Head desk...now I understand what that means.

Head desk...now I understand what that means.

MoneyGuy calls me into his office to look at his screen. There I find a big message with "Security Tool" at the top. In big bold letters it screams, "Your system is infected."

Yeah, no shit. With "Security Tool" a bit of malware designed to look legit whose only purpose is to make you spend money. If not directly, by forcing you to purchase it, then directly by stealing your keystrokes the next time you log on to your bank's web site.

I try CTRL-ALT-DEL to get Task Manager. TM shows for a second, then closes spontaneously.

I said, "I'm surprised Avast didn't catch this."

He's gone all Pointy-Haired-Boss on me, and looks confused and angry. "It did. It wouldn't let me open this thing in my email, so I saved it to My Documents and opened it from there. I have a conference call in fifteen minutes. I need you to fix this."

The window pops open again.

He points, "Isn't that Avast?"

I try not to be condescending, but I only half succeed. "Does it say 'Avast?'"

He doesn't answer. I do what I can to close the windows so he can do whatever it is he needs to do, but I know they're going to just keep popping up.

"Tell you what, " I offer, "do your thing, and when you're done I'll see to fixing it."

I guess my other projects - the projects for paying customers - will have to wait.

Head desk...now I understand what that means.

Head desk...now I understand what that means.

MoneyGuy calls me into his office to look at his screen. There I find a big message with "Security Tool" at the top. In big bold letters it screams, "Your system is infected."

Yeah, no shit. With "Security Tool" a bit of malware designed to look legit whose only purpose is to make you spend money. If not directly, by forcing you to purchase it, then directly by stealing your keystrokes the next time you log on to your bank's web site.

I try CTRL-ALT-DEL to get Task Manager. TM shows for a second, then closes spontaneously.

I said, "I'm surprised Avast didn't catch this."

He's gone all Pointy-Haired-Boss on me, and looks confused and angry. "It did. It wouldn't let me open this thing in my email, so I saved it to My Documents and opened it from there. I have a conference call in fifteen minutes. I need you to fix this."

The window pops open again.

He points, "Isn't that Avast?"

I try not to be condescending, but I only half succeed. "Does it say 'Avast?'"

He doesn't answer. I do what I can to close the windows so he can do whatever it is he needs to do, but I know they're going to just keep popping up.

"Tell you what, " I offer, "do your thing, and when you're done I'll see to fixing it."

I guess my other projects - the projects for paying customers - will have to wait.