We are talking of computer viruses, not medical viruses.
I had gone to another college for delivering a postgraduate lecture. Normally I take my files on a CD and not on a pen drive because I know I will pick up a few viruses from a computer that is used by a lot of people (as in a lecture hall). This time I did not. After I finished my lecture, I closed the open presentation file and clicked on the 'disconnect detachable device' icon in the system tray. Instead of declaring that it was safe to disconnect the device, the computer told me 'the device cannot be disconnected now, because it is being used by Windows'.
"It is MY device and I will disconnect it if I want to" I told the computer and took it off. I don't know if the computer heard me. I did not hear it snigger anyway. After I came home, I connected the pen drive to my desktop and found that the PC did not know what to do with it. Normally it autoruns and offers to open it to reveal its contents. Then it screamed 'virus!' I let it remove the virus. Then I got my antivirus to scan the pen drive. It found eight viruses in it. After I removed all of the infections, I double clicked the icon of the pen drive in Windows Explorer.
"Select a program to open this file" the computer said and offered me a list of programs, none of which was Windows Explorer. This was weird. When I finally opened the drive, I found it had only three documents in it. 2GB of my data was wiped out by the viruses. I tried to create a new folder in it with an old name.
"It cannot be created. A folder with that name already exists" the computer told me. I was awestruck. There was a folder that I could not see, though it was not a hidden folder. In fact there were no folders.
I removed the name of the pen drive, formatted it, and renamed it. Then it started behaving normally.
"Those eight viruses must have kept the pen drive engaged and hence Windows must have told me that it could not be disconnected" I told my son, the software specialist.
"Yes" he said "that happens."
A week later I went to the same place to deliver another lecture. I had my files on a CD this time. Another person was delivering her lecture when I entered the lecture hall. I waited. After she finished, she tried to disconnect her pen drive. It will say 'the device is being used by Windows and it cannot be disconnected' I thought.
"The device is being used by Windows and it cannot be disconnected" the computer said. 'Those viruses are predictable' I thought. The previous speaker just pulled out her pen drive, ignoring the warning, probably because I was waiting.
"Now you are a proud owner of eight viruses" I told her. "I got them from this computer last week too."
I had gone to another college for delivering a postgraduate lecture. Normally I take my files on a CD and not on a pen drive because I know I will pick up a few viruses from a computer that is used by a lot of people (as in a lecture hall). This time I did not. After I finished my lecture, I closed the open presentation file and clicked on the 'disconnect detachable device' icon in the system tray. Instead of declaring that it was safe to disconnect the device, the computer told me 'the device cannot be disconnected now, because it is being used by Windows'.
"It is MY device and I will disconnect it if I want to" I told the computer and took it off. I don't know if the computer heard me. I did not hear it snigger anyway. After I came home, I connected the pen drive to my desktop and found that the PC did not know what to do with it. Normally it autoruns and offers to open it to reveal its contents. Then it screamed 'virus!' I let it remove the virus. Then I got my antivirus to scan the pen drive. It found eight viruses in it. After I removed all of the infections, I double clicked the icon of the pen drive in Windows Explorer.
"Select a program to open this file" the computer said and offered me a list of programs, none of which was Windows Explorer. This was weird. When I finally opened the drive, I found it had only three documents in it. 2GB of my data was wiped out by the viruses. I tried to create a new folder in it with an old name.
"It cannot be created. A folder with that name already exists" the computer told me. I was awestruck. There was a folder that I could not see, though it was not a hidden folder. In fact there were no folders.
I removed the name of the pen drive, formatted it, and renamed it. Then it started behaving normally.
"Those eight viruses must have kept the pen drive engaged and hence Windows must have told me that it could not be disconnected" I told my son, the software specialist.
"Yes" he said "that happens."
A week later I went to the same place to deliver another lecture. I had my files on a CD this time. Another person was delivering her lecture when I entered the lecture hall. I waited. After she finished, she tried to disconnect her pen drive. It will say 'the device is being used by Windows and it cannot be disconnected' I thought.
"The device is being used by Windows and it cannot be disconnected" the computer said. 'Those viruses are predictable' I thought. The previous speaker just pulled out her pen drive, ignoring the warning, probably because I was waiting.
"Now you are a proud owner of eight viruses" I told her. "I got them from this computer last week too."
