<p>Heyo- so last night my computer crashed with no warning. No hard drive or operating system! DD says her computer was abruptly infected yesterday and 3 friends had same problem at school. Could this be the conficker virus on a rampage? Anyone else hear of computer issues that are out of the ordinary?</p>
<p>momnipotent- Sorry to hear what happened- I hate computer problems. It might be conflicker- I’m not sure though.</p>
<p>You know how the conflicker virus was originally supposed to go off on April 1? Well, on March 31, I made sure my anti-virus software was up to date and all was running well. April 1, after school, I went on my laptop to do some homework and listen to music. After about 2 hours of it running FINE, it just… stopped working. I kept getting these blue screens that basically prevented me from getting anything done- a nightmare. Eventually, I spent 7 hours (spread out over a few days) on the phone with Dell tech support, and I must’ve talked to 10 different people. It was a pain in the butt to have to explain the issue over and over again. Dell has the service called “DellConnect” that allows the technician to remotely access your desktop- extremely helpful. After trying several different “treatments”, I was told I had to reinstall my operating system (eek!). Of course, none of my data was backed up, so I had to run out to Best Buy and purchase an external hard drive to back it up. Once I got that done, I got back on the phone with tech support. They talked me through how to reinstall the OS, and once that was set up and I was connected to my wireless network, the technician got back on DellConnect and fixed it for me. It did cost money- I can’t remember how much, but it must’ve been over $100- but at least I got it fixed, without them having to come to my house (although, last year, when something was messed up with my computer, someone came to my house and changed the motherboard) or me having to send it in.</p>
<p>What kind of computer is it? I highly recommend calling tech support, but don’t do it when you’re in a rush. You might be on hold and/or talking to a technician for awhile, so wherever you are, get comfortable. Also, if they give you a “case number”, make SURE to write it down.</p>
<p>Yes. S’s computer crashed in a big way this week and started deleting files. Just before finals and a major paper was due. Your thread title is appropriate - when he called to tell me what had happened, I could tell that something was wrong. I heard him say something about having “a bad virus” and thought for a moment he was the nations newest H1N1 case! It’s some kind of malware, apparently. S’s computer had anti-virus software on it, too.</p>
<p>molliegym - That’s exactly what happened to S.</p>