Computer Viruses equals My Tortured Screaming

Very recently I experienced the first virus attack on my beloved computer. To say I was horrified the minute I lifted my finger from the offending click would not come close to the sickened feeling that hollowed out the bottom of my stomach.

I wanted to leap up and run through the streets screaming “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

My biggest fear of course was that my laptop was now spawning the virus to everyone I’d ever met. I tried to think of how I could call everyone I knew on the phone to warn them. Logistically, it was impossible and I knew it.

After turning off my computer, I disengaged the Cat 5 and did the same to all the computers in the house. I unplugged the router for good measure and then sat trembling before my now dark computer wondering what to do next.

Luckily I live with a computer geek. I called him at work crying. Between sobs he told me I did the right thing by unplugging everything. I had to wait until he got home to evaluate the damage. It was the longest day of my life. I was cut off from e-mail and my communication to the world. And worst of all I was cut off from my writing files.

My guardian angel was dancing on my shoulder that day because six minutes before the fatal click, I had backed up all my word files to another computer on our network. I was fairly certain all my books and writing were safe. I should send my guardian angel flowers.

Norton Internet Security 2006 (Norton Antivirus with Spyware removers) was my other hero in this devastating event. I need to send Norton flowers, too, because the software I had loaded on my laptop identified the problem before my finger fully lifted off my mouse and quarantined all the nasty viruses invading my files.

My husband spent three long days cleaning up my computer files and running repeated scans to ensure I was safe and virus free.
In the end I only lost all of the music I’d ripped from my CD’s. It will be time consuming to put them back, but at least I didn’t lose any of my writing.
Plus I have my computer back. For a while over this past weekend, I thought my computer was going to become a very expensive paperweight.

I think people who spend their time inventing computer viruses to unleash on the internet should be tortured to the brink of death and then put into the most dirty and despicable prison on earth. If it were up to me they would not be allowed to see a single shaft of daylight until they cured cancer for all the heartache they caused.
Just my opinion. Or am I being to lenient?
Anyone else feel this way?

L