Don't always blame a virus

Yesterday a friend contacted me with a problem that almost all computer users dread.  How many times have we heard or even said ourselves;

"It was working OK yesterday but today it's not."

No matter how many times we perform the much suggested "Try turning it off and back on again", the computer still does not 'play ball'.  There could be a number of different scenarios from this point on;

• The computer is completely 'dead'.  Possibly a flat or failed battery, a failed power supply even. Although expensive to repair (especially if it's a laptop) and time consuming if spares are required, it's not usually the end of the world.
• The computer appears to start OK with the various, normal messages appearing on the screen but the Operating System (OS - Microsoft Windows etc.) does not seem to start.
• The OS seems to start OK but then the problems start.

These are just a few of the possible scenarios and it was the last of the above which my friend's laptop presented her with.  Her laptop had appeared to start OK and to launch into Windows OK as it presented her with her user login screen as per normal.  It was at this point that the problems started.  Windows refused to recognise her login username and password and she could proceed no further.

It is at this point the much feared thought "Have I lost everything?" usually goes through the victim's mind.  Of course, a diligent computer user would have the same thought but would gain some comfort from the fact that they have been performing regular backups to some kind of external storage system.  I am sure that all of you reading this perform regular backups of your vital data don't you?  Or do you?  I am sure that, even if you don't - you know that you should be (hint, hint).

Having gone through the 'grief' stage of bereavement following the apparent 'death' of the much beloved computer, the 'anger' stage now kicks in.  It must be a virus that my computer has caught and you begin to curse all the creators of computer viruses.  Something that has always puzzled me is this.  To write a computer virus you need to have a considerable amount of technical, computer knowledge and an inventive imagination.  Why not direct these considerable talents in a more constructive direction for the benefit of all? To a certain extent, this is already happening with the ever expanding amount of material available in the world of 'open source' software.  Thanks guys - keep up the good work.

If you are still with me at this point, I must apologise as I have meandered off the path slightly.

My friend had assumed that the problem with her laptop was a virus for reasons I will come to later.  As an ex engineer required, in previous employment, to diagnose problems in aircraft systems, I know that it is essential to gain as many facts as possible before making a diagnosis.  In this case the facts were;

• Up-to-date Anti Virus and Anti Malware software were installed and regular 'scans' performed.
• She had not opened or received any 'dodgy looking' attachments.
• She had not visited any websites via links received in eMails.
• She had not installed any new software

My conclusion was that it was highly unlikely that a virus was the culprit.  A quick search of Google revealed that the symptoms presented were not uncommon and was almost certainly due to a corrupt entry in the Registry.  Just 20 minutes later after using Safe Mode, backing up the entire registry (just in case), and making a simple correction in the Registry the computer is now working again as per normal.

So why did my friend think it was a virus?  Well, this is usually the first culprit blamed when things go wrong but, in this case, she had been influenced by someone she knows who had had a similar problem (it may have been exactly the same problem or just similar - I cannot be sure) who had to have their computer software reset back to factory settings (ie hard drive 'wiped') with all the issues of reloading user software and, of course, all the backed up data.  A tedious process under any circumstances, but, even more frustrating if the data has not been backed up!

Computer viruses are annoying and frustrating but are not always responsible for the 'death' of a computer. Always remember though that, whatever causes a computer to 'die', your data will have an 'afterlife' provided you have taken out that life assurance policy of performing regular backups.