By Henry Lutaaya
Computers have and continue to greatly ease the lives of many people in Uganda. But as with many changes, there are threats that come with the positive developments. And for computer users, there is probably no threat as bigger and worrisome as a virus or worm attack.
The reality of getting ever more powerful and potentially dangerous viruses is keeping many computer users in Uganda nervous. Two viruses named after the two presidential candidates of Kenya Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga are causing mayhem and exasperation among many computer users, while at the same time undeniably creating jobs for several others – read technicians who sell and install anti-virus soft-ware.
Mike Ssegawa, a reporter with The Sunrise newspaper, was distraught when something in form of a dialogue box popped up as he tried to beat the deadline for submission of a story.
“The editor was on my back to finish the story and here I was with the thing which had no close button. It stayed on the screen for some minutes and then flew off. I also realised that my machine had become slower which made me even angrier. As I was about to finish, it came back,” Ssegawa narrates.
According to a number of computer technicians this reporter has talked to, it was the ‘Kibaki virus’ that invaded computer users in Uganda first.
The virus prompts a dialogue box advert to pop-up every after 20 minutes outlining the achievements of President Mwai Kibaki.
Just as you’re working, it comes on the screen from the middle of no where. Because it has no close button, it stays there for a couple of minutes and then flies off. While it is on the screen you cannot do anything as it hijacks most important programs.
It reportedly uses 100% of the CPU so that one can't run the task manager anymore. It is expected that the virus originated from Kenya and was distributed via email across many Ugandan computer users by the Kenyan students in Uganda.
In fact Ssegawa suggests that he picked ‘Kibaki’ by lending his flash drive to his Kenyan friend who is doing an undergraduate course in Journalism and Mass Communication at Kampala University.
And just when many were trying to come to terms with the hard reality of ‘Kibaki’, another virus known as ‘Raila Odinga’ surfaced, apparently behaving in the same fashion as ‘Kibaki’.
Some anti-viruses programmes such as Symantec, AVG were initially not able to detect it. Updated versions of McAfee and Kaspasky Anti-viruses software could detect and clean these computers, to the relief of many that have caught them.
George Mukasa, a computer technician at Click Internet Café in Kampala however cautions that vigilance is paramount these days than ever ‘because more and more dangerous viruses are being released everyday.’ He advises that sharing of flash drives is one of the commonest ways through which viruses are spread in Uganda.
“If someone has one of these two viruses on his or her flash and he puts it into your computer, it automatically installs itself. So it seems that the best way to prevent such infections is to limit the use of flash drives used in computers especially since most people do not have internet connections in their offices.” Mukasa adds: “In fact most café attendants are hesitant in accepting flash drives because they fear picking viruses.” He adds however that many are finding it wiser to constantly look out for the most potent anti-virus solutions on the market as the answer since viruses can also come through emails.
By Jjingo Francis
Environmental experts are imploring leaders within the Nile Basin to embrace the benefit - sharing concept. This would see the countries share benefits from common resources.
The Nile Basin covers Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan and Egypt.
An Environmental researcher, Alan Nicol, on September 11, 2007, told journalists at Olive Gardens Nairobi that the current regional conflicts can only be averted if resources are equitably shared.
Recently, a row erupted between Uganda and the DRC following the discovery of oil in their shared lake, Albert. Four Ugandans were killed by the Congolese.
Geoffrey Howard of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said wetlands, forests, Agricultural and grazing lands, water and wild bio-diversity were not limited to any of the countries.
“All are distributed across the basin as trans-boundary resources with needs for trans-boundary management,” he said, adding: “Most problems occur in more than one country but often cross national borders.”
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