Newsletter Issue #1051 — So Has Apple Lost It?
February 26th, 2024When I first started to use Macs in the late 1980s, I was the oddball. Most users of personal computers worked on traditional, text-based PCs, such as the ones from IBM. When I visited a computer store — yes there were many of those — to buy apps for my Mac, the clerks often gave me a sideways glance that smacked of derision. Sometimes they actually had a few titles stuck on a rear shelf catching dust.
I actually reveled in the fact that computer viruses had mostly ignored Macs to my detriment. Weeks after my new Mac iicx was set up at my home, way back in 1989, it caught a virus. Worse, it was from an infected software floppy containing a screen saver utility from a firm known as Fifth Generation Systems. I ended up reformatting the Mac and reinstalling everything, except for that one. An online search introduced me to a solution to future problems of that sort, something known as VirusDetective (discontinued many moons ago). I wasn’t certain if it was best, but I liked the title and, besides, it was something you don’t find often these days — shareware. I didn’t have to pay if I didn’t like it, but nobody would disable it if I decided to just continue to use it. Yes I paid.
As you might imagine, there was no online checking of serial numbers; access was just too slow in those days. Remember this was before broadband Internet was actually available in many parts of the country. That occurred beginning in 1996.
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