AOL Instant Messenger has become an integral way for students to communicate on campus. Before I enrolled at the University of Connecticut a couple of years ago I had never touched AIM, but now I find myself signed on almost all day, everyday. I have had relatively few problems with the program until a couple of days ago when I accidentally downloaded an AIM virus.

I have to say I enjoy using AIM. I can put up an away message, talk to who I want to talk to, and ignore those who annoy me. I can even block those few people who I wish didn’t exist. For those I do communicate with, I have achieved a certain level of trust. So when somebody on my buddy list sent me a link I did not even second-guess whether or not to click on it — it was just a natural reaction. To my dismay, I downloaded a virus, which then proceeded to send itself to more of my acquaintances automatically.

In retrospect I should have just closed the window. It was a cryptic message that I did not expect to see from this person, whom I rarely talk to. It asked if he could post my picture on his blog and being the curious and trusting person that I am — I clicked on it. I know this person did not send it to me on purpose. He was the victim of the same prank. I just had a momentary lapse in judgment where I forgot there are jerks in this world that live to make my life difficult.

With no offense to feminine hygiene products, I think computer viruses are the ultimate form of douchebaggery (look it up on urbandictionary.com). It is analogous to walking up to a random person on the street and punching them in the face. Computer viruses are in fact worse because it’s like punching hundreds or thousands of people at the same time — kind of like a preemptive strike. There can be no emotional reward from this action unless you are the kind of sicko that takes infinite pride in being a dirt bag.

What really infuriates me is when I try to picture the person who wrote this virus in my head. All I can see is some 20-something who lives in his parents basement and plays with himself while watching the original Star Wars Trilogy, the climax coming when Darth Vader’s true identity is revealed. The only solution I can see to stopping people like this is to help them get some of their own friends on their buddy list. This way they won’t have to take their anger and depression out on the rest of Earth’s innocent inhabitants.

Fortunately, my roommate was able to come to my rescue. If he wasn’t there my computer would have been incarcerated in the ResNet jail cell, serving a two-to-four week sentence. Apparently there is a savior in this world named Jay Loden, who has written a free program that hunts and kills viruses associated with AIM. To download AIMfix go to http://jayloden.com/ and click on the AIMfix link on the right side of the screen. He also provides many other useful programs and tips when dealing with viruses and spyware.

The only issue with AIMfix is that it only cures viruses associated with AIM itself. I recommend numerous programs that are needed to control spyware and other viruses. I use Ad-aware, Spybot Search and Destroy and Windows Defender to combat spyware, all of which are available for free on the Internet. It may seem like a bit much, but many times one of the programs will catch a problem the other misses. Symantec AntiVirus is another program I recommend. It is the most comprehensive antiviral software program around and is available for free to students through UConn.

Every computer virus is just as annoying as the next, though some may be more destructive than others. The hour I spent fixing my computer is an hour in my life that I’ll never get back. The desire to inflict headaches upon the average citizen is something I will never understand. Luckily, Loden is here to save us all. Maybe sometime in the future he can write a program that will hunt and destroy the mindless criminals that annoy me in the first place.