By Alan Fein - contributing columnist
Laptop Battery Maybe if Mr. Jobs was really clever, he'd give President Bush a free Mac. If the Bush's could see the forest before the trees the next thing you know there'd Apple logo's all over Capitol Hill.
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Laptop Computers The headlines read something like a Japanese Godzilla movie giving readers the impression that worms were attacking the state department. At first I thought it was funny, but then I got to work and spent the next six hours getting rid of a virus I that had a name but I couldn't find it anywhere on the net (bkdr_coreflood.b and .a).
Laptop Computer I use PC-Cillin 2000. So far its given me fair protection, but not today. I quickly looked up Trendmicro's support number on their software after I couldn't find that virus in their encyclopedia. The number was disconnected! I called information. Two numbers, both rang and rang, no answer. Called information back again, two more numbers. One was another no answer but the fourth one belonged to Pam. My Trendmicro angel. Pam, where ever you are tonight, bless you!
Desktop Computer Pam's in California where its required that you don't answer the phone but use voice mail to screen all calls first. Its their version of a firewall I guess. Anyway, Pam called back and gave me a number for support (it's in the Philippines) 866-722-4554.
Notebooks Michael answered the phone, I could tell he was a little confused on what to do and he tried his best to get me off the phone by offering to email me the software to clean up my computer. I bit that apple (excuse the pun if your a Mac user, which this story eventually gets around to but not until you read what happened and what this has to do with the State department's Window/worm attack).
Lenovo So I began checking my email every two seconds. It finally arrived! It was better than Christmas when I was a fat little tike back in Cleveland, but that's another story. Guess what, it was a PDF file you obtained off of TrendMicro's site. Great! If I could only get that url open I'd have used that software.
Hard Drive It's now going on the fourth hour of this problem when I decide I'm going to call the Philippines one more time! I'm on hold about 15 minutes. Apparently I wasn't the only one who had problems with bkdr_coreflood.b and .a. I'll give them this one, the Muzak was better than Microsoft's, but it was still this moody, depressing symphonic music. Who's bright idea was that? "Hey, I know, lets play depressing moody music, their already stressed and worried," the marketing wizard says to the CTO. High tech humor I guess.
Travelstar So finally this guy comes on the phone, sorry folks I didn't get his name and this time he walks me through the regedit process of finding the exe file, which by the way is "rcoxjnk.exe" in case your having the same problem. When you find it, you delete it and then you have to run a scan to find the .dll files. That took another hour. So I went out and watered the lawn while I waited. I water the lawn when I have problems. It relaxes me. Lately my lawn looks great! So if you drive by my house you can tell what kind of week I'm having by the condition of the lawn.
Gateway Finally, 6pm and its finished. Two viruses, both rcoxjnk.dll but one's version "b" and the other's version "a". Delete and reboot. So finally, I can get on the web again and the first thing I see is this story about the State Department's Windows OS being attacked by Worms. See why I thought of Godzilla? Long day, behind on my work, but lawn looks great! With that notion I start looking into this Windows Worm problem. Seems the government is too dependent on Microsoft. Now there's irony. They sue Bill Gates, he fights, the government begins to give in when low and behold, Worms...
Laptop Parts The U.S. Department of State computers running Windows had to be shut down because of the Welchia virus, not bkdr_coreflood.b and .a. - maybe that one's special. If it is, I hope it gets the IRS first. Payback time everybody? My luck I'd get a letter from the IRS saying I owed $10 billion in back taxes for failing to file in 1850 and 1852. Penalties and Interest do mount up! I'd be watering the whole block if that happened.Steve Ballmer, who recently said he was humbled by the outbreak of viruses probably has a Mac at home. At least it's stable and you can use it. Not like some boat anchors that charge you if their tub's sinking!Ballmer and Gates should have been picked up by those guys in dark suits and sunglasses and taken to the State Department and told they had to personally fix all the computers on the State Department's OpenNet system within 24 hours or they'd get 50 years each hard labor at Levenworth. Bet they'd fix those security problems then, eh?
Software What the government admitted to was that they were too dependent on Microsoft and needed to diversify. Well what do you suppose they'll do? Buy Dell or some other IBM clone that uses, you guessed it, windows operating systems? Even the component companies are in on it!For my money? I'm switching to a Mac. Maybe if Mr. Jobs was really clever, he'd give President Bush and his whole family free Macs. If the Bush's could see the forest before the trees the next thing you know there'd Apple logo's all over Capitol Hill. What do you think, or should I go water my lawn again?
Hard Drives Enjoy!
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