This week’s Loose Wire column is about cleaning viruses:
IF YOUR COMPUTER is infected by a virus, Trojan, worm or some other nasty slice of code, never fear: Worst comes to worst, you can call on a 60-year-old retired Australian lab technician who goes by the on-line nickname of Pancake.
Though he wouldn’t put it this way himself, Ed Figg (his real name) is living proof of the failure of anti-virus companies, firewall manufacturers and Microsoft to keep us safe from viruses. Given that we each spend about $100 a year for software to protect our computers, you’d think that would leave us safe. But no. Ed the Pancake, and dozens like him, spend up to eight hours a day on-line as unpaid experts helping other users with problems–most of them viruses that have slipped past their computer’s defences. So what should you do if you think it’s happened to you?
Full text at the Far Eastern Economic Review (subscription required, trial available) or at WSJ.com (subscription also required). Old columns at feer.com here.