karavite
Registered
Despite wishing otherwise, I have a PC running W2000 that I use for my job. I work at home most of the time so my trusty Mac is right there by my side. Though I cannot access my companies network on my Mac (it just ins't possible), I often use the Mac for many tasks because it is faster, more able to handle having 10 applications running and is just plain more fun and productive. For example, using BBedit. Still, these arguments can be taken either way.
However, this past week, despite being a good PC citizen by being up on all my patches and running an equally up to date Norton virus scan EVERY DAY my PC became infected with the Coreflood.backdoor trojan horse. I had to restart the machine in safe mode, run Norton (took about 2 hours), delete the files it isloated then edit my Windows registry (after backing it up to a floppy of course - see you really do need a floppy in PCs!). A few days later I was alerted about yet another patch by MS (seems like it addresses Coreflood.backdoor) and had to take a little time to install that (about 1 hour tops - find it, read the instructions, take the various backup precautions recommended by MS- I was burned once before -, download it, install it, restart...).
Any way, this week alone, addressing threats to Windows cost me almost 4-5 hours of productivity. Though I am not as tech savvy as many of the people on this forum, I doubt most computer users would be able to do this quicker or at all (editing your Windows registry could lead to disaster). Unlike most everyone else in the world, I had a Mac to use while my PC chugged away. Even if I hadn't gotten the trojan horse, I still had to spend time on making my PC safe. Sure 1 hour doesn't seem like much (I am billed out by my company at about $140 an hour), but if you multiply the hourly wage/rate/productivity by the all the Windows users in the US (or world) then add in all the tech support time, how much is this costing business, education, healthcare, the government...? Even if every Windows user in the world knew what to do to prevent viruses and did it, it takes time away from work. Who pays for that time? Our employeers? Or should we do it at lunch? Can I send a bill to Bill Gates every week?
However, this past week, despite being a good PC citizen by being up on all my patches and running an equally up to date Norton virus scan EVERY DAY my PC became infected with the Coreflood.backdoor trojan horse. I had to restart the machine in safe mode, run Norton (took about 2 hours), delete the files it isloated then edit my Windows registry (after backing it up to a floppy of course - see you really do need a floppy in PCs!). A few days later I was alerted about yet another patch by MS (seems like it addresses Coreflood.backdoor) and had to take a little time to install that (about 1 hour tops - find it, read the instructions, take the various backup precautions recommended by MS- I was burned once before -, download it, install it, restart...).
Any way, this week alone, addressing threats to Windows cost me almost 4-5 hours of productivity. Though I am not as tech savvy as many of the people on this forum, I doubt most computer users would be able to do this quicker or at all (editing your Windows registry could lead to disaster). Unlike most everyone else in the world, I had a Mac to use while my PC chugged away. Even if I hadn't gotten the trojan horse, I still had to spend time on making my PC safe. Sure 1 hour doesn't seem like much (I am billed out by my company at about $140 an hour), but if you multiply the hourly wage/rate/productivity by the all the Windows users in the US (or world) then add in all the tech support time, how much is this costing business, education, healthcare, the government...? Even if every Windows user in the world knew what to do to prevent viruses and did it, it takes time away from work. Who pays for that time? Our employeers? Or should we do it at lunch? Can I send a bill to Bill Gates every week?
