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General discussion

Poll: When working with a computer, what do you fear most?

Feb 18, 2011 6:46AM PST
When working with a computer, what do you fear most about it? And why?

-- Getting infected by a virus, Trojan, or any malware. (Why?)
-- Losing my important data. (Why should you be if you have a backup?)
-- Getting hacked. (Where are your security apps?)
-- Screwing something up and rendering it useless. (Is your data backed up?)
-- Not having one at all. (Please explain.)
-- Other fears? (What is it?)

Discussion is locked

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Working in a PC's innards.
Feb 18, 2011 8:59AM PST

My growth with PC's began with the Zenith Z248 Computer in the early 1980s and have gone through a number of variations and have completed two PC repair courses. So no, I have no fears of fiddling around with a PC's innards.

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What I "fear" most is viruses, trojans or malware.
Feb 18, 2011 9:16AM PST

First I wouldn't call it fear. I'd call it concern. The reason this group is my largest concern is because I have to depend on windows and third party software to keep my computer secure.
Since most banks and utilities offer online services, not to mention the number of websites offering online sales via CC's, etc., there is a constant threat of data theft, usernames, passwords and such.
Fortunately, the organizations that combat this are doing a pretty decent job, thus minimizing my concerns.

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fear most
Feb 18, 2011 9:17AM PST

..is that something will go south. either equipment, or MS will decide
it is thru for the day and lock up..LOL

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program malfunction that keeps me from getting things done
Feb 18, 2011 9:28AM PST

Currently, it's Adobe Shockwave that seems to fail me most of the time.

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Other fears?
Feb 18, 2011 9:34AM PST

What should there be to fear of?
It's just a machine dude.

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Why I fear losing data
Feb 18, 2011 9:39AM PST

I had backed my system periodically using DriveImage XML. When something wiped my hard drive, I expected no loss because of the backup. However, despite the program's having said the backup last backup was completed properly, in reality I could not open or access it. I don't know why. Fortunately, I had most of a backup of the crucial material on a second computer _ it wasn't fully up to date because, being older, it worked slowly and was a hassle to deal wiith, so I recovered most of the crucial data _ but did lose many personal photos and about six weeks of business records.

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Getting hacked
Feb 18, 2011 10:27AM PST

New exploits appear every day, while many get blocked by security software, you cannot always count on that, especially with zero day exploits that are less easily identified and blocked. There are quite a few security products out there, some better than others, but they are not all capable of identifying every threat out there. The Zeus botnet has been particularly troubling for many people and it is still out there causing trouble. I am curious about why you separate the getting infected and getting hacked choices, they not really separate problems. I use several security products, but not all of them at the same time, Webroot, Avast, Malwarebytes and the Windows firewall are what I use.

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Some listed, some not.

I fear that computers might make us pretty much vegetables, which is the state doctors refer to people in a coma. They seem like they will make us unable to think. I also fear that my hard drive will crash soon (my crappy laptop is on its 4th hard drive in less than 3 years). I have a backup, but I think it might fail considering it's fallen over like 2 times. I also fear viruses, as even though I have 3 security apps, viruses are everywhere.

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my mind will go blank
Feb 18, 2011 11:58AM PST

and I will no longer be able to accept the daily challenges my computer bestows upon me.
15 years ago I found little screws on the backside of my pentium 90.
I loosened these little devils, slid open the cover and wow, what a myriad of gadgets I knew nothing about...15 years later I still know nothing about them..but what a blast trying to learn.
That is my biggest fear, not being able to cope with my computer problems because of mind problems...
so far so good though....

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No fears...
Feb 18, 2011 12:49PM PST

I don't fear Mac's or PC's, after all, I am in the IT industry. ...what I do fear are computers running Atom processors - I could slam this slow things against a wall any day.

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I don't fear at all
Feb 18, 2011 6:33PM PST

I love to work with my computer and I have several backups if something should happen and I would lose my data. As a matter of fact I enjoy fixing any errors as well Happy

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Getting infected by a virus, Trojan or any Malware.
Feb 19, 2011 3:04AM PST

I don't care what a software developer claims about his antivirus/malware software the best you can expect realistically is about 99% protection at best if you're lucky! There are way too many criminally minded people in the world who delight in coming up with some new piece of destruction that nobody has thought of to date. Until these items make their initial appearance in cyber space, nobody can totally anticipate their occurrence thus making prevention less than 100%. People who develope the prevention programs are in a constant state of catch up and never seem to catch up until someone has already paid the price, either by having to pay some opportunist to supply a "FIX" or having to spend time they don't have, to recover from the disaster! I wouldn't say it's a FEAR but instead it's a major concern, after all we home users aren't running Corporations from our home computers now are we! If on the other hand you do run a business from home then you need to get in the habit of backing up your critical files EVERY DAY to either CD, DVD or Online backup facility if you can afford it! There are some good backup utilities out there that aren't too price restrictive and once you set them up to run automatically you don't even need to even remember to do it manually. I think you also need to separate your web surfing time from your "Business" time perhaps even your email time. Backup every time you change from "Business" time to any other activity. After all your GOAL is NOT to lose critical data!

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Photos
Feb 19, 2011 6:27AM PST

I have a at home photo business and am totally paranoid about losing my pictures. I have over ten thousand now.
I have them on my Desktop PC, My laptop, backed up on a external hard drive and on DVDs in two locations.
I just had a client whose wedding I shot in 2008, call and asked for curtain pictures, so I never delete them.

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messing up
Feb 19, 2011 6:27AM PST

Yes thats what I find with PCs. Its so easy to push the wrong button or misunderstand something then have big problems. My Medion s5610 wont open zip files since pushing something i did wrong and cannot find what it was. The screen just keeps going bonkers I have to turn off manually to get it back to normallity,
Also I now have 8 horizontal white line taking up about 1/4 inch on the verybottom of my screen.It give an image of the last / bottom of the screen.Where did this come from. Yes I have fears alright. My syphathies to fellow neuros. Chris.

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This is My Biggest Concern...
Feb 19, 2011 2:59PM PST

The thing I try to provide myself the greatest level of protection against is Identity Theft. Over the years, the people who have been participating in this activity on the Internet have been refining their skills. You'll see their messages are more professional looking (rare misspellings, no suspicious looking gaps in the text, and no misuse of capital or lower case letters), the company logos they use are first class, and their links take you to authentic looking pages.

In addition to this, there are few (if any) software programs out there that protect you from these criminal activities. Each of us are pretty much on our own and have to be very careful, not to fall prey to these increasingly sophisticated attacks on our personal and financial security.

Jeff

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Just format C: 3 ~ 6months and you'll get nothing to fear.
Feb 19, 2011 6:30PM PST

No matter what you run (Windows, Mac, Linux....), just format first HD(system drive) every 3~6 months and you will get no problem to fix.
Remember to use second HD to store all your data, then you can format first HD without any hesitate.

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Why would this be necessary?
Feb 21, 2011 11:30PM PST

I see people put reformatting as a solution but I don't understand it. It has been at least 5 years since I have had to reformat my drive to fix a problem. How long does it typically take to restore everything needed? Until recently, I had my entire family using the same computer so there was quite a bit of stuff to restore. It was usually quicker to just fix the problem then to reformat.

Typical infections can be cured using tools widely available online.

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WAG, but
Feb 19, 2011 9:42PM PST

I have no fear of PCs in general or whatever may make one so. However, I have found the PC the perfect device for finding "idiots" or someone that has no business having access to a PC. To include not just the operation but the purchase of one. In no uncertain terms that the box should be used to return whatever they brought. Either that or the most trusting fools out there falling for some sales pitch, etc..

Why? Repeated advise is either ignored and problem returns. No protection schemes what so ever or very basic or becomes outdated. Don't ever trust a kid operator to tell the truth when a PC goes bad or badly infected or worse. Buying s/w or h/w ONLY after a problem arises. Good Gawd, never ever cleaned their PC. But heck, that's only an observation as there are very good users of the extreme type as well. adios -----Willy Happy

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Getting Hacked
Feb 20, 2011 4:35AM PST

A while back I was viewing a borderline risky web site. I closed my IE,left the computer for appr. 45 min. When I came back one of my Icons on my desk top was missing. The icoan was for Google Earth, I checked the Program List and Add remove programs, and there was no Google Earth any were on my computer. While I was away, some one got into my computer and completly removed Google Earth from my computer, and I had to completly reinstall it. My computer is HP I core 3 series, Windows 7, Router Firewall, Windows Firewall and Norton Anti Virus 2011. Windows 7 is all up to date with Windows updates.I have tinkerred with computers since a long time ago, I never had this happen to me before and I was totaly blown away by this.

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A person not a hub.
Feb 26, 2011 1:38PM PST

Myself.

For some reason using computers leaves me unable to focus but utterly obsessive and totally indecisive. It matters not what the nature of the tasks are.

My data is backed up (obsessively) and I knew that I was overdoing it... until I had an accident with my computer. For various reasons and in various ways I had issues with several backup systems and a few access routes at the same time. My computer and data turned out to be fine, but 30 minutes after collecting it from the repair shop my "salvage mission" machine malfunctioned. No doubt I can sort it, but for now... I am just too tired.

So where do I go from there? I cannot get caught in an endless hall of mirrors of backing up, syncing and managing routes in and out of various branches whilst keeping things safe and secure. What am I then? Just a hub. Nothing is that important.

But I know that tomorrow something will catch my attention and I'll be back in the hall of mirrors...

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What i fear?
Mar 10, 2011 1:01PM PST

I'm still new with computer world and still learning so maybe is I'm fearing that my downloads and protections will not fully protect my computer from unknown viruses. I'm still in doubt of a lot of stuff and not so sure of what to download, as what I've said I'm still learning.

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still new?
Mar 10, 2011 1:05PM PST

Yeah I am still new and learning. I really hope that all my backups and protections will fully protect my computer. I'm still in doubt and scared to some stuff.

Like what I've said I'm new.