Do IT Yourself

One of the fastest and most convenient ways to move files from one computer to another is via a USB external drive.

However, this is also the fastest and most effective way to spread worms and other infections. There are viruses that have been created especially for removable drives, which happily jump from the drive into any machine that they are attached to. (Click HERE for an example) External drives are a favorite among family members, co-workers and people who are quite generous with their files.

One way to avoid spreading an infection through a removable drive is this:

Hold the Shift key down while you are inserting the drive, and keep it down for about 5 to 10 seconds. This stops your computer from “reading” the contents of the drive and allows you time to scan it with your anti-virus program before actually opening the drive. If the external drive is infected, your antivirus program will detect and quarantine it before it does any damage.

Make sure your external drives—or any drive your family, friends and/or co-workers may attach to your computer—are clean and you will have done a few other people you don’t even know a favor.

Of course, one of your primary computer housekeeping tasks is to make sure your antivirus program does update itself regularly and that you have a scheduled scan that runs on your lunch hour or any time of the day when you are away and not using your computer. Of course, your computer has to be on at the time (did I just say that? Well, just making sure…)

You know how the saying goes. According to bartleby.com, “A person who never takes time off from work becomes boring and bored.” Bored, yeah, all the time. But boring? Ah, that’s different. One should never ever sink to the depths of boredom inducement. Not when you have the chance to attend a party and watch a band play acoustic and drink a lot of beer.

The occasion was the 15th anniversary fellowship of the Jacques deMolay Memorial Lodge No. 305 F. & A.M of which my husband Sam is the current secretary. There was good food, flowing drinks, and a band called Pack of Wolvz played a few songs.

Personally I don’t drink, but I didn’t keep these fellows from unwinding after a whole week’s hard work.

Wednesdays are always a bummer. Wednesdays are sloooow. Especially around Baclaran on Roxas Boulevard, City of Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. This is because Wednesday is Baclaran day, when all the faithful go to the weekly novena at the Redemptorist church. It’s where all northbound, southbound, eastbound and westbound vehicles converge and traffic is expected to be at a virtual standstill.

Wednesdays are when bus drivers choose to linger at bus stops even if there is no one on the sidewalk wanting a ride. Bus dispatchers and conductors shout their destinations, apparently in the hope that if they should loudly and long enough, people would miraculously appear on the sidewalk and get on the bus. Or people who are headed for destinations other than the bus’s signboards will change their minds and follow the dispatchers voice like mice to the Pied Piper.

Wednesdays in the office are sloooow. It’s the day when clients go out of their way to be painstakingly picky. It’s the day when suppliers twiddle their thumbs while they gaze blankly at purchase orders. Wednesday is always unbearably hot. Not even Typhoon Frank made it to Wednesday. Wednesdays is when counter personnel at any fast food joint choose to take their time fulfilling your order, and that’s because there’s hardly any customers either.

Wednesday is the purgatory we have to go through after the death of weekend life.