Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Not again!

My computer seems to have been infected again.  Poor thing needs to go back to the Geek Squad for another debugging.

Where do these viruses come from? Are there really people with nothing productive to do, so they need to invent ways to cause chaos (and money) for us poor souls? 

If it indeed takes any intelligence, could they perhaps instead work on solving the economic crisis, or global warming, or a viable alternative to nuclear power?

Have mercy!

And what in the world is a trojan? And a malvirus?  Any moment now, I expect to hear a loud poof, and perhaps steam, or smoke, or something will start escaping from behind the computer screen. Or maybe my keyboard.

I'm told the virus warning I'm getting repeatedly from "Windows" stating my computer is in grave danger and to "click here" to install the necessary device to clear the viruses IS the virus itself.

If you get this virus warning message, do not click on anything - don't click yes, don't click no, don't "x" out to get rid of the warning message. Shut down immediately by pressing on the power button until it turns off, or use Alt-Ctrl-Del to end all programs and shut down. Once you click on anything within this false warning, you have activated the virus.

The end goal of this nastiness is to get you to panic, accept their offer to scan your computer, click yes to get the "necessary" (so they say) anti-virus protection, and enter your credit card number to pay for it. The warnings look like they very legitimately come from Windows. And once you enter your credit card number, you've entered the dark world of identity theft.  You don't want to go there.

In any event, my poor little laptop is living on borrowed time right now....so if you don't hear from me for a week or so, that's why.

But, please, stay tuned....I'll be back!