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	Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory Where Did All The Viruses Go? It’s a miracle. During the last several months the computer industry experienced a “malware” epidemic that kept us hopping (malware is a generic term for viruses, spyware, adware, scareware, phishware, pharmware and other unwelcome programs that install themselves on your PC without your knowledge or permission). Although we added several new scan stations, we still couldn’t keep up and customers had to wait three or four days for their PCs. In the past three weeks virus infections have dropped dramatically. Our clean-up service is back down to two days. What caused this lull? It’s not because the bad guys slowed their efforts to victimize us. It’s that our defenses got better. The recent malware epidemic awakened the entire industry to the damage and expense of malware infection. Users are doing a better job of keeping operating systems and protection software updated and are doing more timely malware scans. We (users) have become more wary of what we click on. “Social engineering” scams like the “Your PC is in danger” fraud seem to be less effective these days. Commonly used third party applications like Quick Time and iTunes (Apple), Flash Player and Reader (Adobe) and others are doing better at making their software more secure. ISPs like Cox and AT&T are policing their networks better. Even the social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter seem to be cleaning up their collective acts. While it may seem that we’re winning the battle, it’s no time to drop our guard. Cyber-criminals are always at work, mutating their attacks to adapt to our defenses. The slowdown in virus infections gave us time to clean-up and catch-up on some badly needed chores. We’ve had time to refurbish many of our recent “trade in” desktop and notebook PCs. Each of these “refurbs” now have Windows XP, office suites and AVG 9.0 anti-virus and are fully Internet ready. The prices range from $150 to $350. They are excellent low cost alternatives to new PCs for most home, business and student users. On a different subject, we finally completed our years long trek through the complicated world of home electronics solutions (Land line, TV and Internet). While this ever-changing environment depends too on your location, here, for what it’s worth is our experience at our home in San Marcos. Last year we dumped AT&T (landline and Internet) and Dish TV (TV) and took the Cox everything bundle. AT&T had OK phone but poor Internet service and pathetic customer relations. Cox had good Internet service, OK phone service and good customer relations but Cox’s TV cable service was distinctly inferior and more expensive than the service we had with Dish TV. Last month we dropped Cox TV, kept Cox Internet and landline service and went back to Dish TV for TV. We’re happier with all our services and saving over $50/mo. It is only fair to note that we have had AT&T phone and Internet (DSL) service at our store on San Marcos Blvd for years and have been satisfied with both.