…and I’m angry, not quite raging rip-down-walls-mad, but close. Despite two different reputable anti-virus systems, both current, some virus or perhaps more than one, has rendered it useless, so much so that I had to turn it over to computer professionals for rehab. All the files I need, except one, are backed up, and I can reconstruct that one, if necessary, but the time, money, and inconvenience resulting from this sort of event are more than a little irritating.
And for what? So that some cyber-psycho can get his or her kicks out of destruction, out of wasting people’s money and time? Or so that some sociopath can make other people’s hardware and software unwitting tools for some grand nefarious project that will victimize even more people?
I’m fortunate; I have back-ups; and I can afford repairs, but there was a time when this sort of thing would have thrown a huge monkey-wrench into life and family finances… and that’s still true for all too many people.
I’m definitely not a Luddite. I like technology. But as I’ve posted before, computer technology opens whole avenues of mischief, crime, and destruction. It also has destroyed borders in so far as criminal activities are concerned. Among other misperspectives, the right-wing opponents of immigration reform have totally missed the boat on crime. Thanks to computers, a lot of the criminals outside our borders don’t even have to enter the U.S. in order to victimize Americans. Without immigration reform, all we’re doing is making criminals out of those who came here to find work and opportunity and keeping the brightest of the rest of the world from coming here.
Computer viruses, worms, scams, identity theft, and the like are all part and parcel of crimes at a distance, where the perpetrator doesn’t see or have to face the misery he or she has caused, usually is never apprehended, and even if caught is seldom punished in any degree of relation to the harm caused. It’s just another aspect of the technological desensitization of society, which includes rampant violence in every form of entertainment, sensationalistic news, computer/video games glorifying crime and violence, and the possibility of drone attacks all over the world.
Me, I’d just settle for an active virus-defense system that would immediately wipe the computer of anyone sending me such a virus or worm.