“Dad! My new computer really sucks!”

Julie’s voice over the phone sounded on edge. I tried to calm her down.

“No, it’s not,” I said. “It’s one of the best computers on the market. What’s wrong?”

Her explanation: All she gets is a blue screen on her new iBook G4 laptop. With classes starting the next day.

And thus began my experience with Kansas University’s Sophos anti-virus program.

Protecting the masses

Like most major universities and businesses, KU requires computers that are accessing its network to be protected from what’s known as “malware,” such as computer viruses, spyware or worms.

“We have 17,000 computers attached to this network and nearly 32,000 users on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses,” said Allison Rose Lopez, public relations and marketing manager for KU Information Services.

Lopez said her department’s job was to keep all of those computers running and working.

Before accessing the system, you go through a series of steps that eventually installs the Sophos Anti-Virus program, which is used by many corporations and educational institutions.

“We also need users to be partners with us and smart at decision-making. That means they don’t give their passwords out, they don’t share them with friends,” Lopez said. “They patch their systems when operating-system patches are released. They use anti-virus. It’s a different kind of common sense.”

A house divided

Like other students in KU’s residence halls, my daughter had signed on to KU’s network, downloading Sophos.

It had worked for a while.

But something happened. Her computer had locked up. And not even iTunes would launch.

Later that evening, Julie brought her computer to my house for me to check out.

I guessed something had happened when she installed Sophos, whose shield-like icon was positioned atop the screen.

I tried restarting it several times. But no programs would launch.

My wife, a certified Microsoft engineer, had wanted my daughters to get Windows computers. But she had graciously given in to my preference for Macs.

So when my wife walked in and saw me struggling, I wasn’t surprised by her response: “This wouldn’t have happened if she got a Dell.”

I groaned, hunkered down and kept trying. Eventually, I raised the white flag and contacted the Apple help desk.

Hurricane insurance

The Apple technician agreed with me that Sophos was probably the problem.

Ironically, the program designed to keep the computer free and clear of bugs was itself paralyzing my daughter’s computer.

“Why would you even need to install virus protection on a Mac?” the Apple technician said.

Allison Rose Lopez, public relations and marketing manager for KU Information Services.

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I had heard that line of thinking before: Macs are invulnerable to viruses and spyware that infect Windows computers.

Also, the malevolent hackers who write such viruses and spyware don’t bother with Macs because they’re a small fraction of the entire computer market.

For that reason many Mac users think it’s overkill – like buying hurricane insurance in Kansas – to put virus protection software on the new OS 10.4.

But KU’s computer security people know better: The best practice is not to be complacent and to continually be on guard. They say it’s just a matter of time before somebody creates malware for the Mac.

I told the Apple tech guy that Sophos was a required download to get on KU’s computer network.

He tried to talk me through doing an uninstall, but nothing would work.

“You need to call KU’s IT people and tell them to get that thing off of there,” he said.

New skill set

The next morning, I talked to a very helpful woman at the KU Computer Center.

She explained that they had discovered there was a compatibility problem with Sophos and the new OS 10.4 Tiger operating system.

While the OS 10.2 and 10.3 versions work with Sophos, Sophos hadn’t developed a program yet for 10.4, which was installed on my daughter’s new computer.

But the technician was surprised.

She said KU’s instructions for joining the network stated that you shouldn’t download Sophos if you have the new 10.4 operating system.

I sighed. I realized Julie probably had no idea what kind of operating system she had.

“This is a new skill set that college students need to learn, especially if they had been depending on their parents to be their technical support,” Lopez told me later.

Nano battle

The technician at the computer center invited me to bring Julie’s computer down to KU’s Computer Center to get some help.

When I arrived, another helpful technician sat down at the laptop’s keyboard to investigate.

After a few minutes, he explained what had happened – Sophos was battling for control of the computer with “Spotlight,” a new search system in OS 10.4. And neither side was giving ground.

“It’s resulting in an endless loop,” he said.

Karl Gehring/Journal-World Illustration

As I watched him work, my mind started wandering. I wondered what was going on deep inside the computer’s hard drive.

I envisioned thousands of medieval nano-warriors in hand-to-hand combat, like a battle scene in the film “Braveheart.”

Apple’s Spotlight defenders were slashing with gleaming broadswords, trying to fend off the clutches of the powerful Sophos invaders that had entrenched the hard drive’s sectors and data blocks.

Flaming arrows soared through the sky. Trebuches were hurling micro-mortar.

I could almost hear the war cries of the kilt-clad Macintosh troops, led by a Mel Gibson nano-Scotsman screaming “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freeware!”

“OK!” the technician blurted out, startling me back from my daydream. He had made a breakthrough.

About 20 minutes later, he finally reached his objective – getting the Sophos uninstall program to launch.

A learning process

With Sophos uninstalled, I asked the KU tech guy if there was anything else I needed to do.

He said that Sophos eventually would update its software for the 10.4 operating system and that KU would make it available to students, staff and faculty. (Lopez later told me it’s supposed to be out sometime in September.)

Until then, we could rely on Apple’s own security software.

“Just run ‘Software Update’ and it will give you any new security updates,” he said.

As I left, I realized it was time to start teaching Julie more about her own computer and how to defend it.

I was ready to give her a little tutorial when she came by to pick up her laptop.

“OK, Julie, even though you had a problem, you still have one of the coolest computers in the world,” I began.

Ignoring my daughter’s ringing cell phone, I continued: “But next time you see something like, ‘Don’t download if you have 10.4,’ that means you.”

Julie couldn’t ignore her phone. She picked it up, listened, then turned to me.

“Dad, I’m sorry. Can we do this later? I’ve got to go.” She picked up her laptop as she walked out, talking on the cell phone.

“Just remember,” I called out the door, “you have 10-point-4.”

“What?”

“10-point-4!”

I laughed. Despite all the trouble, I was still thankful I’d gotten her a Mac.