My brother came down to fix our toilet again (a long story in itself, luckily we have 3 ), and his wife brought their computer.
They have only recently (a couple of months) gone on the Internet, and I'd told them to instal antivirus software, but I think they must have delayed a bit! 12 viruses later, they could only access one Internet page and a security warning kept showing. Unfortunately, although their anti-virus software coped with 11 out of the 12, it couldn't put the final one right, because it had changed a system file. This eventually resulted in them not being able to log into Windows at all.
The quickest fix (from my point of view) was a back to factory settings job, but now she'll have to spend tomorrow re-installing all their applications. However all their files are still there, which as a self employed contractor, was pretty important to my brother. No back up kept of any of the files of course, and very few hardcopies .
I was pleased it worked, otherwise I could see me having to take out their hard drive to access their documents from my computer or some other time consuming solution.
Moral of the story - install and keep anti-virus software up to date, and keep back up copies of any important documents.
Mind you how many of us remember to back everything up? I have to say I'm as guilty as the next person about practising what I preach
They have only recently (a couple of months) gone on the Internet, and I'd told them to instal antivirus software, but I think they must have delayed a bit! 12 viruses later, they could only access one Internet page and a security warning kept showing. Unfortunately, although their anti-virus software coped with 11 out of the 12, it couldn't put the final one right, because it had changed a system file. This eventually resulted in them not being able to log into Windows at all.
The quickest fix (from my point of view) was a back to factory settings job, but now she'll have to spend tomorrow re-installing all their applications. However all their files are still there, which as a self employed contractor, was pretty important to my brother. No back up kept of any of the files of course, and very few hardcopies .
I was pleased it worked, otherwise I could see me having to take out their hard drive to access their documents from my computer or some other time consuming solution.
Moral of the story - install and keep anti-virus software up to date, and keep back up copies of any important documents.
Mind you how many of us remember to back everything up? I have to say I'm as guilty as the next person about practising what I preach
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