Take two aspirins....

Hearing Justin, the Symantec support person, tell me that there is currently no cure for the virus that has plagued my computer for the last week was like a doctor saying "take two aspirins ,drink plenty of fluids and stay in bed."

What Justin actually said was that there is no cure at this time...that they are working very hard to develop a patch and check back in 48 hours. He also recommended that I avoid the Internet.

I don't take a sick day when I have a cold and I doubt that I can stay off the Internet for the next two days.

The virus is trojan.vundo. It has been around for a while and Symantec does have a virus remover for the older version. But, as Justin explained, this is a new virulent version and there is no cure, yet.

So prior to calling Symantec and prior to pulling out my American Express card which I fully intended to use to purchase the $69 premiere virus remover service,  I spent two hours this morning trying to remove a virus that is not removable.

As a result, I'm stuck with a sluggish computer and Norton Alert Windows screaming at me that my computer is infected.

Justin didn't have a solution on how to close the window. It seems that will stay until the cure is discovered.( I do have the window minimized, but its still there annoying me)

So here's what I don't get. Since I was in the phone queue for 20 minutes, couldn't they have had a message about this virus and explain that there isn't a cure,yet? Why not send out an email saying that the removal tool won't work and to check back in 48 hours. Did I really need to spend two hours scanning every bloody file in my computer?

Today's bout with trojan.vundo followed yesterday's demise of my Linksys wireless router. Despite hours and hours last week talking to Shamit in India, Fernando in Argentina and Lakshmi,back in India,the problems of the wireless dropping the internet connection continued.

Yesterday I spent couple of hours on the phone with Morris  in India who fixed the problem for about 5 minutes. When I called back, I chatted with Sandep and explained that I really needed to talk to a supervisor. I got the supervisor. His name was  also Sandep.

Either that is a very popular name or it is the name of the day. I no more think Morris'  name is Morris then I think both of these guys were named Sandep.

At the end of a very frustrating day I decided it was time to bury the Linksys and go to Best Buy and get a new model. So far, so good. The new model hasn't kicked me off yet. Now if I can just remember to send in the  two rebates on time.

So now I have a wireless router that works but a computer that should be avoiding the Internet.

Oh, did I mention when I started to dry my hair this morning my hair dryer blew up?

Maybe, I'll reconsider that sick day.