New Computer

Our church starts at 2 pm, but I was on a mission--recover my computer last Sunday morning.  In the battle for the shower I put up with just hubby taking pills and shaving.  There was another battle and I couldn’t wait for hubby’s shower (which did happen on Monday, by the way). 

This was the second time my big computer had that same ugly virus. One virus or Trojan showed a picture of handcuffs and demanded money or my computer would be shut down! A friend from church had solved it the first time, and it took him a lot of time to do it. I dared not ask this gentleman again. 

 Actual Picture of a Trojan that two times infected my old computer

Me? Pornography on the computer? Send them money from KMart, 7-11 or Walgreens? The only picture I could think of as porno was this one I once used on a blog post for humor HERE. 

Furthermore, I am anti-addiction and anti-porography.  Why I even put anti-pornography in one of my latest raps, “Addiction”, that I just delivered in my last class for DUI offenders.

Here to be in your face

About your addiction

Don’t get me started

It’s hard to be parted

With your addiction

Lots of friction

You skip tradition

And slip into addiction

Doling out your cash

Getting high on grass

Or meth or cocaïne

Hugging, puffing

Reeling, stuffing

Alcohol seems so splendid

But just causes a dependence

Booze makes you a ball of rage

Will be hard to turn the page
Porn seems too easy
Just makes you sleazy
Relationships now measly
Life is a process
But drugs are a regress
Do you want to kill?
Take that drive
Take that pill
You won’t survive
The heat’ll get ya
And you’ll go to jail
I’ve seen it ya betcha.
So low you stoop
But it’s time you regroup
Pitch the fiction
Stop the addiction
Don’t escape life
Deal with your strive
Here to be in your face
About you addiction.

You viruses! I complain about porn, but don’t have it on my computer!  You think you are going to come and lock me up if I don't send money! You are not our government! 

I asked a police lady friend with whom I play Words With Friends what can be done.  She wrote me on the chat on our game:  If you can prove who and how it was done, you can present it to an attorney. They may ask you to get a police report with a case number to start an investigation.

This is the second time for those viruses on my computer. My husband's son-in-law said he switched to a Mac because of viruses.  I emailed my Mac/Apple sister-in-law and asked if she knew of a cheap Mac computer. 

As I indicated, Sunday is usually our day of rest, with a casual morning and a 2 pm afternoon service. But I had no rest at all. I had to do something.  Hubby and I headed off to Best Buy for a solution. Hubby found his usual spot for sitting in the Geek area. I walked by the Best Buy PC computers and found the Apple sign.

Apple Display at Best Buy

Here it was that I met Knight Mike. If ever there was a customer ready to buy, it was I!

I approached Mike as if he were a psychiatrist.  “I am grieving so much about my PC and all my work and photos I am missing on it.  Sure I have a small Notebook computer, but there are tons of files on my PC.”  Mike let me spew all my woes out. “Mike, the virus even thinks I have pornography on my computer and they want me to send money!”

We looked at options. I checked my email on my iPhone and my sister-in-law was out of church and emailed me back about the Mac Mini. You can use your monitor, your keyboard and your mouse from the defunct PC. We went back to the house and got the tower of the PC I now call The Trojan Horse, or "Trojan" for short with its ugly viruses/Trojans lurking inside and hubby and came back to buy.

"Trojan"

I emailed my sister-in-law:  “Mike and you just sold me.”  With lightning speed Customer Service Agent Charlene completed the order and brought me to the Geek Squad who would arrange for my PC insides to be put in virus free to a Mac-Mini-Intel Core 15/4GB/500 on sale for $549.99 with DATA backup for $99.99 and a three year Geek warranty for $179.97 in addition to the year’s Mac warranty. After all my careful planning to reduce credit card balances, I put over $800 on a credit card that I had proudly reduced by $400 this month. Oops!

We got to our 2 pm church service at 2:25. After the service I confessed to pastor where we had been. That confession felt good. Would you have confessed to your pastor the frivolous reason you were late? He really didn't seem upset with us. 

Wednesday morning I had my Geek appointment to get my new Mac with recovered files from the Trojan. Geek Erin was great. When I got home I did find that the keyboard and the mouse would work, but I had to buy a new monitor. I went to Staples and got one on sale for $89.99 and with a chord for $40.79. All in all my Mac computer was a lot cheeper than the old $3000 Mac I had gotten years ago. But the Staples techie said that Mac/Apple computers do get viruses and my three year Geek warranty doesn't cover them. Hmm! 

After I taught a DUI class from 3:30 to 7:30 on Wednesday, I stopped by to see Geek Erin again for more info. What the Staples techie told me was not true and she showed me on my  warranty and three-year contract that virus protection is included, should I get a virus. Erin did give me Best Buy Tech at 1-800-433-5778 for further help. Even though I have had several Apple computers, I found that I would need help at home to finish setting up the computer. Best Buy Tech could answer my questions for about $50, but they did give me Laura at 1-800-275-2273, an actual Apple/Mac tech who was wonderful and helped me with 5 of 7 issues. Getting Word, Excel and Power Point needs to happen with a Microsoft download and I forgot to ask Laura about hooking up my PC speakers to the Mac Mini.  That short-term memory of mine again! 

Small Mac Mini at left

Now, with MY short-term memory, I wonder if I will remember all of Laura's tricks. I do wish that ridding my hubby of Alzheimer's and memory loss would be that easy as taking a virus or a Trojan out of a computer. Sigh!