So yesterday it snowed again, almost like winter. It is not winter though, it is white spring.  Today the snow plow was even here and made the scenery you see above.  It may still grow colder again, but for now the temperature stays above freezing almost all the time, so even if there comes some new snow now and again, it starts melting almost at once. It is like nature cannot really decide.

I feel a bit like that too.  I am a bit between fads, I think, so I don’t really know what will interest me tomorrow, if anything.

I uninstalled the Norton virus scan from my computer today and installed good old free Clamwin instead. Norton 360 is cool in that it actively catches worms and viruses if you are online without a firewall.  Which is the best way to be online, except for the worms and viruses, and especially if you are downloading fansubbed Japanese animated TV series that you don’t have time to watch anyawy. But it has its price.

I had Norton 360 for a year, even though it was kind of pricey.  I was even going to renew it, because I am lazy and money is not really a problem for a Norwegian, even of the barely lower middle class.  For a day the updater tried in vain to contact the server, or so it looked.  Eventually I started to suspect something, namely that it was trying to launch a website.  I changed default web browser to Internet Explorer instead of Opera, and it worked. Unfortunately, that was not a very reassuring trait, my antivirus program being unable to anticipate that I had another browser than the number one virus magnet on the planet. So it was only by a supreme effort of laziness that I continued the process. I filled in various information, including my credit card info, and sent it off.  The program chewed on it for a while, then told me that I had to try again later.  I tried a couple times, then waited a day or two.  When I tried again, the program came up with the same renewal screen – except the price was raised by about 40%.  Had I just happened to try to renew on the day they were re-pricing the product (and why would they do that anyway?) or had I showed so much commitment to them that they felt sure I would buy even at a much higher price?  We will never know, because I deleted Norton 360 from my computer.

I kept the free Norton scan, however.  It ran today, on its own.  A nice gesture. It found the usual cookies and stuff that I am better off having than not having, plus two viruses. These were in the browser cache, and since I had switched back to Opera they were harmless. (The viruses are written for Internet Explorer, remember?)  The program did not know this however and tried to seize its advantage by telling me that if I wanted to get rid of the viruses,  I would have to buy Norton 360.  Like fornication I will!  Norton virus scan deleted. If it is one thing that sets my teeth on edge, it is being treated like an idiot.  (Which makes sense once you know that where I come from, idiots are locked in a small room in the attic indefinitely, remember?)  Well, I’m not locked in by Norton anymore and hopefully I will find this entry the next time I am tempted to have any business with Symantec.  I tend to have vague memories of trivial things like this, and Google Desktop should do the rest.

I got new earphones recently too, but I can photograph them another day. This should be enough to convince you that I lived today too, always a bonus gift at my age.