Computer Crash

I've had a bad week. Last Monday my computer crashed, and I had to take it into the shop. There I found out that the crash was a result of Norton System Works having taken over my computer and shut it down. There was no way to get in at all. The very excellent tech guy who was working on it spent two days emailing back and forth with Symantec, which is the company that now owns Norton. These people are evil incarnate. Turns out they actually have a "fix" somewhere on their website for what to do when System Works crashes your computer. So they are very well aware of the fact that their software is destroying people's computers, yet they are still selling it. Makes one wonder how they get away with it. Seems like there might be a class action suit going on by now. There were four other computers in the same shop where I took mine, all with Norton related crashes. Anyhow, the fix didn't work, nor did any of their other suggestions.

Well, long story short, they did finally retrieve most of my data, and I'm now spending this week sorting out the jumble of files I've got all over the place on my computer. I now have a different virus protection program, which I'm told works very much like Norton used to, back when it was a very excellent and well respected program (ie. before Symantec got hold of it). I asked the scummers for a refund, and guess what? - they said their system was not programmed to do that!

Apparently this problem is only happening with Norton, so seems to me that getting anything related to Symantec off one's computer would not be a bad idea. Got to be careful about that, though. A simple uninstall leaves bits and pieces behind which have to be removed manually by a techy who knows what they're doing. Otherwise the new virus program will have conflicts with the old one, and while they are fighting it out on your computer, the hackers will be getting in with no problem.

Before all this happened I had taken some photos of some of the yarn I've been making lately for my lumpy knit hats. I've posted some here so it won't look like I've given up fiber art entirely!