No, not the H1N1 piggy flu… although there’s a rational discussion on that subject over at ACT.  This virus, or viruses, is of the variety that infects machines.  

Specifically, Delta’s laptop.  I’m not sure what happened; she was running McAfee, but some little nasty slipped by and disabled the antivirus software.  I loaded a copy of AVG Free and ran several scans, eliminating nearly 200 threats, but the problems quickly returned (even though I’d disabled System Restore).  Following advice from techie boards, I ran a few scans with ComboFix in safe mode.

We’re now on about day five of fighting for a cure; if it were the real flu, the patient would be getting over it by now.   My next attempt is to run a full scan with Trend Micro, as I’ve had good luck with that in the past.

How many hours is a 6 year old laptop worth?  Well, the only reason it’s survived this long is that there’s one program on it that I need about 5 times per year, for which I no longer have the install CD.  But, when I need it, I REALLY need it.  So, considering that a new copy of PageMaker would set me back about the cost of a new (kid-edition) laptop, I’m willing to try a little longer.

Once this is fixed, HWTFM’s old laptop is scheduled for open-heart surgery on the kitchen table.  He’s already got a new one, so this one can be redirected to Gamma (who now despises being locked to a desktop).  Just a few months out of warranty, it suffered a spill when the cat knocked over a glass of water.

With woes like these, swine flu looks like just another bug in the wild.  HWTFM is on a plane for the west coast as I write, and Beta is at a music festival in Memphis.  I told them to wash their hands, and sent them on their way.

So now the house is mostly empty, and I can tend to the wounded electronics in peace.