Even though a new computer’s on its way, I thought I could do no harm in spending yesterday seeing if I could track down and get rid of the virus that waylaid my present one. It took a while, but to my surprise, given my lack of overall computer skills — anything beyond the basics is like magic — I think I’ve done it.

I don’t want to speak too soon, but everything’s working the way it should, and maybe this blog is back in business. When the new computer arrives, there’ll be another short break while I get it hooked up and humming, but later tonight I’m going to see about posting some of the huge backlog that’s accumulated.

Or at least that’s the plan.

As anti-virus software, Norton really let me down, first of all, for letting this last bugger in (called Zlob), and then for not knowing how to fix it. For what it’s worth, once I was able to restore my computer back to Sunday, when Firefox was still working, I was able to download a program called Spysweeper, which I used to clean out what I couldn’t eliminate manually. It found 15 viruses that Norton had missed. As I say, for what it’s worth.