This post is from guest blogger Carl Siechert:
On Sunday, the New York Times published “Corrupted PC’s Find New Home in the Dumpster”:
“I was spending time every week trying to keep the machine free of viruses and worms,” said Mr. Tucker, [an Internet industry executive who holds a Ph.D. in computer science and] a vice president of Salesforce.com, a Web services firm based here. “I was losing the battle. It was cheaper and faster to go to the store and buy a low-end PC.”
Until Mr. Tucker secures his computer (with a firewall, automatic updates, and an antivirus program), he’s soon going to have the same problems with his new computer. In his case, since he apparently can’t say no to installation of unwanted software, he ought to add an antispyware program to the arsenal.
In the face of a constant stream of pop-up ads, malfunctioning programs and performance slowed to a crawl or a crash – the hallmarks of spyware and adware – throwing out a computer “is a rational response,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
No, it’s not a rational response, whether you’re looking at it from an environmental perspective or merely a technical one. Clean up your mess (or hire someone who can; the article reports the cost of professional cleanup averages $129, which is still only a third the price of the cheapest replacement computer), set up a few basic protections, and learn to not click OK to every installation prompt that pops up.
Ed Bott 
It’s amazing, though. Most people’s systems I’ve come across that have really bad spyware problems usually aren’t resolved until the disk is formatted and reloaded, no matter how many Anti-Spyware apps you use. Even if you are able to curb the spyware problem, it usually resurfaces after a while. I do agree – prevention through education is the best protection.
Or save yourself the price of a pro, dig out your Windows CDs and re-install… It’s easy enough to do and so long as you have the disks to replace all your software and all of your documents are backed up somewhere else you have nothing to lose. The very worst that can happen is you end up paying the professional you talked about in the first place to install Windows for you.
But yeah, anti-virus software, a firewall and the common sense not to trust every site your emails link to will save the time and effort in the long run.
This problem has a two word solution: clean install. Well, I suppose that the user should also learn how to avoid the problem after re-installation. But if he doesn’t and the problems re-appear, it’s his damn fault.
Get the idiot, I mean user, on some Linux distro. Worst case scenario, get him on the cd version so that way whatever damage he does its only there for that time period until a reboot comes along.
That article is a bad advert for Salesforce.com. I’d fire the guy – just for being an idiot. I mean come on, everyone deals with the bs of spyware and malware. We DEAL with it! He did not and his actions are incorrect and bad in many ways.
Which cereal box did this guy get his PhD in?
Later,
Chuck
Well, Chuck, by the very fact you read this (or other computer-related) blog, you are exceptional.
My mom would not be capable of handling it. Yes, she has a firewall, an anti-virus, and some anti-spyware stuff. Still, she got hit with a driveby download a few months ago. She didn’t click OK on anything; she just started getting pop-ups.
I think she is a more “average” computer user than you. It would be cheaper for her to hire someone to clean it up than to buy a new machine. I agree with that point completely. I just don’t agree that all (or even most) people who use computers can fix all their own problems.
You always hear people wanting computers to be as easy to use as cars. The corolary to that would be people are as clueless about computers as they are cars. What percentage of car owners have any idea of how to check the oil level? Let alone something like replacing head gaskets.
As for this idiot’s PhD, at first I figured it was in Queer Studies or Marxism or something that requires political correctness, not actual knowledge. Then I see that the degree is in COMPUTER SCIENCE?!!
The only possible excuse is that it’s all theoretical. I have known people with EE degrees who don’t know how to solder! Perhaps it was all IBM mainframes (decades ago)?
Yup. This consumerist culture makes me sick. Especially when a few simple precautions can stop almost all spyware in its tracks. Firefox + Thunderbird + very conservative software installation attitude is pretty much all it takes. Even cleanup is not a problem in most cases, although I suspect a system root canal would be the best option on a badly neglected box.
By the way, I see that you are a writer. Did you write books in windows 95? I’m pretty sure I learned all the ropes from one of your books.
Thanks for the note, Andrey. Yes, I wrote a book or two about Windows 95. You probably read User Friendy Using Windows 95 from Que. It came out ten years ago next month. Wow!