Broken cars and computers

Well, our computer has a virus. It is on our nice computer, too. Shoot. It is a virus that makes it so we keep getting warned that our computer has a virus. Like it is trying to trick us, trying to make us think that it is on our side. I am obviously not fooled, but I am irritated. It frequently throws like four Internet Explorer browser windows at a time up on the screen, all advising me to download this or that antivirus software immediately, which, by my so doing, would either embed the present viruses even deeper, or introduce new ones, or both.

So here I am. It's kind of the same feeling I get when there is a problem with our car. The feeling of "man, I really wish I knew my way around this piece of technology." I don't know what to do to get rid of a computer virus! I went to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled a bunch of weird-looking stuff there, so I feel I've done all I can. Like when my old Ford Escort's engine would start overheating in the winter of my senior year of high school. I would pull over, pop open the hood, scoop up an armful of snow, and throw it in there right onto the engine. Steam would rise from the quickly-diminishing pile as the engine's heat pulled the snow down around itself. And I would stand back and think to myself, "Well, as long as that keeps working..." I can't seem to remember what I would do for the overheating engine once spring came and the only snow available was nestled a three-hour uphill hike away in the shady parts of the Wasatch Mountains. I guess it was a problem that just went away. And I think that's what I'm hoping will happen with this spyware epidemic. If I keep closing those popup windows with enough persistence and determination, they will eventually realize that I am far too much work to bother with, and they, like my car's engine problems, will quietly disappear. Knock on wood.

What will really probably end up happening will be that I will go to Best Buy and stand in line at the customer service desk, waiting my turn to whine to the techno-whiz wearing the funky-mod hairstyle and the Geek Squad name tag.