ME and Ophelia

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VIRUS ALERT
Update and scan pc

A friend of mine has spent two days dealing with an email virus and had to call in a computer consultant. He has Windows XP Pro and is now so fed up, he's thinking about giving up email and closing down Outlook Express - forever. Said he may as well forget about the Internet until after Summer, and just use his pc for word processing and spreadsheets.

I'm receiving email alerts from Sophos anti-virus every few hours and doing anti-virus updates nearly as often. Spent the past two days trying to complete a virus scan. Takes hours. Machine keeps switching itself off half way through. Scanned only half so far.

Because the latest virus "war" is fuelled by publicity seeking virus writers, I'm not providing a link here to the news story. For details on the viruses flying around, look in my sidebar to see the live feed from Sophos Anti-Virus, and click on any field.
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DO MACS GET THESE VIRUSES?
If so, what's best protection for Mac?

Wonder if Mac users are affected by these email viruses. The sales consultant at Apple assured me there was no need for me to purchase anti-virus software because Apple computers were so good. She said if I felt it was a must-have, I could try dot.com email anti-virus for a 60-day free trial (£69 to buy).

Blogging posts here over the past few days while trying to complete a virus scan has been an ordeal. Machine shut down three times, half way through. Today is the end of my new housekeeper's first week. Twice daily nuisance robotic spam marketeers ring my phone shouting messages that I've won a holiday or something. Another sales consultant phoned me from Apple in Ireland and left a message. Thought it was to do with my order. Called her back in Ireland, she was out, left her a message. She called me back, wanting to know if I was interested in buying a Mac. And dropped me like a hot potatoe when I told her I'd just ordered one. Must have got my phone number from my registration details at Apple Stores Online. On Tuesday, I ordered fortnightly groceries which arrived just before window cleaner turned up out of the blue. Glad it's weekend.

Don't know how I am going to handle the delivery of a new Mac, transferring Internet connection, doing a back up onto two CDs (can't figure how to split the back up), transferring everything from the Dell, figuring how to use the Move2Mac software and cable, re-setting the Epson printer. Never done such things before.

Roll on Easter when these months of upheaval are over. And my new housekeeper will have completed induction phase. Last week, I gave my other lady J two weeks paid leave because, very sadly, her mother died. I've missed J. Ophelia is curled up asleep on her chair by the fire. Air is cold and foggy. Sea and sky all grey. Cannot see the horizon.