Gremlins and viruses and all things horrible!

I've had a difficult week dealing with slowdown on my computer. Apparently some evil virus hit me. It was bad enough worrying about MRSA in the local hospital. Now it's online MRSA, a very much more distracting, disturbing and downright distrastrous disease for computers. I can't imagine the brains that are minded to sit around all day devising ways to upset others. The internet is a great tool. That some should be keen to cause havoc, well!!

Of course warped minded people exist. It would be only those wearing rose-tinted specs that thought otherwise. The Burmese generals have warped minds. Robert Mugabe's mind is bent to various degrees. It goes on. Hopefully these rulers will be brought to book some day. I have little hope of the hackers and virus spreaders being put in a dock anywhere soon.

So my week has been worrying about computers. I thought of getting a new one. My wife told me that all new ones have Windows Vista on them. "We don't have Windows Vista at work," she declared. "Oh!?! Why not?" She wasn't to sure, but it had something to do with her boss and his desire to keep things secret. Obviously he doesn't want his intellectual property compromised.

Having browsed the internet I was concerned to see the negative press. Is it right that Microsoft can dig deep into our computers to see what we are doing? And surely it should remain that we buy computer programmes rather than leasing them? Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick? What I am concerned about is being got at both ends together.

I've seen that there is an organisation called The Free Software Foundation, which has been "fighting" for essential freedoms for computer users since 1985. Over 20 years and the internet is still prone to problems. Maybe we just have to live with it!

Posted in: computer security,Hackers,software,Windows Vista