A Ghost in the Machine, part 1

The battery light on my laptop is blinking. It makes me worried. Things weren’t always this way.

It started about a month ago. I began getting more notices of mysterious programs terminating, encountering fatal errors. “_CLS_PCCGuide”, “amvo.exe”, “ino6.com”. I didn’t give it much thought.

Then my USB drive, my connection from laptop to outside world, started acting funny. Every folder suddenly had a “.exe” after it. A couple folders I didn’t recognize popped up: “RECYCLER”, “FOUND . 000”. I would tried opening them, but there was nothing inside. I tried deleting them, but they reappeared.

I got worried enough to act. I ran a virus scan. Nothing. I ran a Scandisk. Nothing. I went to PC Doctor and ran every diagnostic they had. Still nothing. Confessing to myself that unfortunately it all depended on my virus program—which I had, in my infinite wisdom, neglected to renew some six months ago—I cursed my stupidity. I couldn’t download the update now, I had no internet. There was only one option left. I had to go straight to the source. I had to cut out the bad with my own hand.

I started searching for those mysterious terminated programs. Microsoft’s little search doggy told me there was no “_CLS_PCCGuide” or, for that matter, “CLS” or “PCCGuide.” He smiled and denied the existence of “amvo.exe” and “ino6.com.” I grew suspicious. I searched “Windows.” Nope, no files, no folders of that name, he told me. They had corrupted the doggy!

“Ok, who needs search?” I thought. I would track down these infiltrators on my own. Going off a path directory one of those failed program messages had displayed, I opened my C:\ and clicked on Windows. Instead of opening the folder, the explorer window refreshed and, lo and behold, there was no longer any Windows folder. It was like opening up a phonebook to find half the alphabet missing. It’s not there, but here I am. Hmm.