Helping Hands

One of the nice things that people tend to forget about the internet is that, despite it being the hugest commercial platform, it remains at heart all about communication and co-operation. Honest.

I was reminded of that these past few weeks when our server was struck by the digital equivalent of herpes. Try as I might I could not get rid of the virus, nasties kept re-appearing much to my displeasure.

This clearly put me a particularly pleasant mood all week from which my co-workers benefitted:

"Google It", "Fix your own f***ing printer", "Read what it says on the screen, you muppet" etc...

Well now you find me in lighter mood, skipping on my way to work and stopping to smell the flowers. The reason for my cheerier disposition? I managed to cure the bug on the server.

I would like you to think that I am a capabable, multi skilled IT kinda guy and that I did this on my own with just my vast intellect and good looks as my tools. But the truth is there are fantastically knowledgeable people out there in internetland who are beyond generous with their time and supremely patient with webmonkeys like me.

One such place (where I found myself begging for help) is the forum over at CastleCops.com. There I received direct help and instruction from several security experts as well as the odd experienced user. In particular I would like to say a big thank you to Negster who gave me some top advice and showed me some great new geeky tools to use, such as SecCheck.

These people love dirty machines! So if you have a security or virus problem thats driving you nuts, pay them a visit. I'm glad I did. And so are my co-workers.