not too hot, clear skies and great in the water.

My desktop computer caught a virus too, I don't think from me, which reformatted its hard drive. Fortunately, my past data files and current work were backed up so no great drama apart from the inconvenience of being forced to use a laptop. I did lose a few email contacts.

The anti-virus software I used was Norton Anti-Virus. It was the second major computer virus attack I have experienced in about 10 years and using Norton on each occasion didn't help. Friends told me the usual stories about how I'd be better off with a MAC - made me feel a lot better - but I thought about the Norton software - as it is the biggest selling brand so I assume virus writers seek ways of getting around it for that reason. I guess its a strategic game for these nasty people. The virus writers seek ways around the protection offered by major anti-virus brands creating incentives to use software by smaller market share software producers. Its a bit like a snob-good since you only want to buy it if many others don't.

On the recommendation of friend, Jack R, I am trialling PC-cillin , a less prominent brand of anti-virus software with some good web-based reviews. I'd be interested if anyone knows about this or other good software.