Samizdata - 8:06 pm on Aug 30, 2007 (gmt 0)

people with just basic computer knowledge should be able to go to a corporate site like Microsoft or Norton for help

In fairness to Microsoft (whose products I am no fan of) the malware you mentioned would probably not have got anywhere if your neighbour had ever run Windows Update, which I believe patched that particular exploit a long time ago, and which these days seems to nag users constantly.

In fairness to Norton (whose products I am no fan of) their website provides free fixes for a vast number of exploits - though not the one in question - without the need to purchase any product.

I have never come across a malware or virus problem that could not be fixed for free, though I agree that the SmitFraud/SmitRem fix was hard to find amongst a lot of inaccurate information on the web.

I enjoy the fact that people buy a new PC when things go wrong as some of them give me the old one, which I repair and use to test my websites in various browsers - I have never paid for a PC, and now have several.

Of course, as a Mac user I mostly forget about them...