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"Could you have a look at this computer? It won't send any email."
"Okay, let's see..."
*Sits down, writes a test email*
Well, the email isn't working because each outgoing email is sent to McAfee for scanning. And McAfee, I notice, is broken on this computer. Oh dear. Broken virus scanner. Since an indeterminate amount of time before my arrival. Computer being used to browse the internet all day. No copy of ZoneAlarm either. Jesus.
"I'll just have to run a virus scan on this computer. Perhaps you should use a different computer for a bit."
I try to update McAfee to try to fix the problem. I need a login and password for the site. I have no idea of either. Neither does the boss. Well, perhaps I can install Avast. Something needs to be done about the viruses quickly. So I login as Administrator. Or at least I attempt to. The password is different from that of the other computers. The boss doesn't know what it is either. This is not going well.
So, it's a jolly game of "hack into your own computer". Yay! I locate and run this. I highly recommend it — no faffing around, just boot up into a minimal linux (with NTFS capabilities), blank the administrator password, then boot up normally.
I login as Administrator. The start menu and desktop icons disappear. I think we can guess that a virus is present and trying to foil my attempts. Luckily, McAfee loads, prompts me to update the software online, and pops up an internet explorer window. This, thanks to monopolistic practices of our favourite software company, works as a file browser as well. I use it to coax McAfee to run a virus scan. It finds nothing. I install Avast, and it runs at bootup. It finds the opposite of nothing.
At least three different viruses, infecting at least a couple of dozen files, but mostly hundreds of copies of a certain worm. This computer is crawling.
No idea if it's working yet. The start menu is no longer disappearing. I scheduled another scan to be on the safe side, and shut it down for further work tomorrow.
In other news, I traced the cables out of the back of the computers. There is no internet server, just a gateway/router. Hmmmm.
Coming soon: less work, more santa.
"Okay, let's see..."
*Sits down, writes a test email*
Well, the email isn't working because each outgoing email is sent to McAfee for scanning. And McAfee, I notice, is broken on this computer. Oh dear. Broken virus scanner. Since an indeterminate amount of time before my arrival. Computer being used to browse the internet all day. No copy of ZoneAlarm either. Jesus.
"I'll just have to run a virus scan on this computer. Perhaps you should use a different computer for a bit."
I try to update McAfee to try to fix the problem. I need a login and password for the site. I have no idea of either. Neither does the boss. Well, perhaps I can install Avast. Something needs to be done about the viruses quickly. So I login as Administrator. Or at least I attempt to. The password is different from that of the other computers. The boss doesn't know what it is either. This is not going well.
So, it's a jolly game of "hack into your own computer". Yay! I locate and run this. I highly recommend it — no faffing around, just boot up into a minimal linux (with NTFS capabilities), blank the administrator password, then boot up normally.
I login as Administrator. The start menu and desktop icons disappear. I think we can guess that a virus is present and trying to foil my attempts. Luckily, McAfee loads, prompts me to update the software online, and pops up an internet explorer window. This, thanks to monopolistic practices of our favourite software company, works as a file browser as well. I use it to coax McAfee to run a virus scan. It finds nothing. I install Avast, and it runs at bootup. It finds the opposite of nothing.
At least three different viruses, infecting at least a couple of dozen files, but mostly hundreds of copies of a certain worm. This computer is crawling.
No idea if it's working yet. The start menu is no longer disappearing. I scheduled another scan to be on the safe side, and shut it down for further work tomorrow.
In other news, I traced the cables out of the back of the computers. There is no internet server, just a gateway/router. Hmmmm.
Coming soon: less work, more santa.
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