Friday, June 1, 2012

My laptop’s date with a virus

Last thursday my laptop went on a hot date with a virus and returned minus the system files. The message I saw on the screen announced that the system files were corrupted. A frantic call to the computer expert who assured me that he could solve this problem provided a slight relief.

 But his diagnosis after fiddling with my laptop for sometime was that he would have to format the hard disk and reload the windows as whatever had corrupted the system files was preventing access to the drives and files.

Thankfully, just a few days back I had saved all my books by uploading them to my email account. At my nod, the guy formatted the disk. I blinked hard to brush away the tears. This brought to my notice the importance of frequent backups of our books. Where backups are concerned, even the slightest delay can cause immense grief.
   
Borrowing my nephew’s laptop, I wrote a small blog post and announced that I would take a break as I had no idea how long this enforced seperation from my laptop would last. Though I got charge of my laptop within 36 hours, the internet connection was too, too slow. On Monday my genius brother managed to restore the internet to its former glory.  I think I have lost the e-books on my Kindle for PC. It took me a day to calm down and get my nerve back to get on to the internet. I have spent hours wondering how did the virus get into my computer.  
Yesterday, when I clicked on a few blogs to comment from my dashboard, I saw a Malware warning. Thankfully, I had the email id of that blogger to warn her about it. I am shocked that even blogs can have viruses. How do we tackle that? Does anyone know anything about this?

 I am still spooked by the virus and I am treading the internet with caution. Has a virus ever scared you? How did you manage to survive the virus attack? Are you backing up all your data? Any virus preventive tips for me?   

19 comments:

  1. That sure hurts Rachna:(! Just one tip that never open a mail attachment from a dubious source!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is indeed so disheartening to know that our once loved computer is unprotected.
    Even my computer got quite a attack from virus. I ignored at first and later, i got a big and red bold WARNING to install softwares/buy virus protection. I didn't wanted to let go off my computer and I bought the virus protection. My computer was secured for one year :) then I had to buy a new one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry you lost some files. My wife has downloaded a virus more than once. I've been lucky. Of course, I'm careful with the sites I visit and never open strange emails.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm sorry you lost your files. :( I use a Mac, and thankfully viruses are much, much rarer. Hopefully it will remain that way! Hackers and computer virus creators need to go read a book or volunteer instead of messing with other people's computers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think a long time ago, I visited a blog that had malware in it. It's so scary to lose control of your computer. Glad you got it back, for the most part!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Come to think of it, that may have happened to my blog once too. I think some malware had embedded itself in the HTML code of my blog, and I managed to find it and get rid of it. No idea how it got there, though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi friends. Thanks for the concern. All of us are so attached to our computers that to lose it for even a few hours can be heart wrenching. I am glad that most of my files and stories are safe.

    A writing friend told me that even my Kindle books are safe, they will be in my Amazon account. All I have to do is download them again. So, all is well in my little writing world with God's Grace.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We've had some interesting adventures with viruses and crashes and whatnot. It's never fun! Thanks for the reminder to back things up. I am overdue on that. So glad you are back up and running!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had no idea blogs could have viruses. Oh, that's scary!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow! Commiserations! So sorry to read about your troubles - and so sorry to hear that you lost files. Something similar happened to me once - though not as a result of a virus, but a malfunction during defragging - so I can empathise. Glad you are at least back among the living.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sorry to read of your misfortune! I hope that everything is back on track.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh no Rachna that sucks! It has happened to me so many times I've lost count. Have you backed-up your blog?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ugh. Sorry you had to deal with that. Now I better back up my files.

    *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hope you're back to normal now. I've had several run-ins with viruses that I hope never to repeat.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My hubby is an IT expert and takes care of all that for me. I know nothing of viruses... yay!

    I hope the virus at least brought your laptop some flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  16. My heart goes out to you. I've had virus scares in the past. They were all a monumental waste of time--turning the computer on and off, running scans, restoring to factory settings, etc.

    I back up my files all the time. I have a great anti-virus system, but I don't want to go through that again.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Boo to that virus! Hope it all gets sorted for you. I keep all my stuff backed up on memory sticks just in case:)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm so sorry to read about your troubles!

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. I've gotten a virus twice, and had to have my computer wiped once, too. And yes, they somehow lurk on blogs of innocent folks! Get a good anti-virus program, and make sure to check for updates every day or two, and set a scheduled virus scan for at least once a day.

    ReplyDelete