I've contracted a virus & may die
Well, yesterday was a complete bust.I woke up late because I'd been up writing the night before--6 1/2pgs, yay!--& went straight to the phone to call Dell tech support because my computer's been acting funny lately. Slow, a few errors & freezes, etc. I figured things just needed cleaned up & compacted, but since I don't know how to do that stuff, I've been putting off calling for help because I knew it would take all day. Usually with those things, I end up on hold for at least 45mins before even getting the chance to talk to a tech support human.
Surprisingly, my call went thru really quickly. That's the good news. The bad news is that when I described the problems I was having, the woman told me she was pretty sure I had a virus on my computer, which we all know can be nasty. And, of course, the tech support/warranty agreement I have only covers hardware issues, while this was a software issue, so I would need to pay extra for added support. Of course. Why am I even surprised?
You know, my horoscope said this would happen. My monthly horoscope for December warned that I would encounter an unexpected expense; nothing I could predict or see coming. But who knew it would show up only three days into the month? :-P
Anyway, I got all that squared away & she transferred me to someone who would (hopefully) be able to help me get the virus off my computer. Once again, I expected to be on hold forever, but the wait was surprisingly short. This is the first time I've owned a Dell computer or had to call their tech support line, & I can say that so far, I'm impressed with the service.
So I get on the phone with Jason...nice guy, very friendly & helpful...& sure enough, he says I have a virus, too. He even thought he knew which one it was from the symptoms I described, so we began checking things, downloading programs, running programs, etc. And I'm on dial-up, remember, so this took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. At one point, a program was going to take so long to download & install that he scheduled a call back. This was nice, since it gave me the chance to go get some lunch; I hadn't had anything to eat yet & my brain was ready to pop. :-)
The upshot of all this is that we think the virus has been removed. He told me to use the computer for a couple of days & he'd arrange to have someone call me later to see how things were going & if the issue had been resolved. And so far, the system does seem to be working better. He even recommended that I download & start using Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird for my internet access & e-mail instead of Outlook Express & Internet Explorer. (My brother has been telling me that for years...he is so going to say "I told you so" when he finds out!) So I did that, too, & I think I like it. It's a little different & is going to take some getting used to, but the two programs actually have some nifty features that OE & IE didn't.
So maybe I (or my computer) won't die, after all. And I didn't lose any information from my system, which is a huge relief. The last time I had computer trouble, my hard drive fried--it literally had a soot streak down the side from where it exploded--& I lost all my information. OMG was I in a fix then. Thankfully, I've been better about backing stuff up since then, & I didn't actually lose any files this time around. That's the important thing. If I'd lost a manuscript file or any of the book I'm working on right now, I'd have had to drown myself in the nearest lake.
