Monday, August 09, 2004

Safe Sex Computing

I used to be real flippant about computer security. Last year though all the worms and viruses and Trojan horses made me take a lock down approach to all my computers, to the point that I don't let guests use my home computer. I installed McAfee anti virus and firewall on my home computer, and Norton Internet Security on my laptop. I have preferred Norton, but both have worked very well.

Yesterday a friend, who I will not mention, brought over a brand new computer to help him with some editing software. Last year when we were working on Low Def TV, I became familiar with the various packages and wanted to help him out with a project he was working on.

His computer was really slow. I couldn't see the wireless network in my house and thought something was wrong. I tried to go to Symantec to download a new antivirus program but I couldn't get to the website. I also couldn't get to McAfee, or Pand, or you name it virus company. I could get everywhere else, just not anti-virus sites.

Ok, 6 hours later, after I had found the worm that had locked down his computer, we had it back and running. He resolved to never surf porn or download free music ever again. Do not access the internet without a firewall, ever, ever, ever.

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