theowned[d0t]org

I am often requested to help friends, coworkers, and family "speed up" their Windows computers. Most of the time the computer is running slowly due to some form of malware. What amazes me most is the complete and utter disregard of any care these people take when using the internet.

Some people are complete morons, granted. If you do something, x, and it causes some kind of harm to you, how many times will you repeat this action? For some people, the answer to that question would simply be "yes." People can be really annoying at times.

To quote Agent K from MIB: "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky animals and you know it."

Which brings me to the reason I am writing this. When requested to "speed up" a computer and remove malware, I use to take the time and care to secure the system and attempt to educate the user on how to avoid this problem again in the future. I would do this for very little compensation, if any. Computer repair shops that specialized in "reformatting" and charging $90+/hr to do so use to disgust me. Some people listened to me and learned, but most either ignored my advice or simply did not care. Over the years of repeating the same lecture to the same people, I have grown up.

Before helping with malware issues now, I usually present the following question:

"If you regularly have to clean dog shit off your shoes -- would you prefer to invest money in excellent detergents and shoe cleaner, or would you prefer to watch where you are walking?"

This has yet to fail me.