Iqaluit (Sep 15/03) - Over a week ago, Ron Elliot in Arctic Bay felt like tearing his hair out.

He was frustrated because he couldn't use his e-mail. He couldn't send digital pictures. For a while, he couldn't do any work.

Elliot soon discovered he wasn't the only one who felt like banging his head against his keyboard.

Government offices across Nunavut were hit at the same time by a virus known as the Blaster Worm -- a sneaky bug that burrowed its way through their firewalls and attacked Microsoft operating systems.

The result? Frozen computers that needed professional help to come back to life.

The Internet is such an important life-line across the vastness of Nunavut, a feisty Blaster Worm could have spelled disaster for literally thousands of people here who rely on the Internet everyday.

"In the North we are reliant on e-mail and the Internet," says Chip Devries, a former computer support worker for Nunanet in Iqaluit. He now works for the department of sustainable development.

"When it's down and you have deadlines and information to get out it tends to raise stress levels a bit," he says.

Nunavummiut use the Internet more than people in many parts of Canada, but remain in the dark about its weaknesses, Devries says.

"I find not enough people pay attention to their anti-virus software and keeping it up to date," he says. "They should have a good anti-virus program on their system that allows script blocking from e-mails."

The most popular programs to do this are Norton or McAffee, he says, explaining he prefers Norton because they have better support.

"However this worm was different," he says, referring to last week's Blaster that infected Nunavut government computers.

"Norton or McAffee, at the time, wouldn't have been able to detect it. "

Lucky in Cambridge

Colleen Rusk uses e-mail and the Internet everyday at the Heritage Society in Cambridge Bay.

"A lot of my research is on the Internet, finding resources, even just where artifacts and collections are. It's a very hard day without it."

There are many ways her system goes down -- all of them cripple her workplace, and none of the reasons make a whole lot of sense to her.

The Heritage Society was bypassed by the Blaster Worm.

But she has heard of "sun spots" affecting the satellite connection in Cambridge Bay at noon hour.

"I remember hearing that. During lunch time you couldn't use the Internet because the satellite couldn't connect."

"Two words for you, 'It sucks,'" says Vince Ningark in Kugaaruk of his Internet service, only half-joking.

"Our connection is on Polarnet, and with construction going on at the school, sometimes the workers accidentally disconnect the terminal for our Internet access.

"So we've got to walk up there, and reconnect it, or there is something wrong with the server." When his computer is down he can't contact his regional office for the Nunavut Economic Development Association in Kugluktuk, and he can't send digital pictures or e-mail to anyone.