Sunday, August 17, 2008

Warning: Rant Coming

I hope you had a wonderful Saturday, I really do. Unless, of course, you are the individual(s) responsible for my miserable day. In that case, I hope your home burned to the ground, taking all your miserable electronic equipment with it. I hope the flames licked at your butt as you went running from the inferno clad in only your underware. And I hope the neighbors took plenty of pictures and posted them on the internet.

Why would I wish such a thing on someone I've never met? Because you stole a day of my life and you didn't deserve it.

So, early yesterday morning, I was innocently updating my blog when I was attacked by a computer virus. I spent the rest of the day and a good part of the night trying to rid my system of this infection. I thought I was finally successful, but am not sure. All the original symptoms are gone, but this morning a new 'feature' appeared on my PC. Microsoft Outlook has twice tried to open on its own. I'm hoping my fingers managed to stumble across the exact set of keystrokes needed to invoke that application because I just don't want to spend another day chasing ghosts.

I could rant on for weeks about the evil-doers who spend their lives thinking up ways to inflict misery on the world, but they are simply not worth the time, so I'll wrap up quickly by saying there is just no hell hot enough for them.

Now I have a question for you. I think we need a label for such individuals - perhaps even a new word or phrase. I thought about slime, gutter scum, and sewer rats, but I decided those life forms did not deserve to be insulted as they are innocent. Do you have any suggestions?

4 comments:

Helen Ginger said...

I'm having trouble thinking of a term without using four letter words.

So sorry you had this problem. I wouldn't have a clue what to do (unlike you) except to scream and try to find a computer geek to fix it. That seems to be my reaction to all computer problems. When my hard drive died, I did exactly that. I screamed, ripped out the battery and plug and raced to a computer nerd.
Helen
http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com

Dana Fredsti said...

I loathe hackers and people who think it's cool to invent and unleash these viruses. Rather than think of a name for 'em, I'd like to think of an appropriate punishment. A new level of hell just for them. Hmm....

Charlotte Phillips said...

Helen - I did scream first and act second. The screaming part really helps.

Zhadi - I like the way you think!

Denise said...

Great rant!

I recently went through the same thing. Luckily, I have everything backed up, but that day+ wasted was pure torture. It got so bad that at one point I couldn't see anything on my screen. I actually contemplated throwing my trusty laptop away and getting a new one. HORROR! - love the little thing. Then the red fuzz of anger cleared from my brain, I took a deep breath, and went to task.

I can't think of a punishment that would be torturous enough for a hacker.