Spyware shmyware

Somehow over the course of the past week, we've managed to get our computer infected w/ some really vicious spyware that's like your crazy Uncle Joe at the holiday party -- it just won't go away.

So you're thinking, "wow, is this some new bionic spyware that can get past a modern anti-virus/anti-spyware/firewall applicaiton?" No, it's not. I'm an idiot. We werent' protected. We've been practicing unsafe computing. Now you're thinking, "Scott, YOU? Didn't you know better??" The answer of course, is yes, I did know better, but I procrastinated.

When I replaced our primary hard drive a few months ago, I couldn't find the old anti-virus application and was anxious to get the PC back up and running, so I skipped that step thinking I would get back to it in short order. I didn't.

It's pretty amazing that we went this long without any problems really. Once infected it's nearly impossibly to get rid of spyware. I decided my time was best spent reformatting the hard drive versus trying to eradicate the evil monster. It seems I have reformatted the hard drive so many times that I've pretty much got it down to a science now. So, I'm in the process of getting everything reloaded and reconfigured. A pain to be sure, but not nearly as much of a pain as the ULTRA-ANNOYING spyware.

The moral of this story boys & girls?? Don't compute unprotected. Get yourself a decent anti-virus/anti-spyware/firewall application. It's worth the money.