IT Nightmare

So, it's finally over - my IT nightmare, that is.  As you may recall, I started the week with my newly installed anti-virus update slowing my laptop to a crawl.  Shutting it down whilst working seemed the only way to get the laptop back to some semblance of normality.  Well, it got worse, with the anti-virus software subsequently claiming that its database was corrupted, the licence key I'd paid for was invalid and refusing to update the database, (remember, this was a piece of software from a major, supposedly reputable, vendor of web security products.  The laptop itself was now trying to run a disc check every time it booted, but was being prevented by the anti-virus software.  So, on Wednesday I decided the only solution was to uninstall the anti-virus programme completely.  Amazingly, it uninstalled without a hitch.  I then rebooted so that the laptop could finally go through the disc check, which took it the better part of an hour to complete, the anti-virus had caused so much damage. 

I ended up replacing the anti-virus with Microsoft's free (to non-commercial users) anti-virus software.  Not surprisingly, the laptop is now running far more smoothly.  The long and the short of all this is that I ended up wasting the better part of three precious evenings trying to sort out the mess caused by the anti-virus update.  Consequently, I've been unable to do most of the things I was planning to do this week, not just in terms of posts here, but also new stories for The Sleaze, work on a couple of podcasts I'm working on, editing more holiday films and catching up with a whole load of stuff I've found on You Tube. (Of course, some people might say that makes this IT nightmare a blessing in disguise). Isn't modern technology wonderful?  You install something that is meant to protect your PC from viruses and find that it instead chews up your hard drive.  The only moral I can find in all this is that it is better to stick to freeware for web security - it might be less effective, but it apparently does less damage to your equipment.