From the ground up

[illusionofjoy]

It looks like I'll without my computer for a bit longer. After not receiving a phone call, I went down to Best Buy in person to find out what was going on. The short story is that apparently the virus is so bad that they have to reinstall Windows XP. So, I shelled out yet more money to get all of my files backed up, and will be visiting the store again tomorrow afternoon with my original XP installation disc.

I could really use a windfall right about now. Also, at this juncture I support the death penalty for creators of malware.

Comments

[crashzero.livejournal.com]

Yes, unless they "backup" your files, which they don't actually do, then re-install.

[illusion-of-joy.livejournal.com]

Just heard on my voice mail: "You have 130GB of data to back up, which will require 30 DVD-Rs. We could use the DVDs or you could purchase an external hard drive from us, if you don't already have one."

Of course, when I called back so I could tell them that I'd suck it up and deal with the eyedropper method of restoring my data (aka: the DVDs) the phone rang for about two minutes before I gave up on someone answering and hung up. Why don't these guys have a voice mail system?

At this point I'm kind of wishing that I'd backed up my most important files and just wiped my hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP myself. I'd probably be done by now and still have the money I spent to have the professionals do it. Screw the external hard drive - if I have any money left after this debacle, I'm buying the full AVG Security Suite, a 1TB internal drive, 4GB RAM and an accelerated graphics card for my long-suffering computer (in that order, though not necessarily as soon as I'd like to).