Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Further valuable object lesson

    NEVER turn on a computer you're not familiar with and hook it to the Internet. I fired up Dad's computer after a long hiatus and also hooked it to my WiFi hotspot (intermittently, a couple of minutes at a time) with the idea that I should get all the Windows updates. If I had been thinking, I would have realized that if I just kept it offline, I wouldn't NEED any Windows updates, but I guess I'm just conditioned to download the damned things at all times.
    So there was this window from Norton antivirus. I certainly didn't agree to anything nor ask it to download anything, yet somehow there is a $90 bill (on a credit card I didn't even know existed) with very little in the way of description of what the charge is except for the word Norton. I'm going to tell the credit card company not to pay Norton and discontinue the card. This is in no way dishonest; I didn't want whatever the downloaded update was, didn't ask for it, and in fact was getting around to uninstalling Norton on that computer anyway because it's so useless. But hey; just another pointless annoyance I didn't need.
    On the brighter side (literally and figuratively), the weather finally cleared up. For a while, there was not a cloud in the big blue sky. Later, when a couple of clouds turned up, I nearly panicked, but think I got over it. I took a long, long walk. Hopefully brain function and emotional stability will return shortly.

Edit: WELL! As it turns out, it was just a coincidence that I had turned on the computer and saw a box from Norton at about the date that the $90 charge was added. It was an annual automatic renewal fee. I called the credit card company and when I calmed down, they canceled the credit card and gave me the number for Norton, and the person there was also very nice and "processed the refund." (Quotes there since I didn't pay anything; hopefully, the refund will go to the credit card company and the matter is resolved. Anyway, everyone knows that Dad is dead, and they get that no payment will be forthcoming. Knock. On. Wood.

No comments:

Post a Comment