My Dad gave me an old laptop of his for Christmas because my old, trusty Mac Powerbook is now as slow as a pensioner wading through treacle. I have since been using it for writing and internet browsing.

The problem is that the perennial PC issue of viruses are always there, lurking in the background – even with anti-virus software. Yesterday, instead of writing, I spent a couple of hours trying to get the Antivirus. NET malware off my PC. I needed my Mac, Google, and a lot of patience to get the bloody thing off my machine. I then spent another hour or so, turning off my Avast anti-virus software (as it was next to useless in protecting my machine from this malware) and installing Microsoft Security Essentials, which seems like it is somewhat more effective.

By the time I finished the writing mood had passed and I just lounged around doing nothing!

From now on, I think I’ll stick with my Mac for writing and use the PC for browsing only. Having already lost 6,000 words, due to my own negligence, I’ve got no desire to lose my entire novel due to some bloody virus making it impossible to access my machine.