I survived a Trojan invasion, lol
Aug. 20th, 2009 04:15 pmHi, everyone. I'm still here. Or rather, I'm back. For the benefit of the precious few who might possibly have been wondering about my atypically long silence, here's the story: my computer crashed on August 2nd. Yes, the day after I made my previous post. Remember my frantic Google search for a free download of a certain comic book?... Well, I suppose that's what proved to be the final straw for my poor old laptop: visiting some dubious download sites without up-to-date antivirus protection. The thing is, I'm so hopelessly clueless in the software department I wasn't even aware that my antivirus was out of date. ( Read more... )
By the way, if you have computer problems of any kind and are NOT an expert on the matter, check out this website: http://ask-leo.com. It's run by a guy who's a software engineer, giving advice to people on computer-related issues, answering questions etc. Sort of like a 'computers for dummies' kinda thing. I have spent an inordinate amount of time on this website over the past two weeks - during work hours, I might add (I had luckily stumbled upon it while doing this endless web research project). And I will keep checking it to stay on top of things. I followed this guy's recommendations on security software, btw. And I will probably ask him some questions of my own, since I'm still quite confused about certain aspects of the huge 'system analyzer report' the GeekSquad handed me after the repair, lol.
Needless to say, I am immensely behind on all things LJ, Yahoo!Group email and other online stuff. I will TRY to catch up as best as I can, because I AM anal-retentive enough to scroll back through ten pages of friends' list just to see what I missed - but there's no telling how long it might take me. So don't be surprised if you see me comment to something you posted three weeks ago.:)
Fortunately, today we had our annual company picnic at work and they let us go home early, so I am using this afternoon/evening to do as much catch-up as I can. But I'll probably still be behind for the next week or so.
I probably should also mention the fact that this sudden unplanned expense ($300 to fix the laptop) means no vacation trips for me this year. I was sort of considering going to the Columbus Retreat in October, since it would be relatively inexpensive as trips go - but now just the thought of spending ANY money on anything I CAN live without makes me cringe.:( Besides, work will be crazy busy in October and I'm sure I will be able to get plenty of overtime - so actually taking time OFF during that month is not an economically good idea (not to mention that my boss wouldn't be thrilled about it, LOL). Btw, they just told us at the company meeting today that we might not be getting any raises next year, either.:/ I don't even want to think about the practicalities of making ends meet in case that happens (or doesn't, as it were). *shudder* So, no Columbus trip this time. Sorry,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
taelyn_sass.:( HOWEVER, since I have plenty of vacation days available, I've taken the whole first week of September off (starting August 31st, up to and including the Labor Day weekend - so it will be TEN days altogether, yay). I'm still not sure what I'll do with it, other than chill out at home and maybe find some cheap ways of exploring the city - but I know it will be highly beneficial to my mental health and well-being.:)
That's it for now. Back to reading old posts.;)
By the way, if you have computer problems of any kind and are NOT an expert on the matter, check out this website: http://ask-leo.com. It's run by a guy who's a software engineer, giving advice to people on computer-related issues, answering questions etc. Sort of like a 'computers for dummies' kinda thing. I have spent an inordinate amount of time on this website over the past two weeks - during work hours, I might add (I had luckily stumbled upon it while doing this endless web research project). And I will keep checking it to stay on top of things. I followed this guy's recommendations on security software, btw. And I will probably ask him some questions of my own, since I'm still quite confused about certain aspects of the huge 'system analyzer report' the GeekSquad handed me after the repair, lol.
Needless to say, I am immensely behind on all things LJ, Yahoo!Group email and other online stuff. I will TRY to catch up as best as I can, because I AM anal-retentive enough to scroll back through ten pages of friends' list just to see what I missed - but there's no telling how long it might take me. So don't be surprised if you see me comment to something you posted three weeks ago.:)
Fortunately, today we had our annual company picnic at work and they let us go home early, so I am using this afternoon/evening to do as much catch-up as I can. But I'll probably still be behind for the next week or so.
I probably should also mention the fact that this sudden unplanned expense ($300 to fix the laptop) means no vacation trips for me this year. I was sort of considering going to the Columbus Retreat in October, since it would be relatively inexpensive as trips go - but now just the thought of spending ANY money on anything I CAN live without makes me cringe.:( Besides, work will be crazy busy in October and I'm sure I will be able to get plenty of overtime - so actually taking time OFF during that month is not an economically good idea (not to mention that my boss wouldn't be thrilled about it, LOL). Btw, they just told us at the company meeting today that we might not be getting any raises next year, either.:/ I don't even want to think about the practicalities of making ends meet in case that happens (or doesn't, as it were). *shudder* So, no Columbus trip this time. Sorry,
taelyn_sass.:( HOWEVER, since I have plenty of vacation days available, I've taken the whole first week of September off (starting August 31st, up to and including the Labor Day weekend - so it will be TEN days altogether, yay). I'm still not sure what I'll do with it, other than chill out at home and maybe find some cheap ways of exploring the city - but I know it will be highly beneficial to my mental health and well-being.:) That's it for now. Back to reading old posts.;)
