Meet My Guru

For the past few days, I’ve been battling a virus and bronchitis which has caused me to miss a few days of work and slowed my usual frenetic pace to a near crawl. Last week this time, I was battling a different kind of virus—W32.Spybot.Worm to be specific. That little bugger, along with a few other strains of various and sundry spyware, malware, adware and trojans which infected my laptop January 2nd had slowed it to a near crawl as well. Frankly, I’m not sure which is worse, bronchitis or computer viruses.

Now I do the best that my feeble non-technoweenie mind can manage when it comes to practicing “safe-surfing” on the web. But frankly there are lots of nerdy bad guys out there and they are tanked up on Coke and Cheetos and working overtime to make you and me miserable. So despite my best efforts at protecting myself, I still end up fighting an occasional battle against those pesky “computer snatchers” who manage to slip through the latest and greatest defenses and hijack my system.

But rest assured, there are also a lot of good guys as well, and I’d like to introduce you to one of them–my guru Ed. Since the purchase of my first Gateway system in 1995, Ed has rescued my keister out of the computer frying pan so many times I’ve lost count. Whenever I’ve called or emailed him in a panic, he always seems to have the wits and know-how to guide me through my latest computer crisis du jour.

With a little prodding from yours truly, Ed is starting a series on “Practicing Safe Surfing” over at his blog, Albedo 0.39 that I know is going to be worth checking out. There’s a lot going on right now in the world of computer “microbiology” and Professor Ed will be lecturing on all the latest information you need to guard your system against infection. You don’t want to miss it.

By the way, Ed had just the right suggestion for finishing off W32.Spybot.Worm last week and I’m back up and running at full speed. Now if he can just help me kick that bronchitis, I’ll be good to go!

7 Comments

  1. Ed

    I’m flattered with the compliments. Thanks. Just using the gifts I was given. Wish I looked that good as the guy in the pic 🙂

  2. mike

    Ed–

    Well deserved I assure you. My laptop is running faster than it has in months. You still haven’t addressed the subject of my bronchitis though.

  3. Lynda Bee

    Chicken Soup my dear boy! A vat of that, a big comfy couch, and a box DVD set of Lord of the Rings (extended – gift version!), and the Music Man.

    Feel better soon Mikey!

    Bee

  4. mike

    Bee-

    Finally, a little sympathy around this joint! All good suggestions, although I might add a glass of red wine and may sub in O Brother Where Art Thou, for Music Man, no disrespect to your tastes intended. On second thought, I probably better not since laughing hard may make me wheeze more.

    Thanks for your concern–leave it to an ol’ Harding chum to be looking out for my best interests!

    Cheers!

  5. contratimes

    Get well, soon. Egads, how dreadful to be under the weather, especially with bronchitis. You are in my prayers.

    And plug in ‘O, Brother …’ and wheeze away. You’ve got to go sometime. What better way than to laugh your way to the afterlife? After all, you’ve already been “absolveduh”.

    That’s some mighty fine pickin’ and a singin’ (yep, yep, yep, gotta keep up with that competition) …

    Feeling mighty peckish,

    BG

    BTW: I watched Duke beat Maryland the other night. Yikes. I felt so bad for the Terrapins I almost started cheering for them. I must say, J.J. Redick is something to watch. Thanks for the tip.

  6. mike

    BG–

    Thanks for stopping by and the well wishes! I’m also glad to hear that I may be making a Duke convert out of you. Yes, despite his distractors (and they are legion), J.J. is the real thing. The difference between the J.J. of yore and J.J. now is that you can defend him tightly and very physically and he will still burn you. In addition to the trey, he’s added slash and cut moves through the lane plus the ability to dish the rock to an open teammate on those occasions when he he is double and even triple-teamed. Or, as was the case the other night, go ahead and have two men foul him beyond the arc–he’ll still make it!

    A word of advice though–never feel sorry for Maryland. They had beat Duke 3 times in a row going into that game and are a very dangerous team. And yes, it felt good to see them get beat like a drum.

    In the past, I would have been confused by a New Englander such as yourself who could dig OBWAT with all its Bluegrass. But now that I know that Dan “Man of Constant Sorrow” Tyminski actually grew up in Vermont, it all makes sense now!

  7. contratimes

    Believe it or not, New England, particularly northern and western, is rife with folk and bluegrass artists, enthusiasts, and venues. Not that I am an enthusiast, mind you, but there is a real love for that sort of music in these parts. For years I frequented one of the premiere venues in the Northeast, The Folkway, which, sadly, closed after the death of its owner. And in the little (tiny) town north of here, there has long been a premiere venue for blues, particularly Delta blues.

    All this to say that the south’s musical influences have had a big impact on us Yanks. Of course, there are moments when I feel compelled to stand when I hear “Sweet Home Alabama.” No, I am no redneck (though some of my best friends are rednecks ;-). I just know good tunes when I hear them.

    I knew that Maryland’s been in the catbird seat before, but I did not know about its recent success over Duke, so I feel better that they experienced a good whooping.

    If there is one sport I can’t play, it’s basketball. I am a great freethrow shooter, particularly when I am alone, but I just could never get it together well enough to make a team. So, I appreciate your analysis of J.J., but I can’t say that I would perceive what you so eloquently described. Yes, that was beautiful when he sunk that trey while being fouled, a moment which prompted me to shout out, “No freakin’ way!” to the bemusement of my wife, who could not understand my sudden, five-minute-old loyalty to the marvelous Blue Devils.

    But it’s gonna be hard to overlook UConn.

    Peace to you,

    BG

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