For a scary moment last week, my mind was hijacked by Britney Spears while my computer was taken over by Systemdoctor 2006.

The software is a piece of adware that fools you into installing it on your computer. Systemdoctor 2006 changed my browser home page to try and sell me security software. Worse I kept getting fake security bar alerts and warnings that I had viruses on my computer that were stealing my personal information, including passwords. If this or a similar malware program gets on your computer, do not panic. The aim is to get you to purchase the security software when you are in a confused mode. First assess the problem and make a reasoned attack against it. In this case the problem was the software issuing the alerts in the first place - Systemdoctor 2006.

The malware was installed on my computer when I clicked on a link at an online site which then took me to photographs of Britney Spears during the haircutting scene (yep—it's hard to admit that I was that curious about the meaningless story).

At the bottom of the page was a link to see the video.

I clicked on it and was informed I was missing a codec, which I knew referred to a piece of additional software needed to play compressed video.

Since there are different compression standards in existence, I assumed that I was missing one and naively clicked OK. That is how Systemdoctor 2006 was installed, instead of the promised codec.

It got pass my computer's security software. The video turned out to be pornographic, not anything to do with Spears.

After my system was hijacked I ignored the constant warnings and searched until I found the answer on Bleeping Computer (www.bleepingcomputer.com), a free technical advice site for people who need help. The software had already been discussed and step-by-step instruction was given on how to remove Systemdoctor 2006 using some free software, such as Hijackthis. I will not go into the instructions here, since it is particular to Systemdoctor 2006.

The important point I am making is about strategy in dealing with similar problems. Often you will find others have solved the same problem you are in. Use Google or some other search engine to find the right advice.

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Corel Corp. has released a free public beta of its word processing software WordPerfect Lightning, described by the company as a desktop-based application blended with notetaking, online collaboration and storage features.

"Use it to capture your notes, read documents, easily collect information and images, and create, edit and collaborate on a wide variety of document types," Corel said about the new tool. "You can even use WordPerfect Lightning as a fast and simple organiser for all your ideas and documents. It's like a word processor, notebook, whiteboard and filing cabinet wrapped into one." It is used as a standalone piece of software or in conjunction with Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or PDF files. WordPerfect Lightening also has a "Notes" tool, which allows you to save text and images from the Internet. The "Navigator" feature allows you to organise your files.

The new software provides another choice in the slew of online collaboration tools being offered to help improve productivity across distance. Google, for one, bought Upstartle, which developed the online word processor Writely.

Microsoft is bound to enter the competition soon, if only to protect its market for Microsoft's Office programs.

Visit www.wordperfect.com/lightning to download the software, which weighs in at about 20 MB. Lightning will launch automatically once the download is complete. You also get your own Lightning online account with 200 MB of space, which you can used as an online workspace to store your documents, share e-mails, contacts, bookmarks, and back up files. Another release this week is the latest version of Parallels Desktop for Mac. This software allows Intel-based Macs to run Windows without having to reboot first. Registered users get the upgrade free.

Parallels Desktop for Mac costs about $80. The upgrade adds features such as Coherence, which allows Windows applications to operate like Apple Mac applications. A tool called Transporter helps users move settings, applications, files and profiles to a virtual machine running on Parallels without having to reinstall Windows.

Contact Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com if you have any comments.