The Washington Post is running a group of stories this weekend about computer security and the problems a reporter went through with her Windows 98 computer. Interestingly, instead of ISPs the articles identify other sources of frustration for even technically savvy home computer user with software vendors and overzealous advertisers. A Digital Doctor Treats Computer Contamination http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64481-2004Aug14.html By Glenn Paterson Special to The Washington Post Sunday, August 15, 2004; Page F01 [...] Her PC was in such bad shape, it required 10 1/2 hours of surgery to restore it to working condition. [...] Finally, I abandoned ship, reinstalling the entire Windows 98 operating system to repair the damage to Internet Explorer and allow Kathleen's computer to access the Internet and update the Norton AntiVirus definitions. [...] So to sum up, I spent one day cleaning up problems created by ne'er-do-well hackers and overzealous advertisers and four more trying to resolve a known problem with a product that is supposed to help prevent problems, not create new ones. Yes, some of the trouble could have been avoided if Kathleen had kept her anti-virus and operating system software up to date. However, much of the responsibility lies with Symantec and the rest of the computer industry. [...] What a Tangled Web I Wove Computer Naivete Cost Me a Bundle And a Bit of Sanity http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64483-2004Aug14.html By Kathleen Day Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, August 15, 2004; Page F01 My problem began the last Sunday in July, when my nearly teenage daughter, newly returned from a month away at camp, announced, "Something's wrong with the computer." [...] In fact, her comment marked the start of a much larger headache, one that launched an odyssey that has taken $800 and roughly 48 man-hours over nearly three weeks to end. [...] I wondered if maybe some of the programs I was trying to kill weren't really spyware but something essential to Windows that I shouldn't try to delete. I called Microsoft and was passed from operator to operator as I asked where I could find a list of legitimate Microsoft applications so I would know what to kill and what to leave alone. But the only response I got from one person after another -- most of them in foreign tech-support centers like those in India I had been reading so much about lately -- was that I needed to go to Microsoft's online sales. After 45 minutes of this, I hung up. Then I gave up. I actually stood up and walked away from my computer. [...]