I survived a Trojan invasion, lol
Aug. 20th, 2009 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafHi, 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 The thing is, I'm so hopelessly clueless in the software department I wasn't even aware that my antivirus was out of date. I had a very good program installed by the guy who reformatted my computer for me several years ago (2005, I think), but it somehow never ocurred to me that the thing might simply expire. Anyway... strange things started happening that Sunday - like, for example, my laptop talking to me in a telemarketer's voice without actually having the browser open, big spyware warnings flashing across the screen, error messages popping up without any conceivable relation to what I was actually trying to do etc. I did some online research at work the next day and tried to install a free spyware removal program - but of course it was too late. By Tuesday, the crash was complete. As in, dead freeze within ten minutes of startup. And I had no clue what to do about it.
I had heard that they do computer repairs at BestBuy (which is where I originally bought my laptop back in 2003), but since I wasn't eager to spend too much money, I tried finding a willing computer expert among friends/acquaintances first (like that guy who helped me out the first time it happened; unfortunately, I had no way of getting in touch with him now, since he was the ex-boyfriend of my ex-roommate, with whom I didn't exactly part on friendly terms when I moved out over two years ago).akashaelfwitch suggested a friend of a friend who might be able to help - but he turned out to be a very busy person who doesn't answer his phone, and we couldn't get a hold of him for several days. By then, I was quite distraught and desperate to have my computer back, and suddenly money didn't matter that much any more. So I packed up the laptop and took it to BestBuy on Monday the 10th. They did a scan right away, which unsurprisingly revealed a whole nasty lot of crap. It had FIVE TROJANS, as well as a robust collection of spyware and other shit. And ALL my security software was out of date. However, the nice GeekSquad guy I talked to insisted that he had seen worse, that there was still hope and that they should be able to get it fixed within 2-3 days. So I waited (im)patiently until Thursday night. Then I called them and was told that it should be done by tomorrow afternoon. So I went to the store to pick it up on Friday after work... but was told that they are STILL trying to get the viruses out, and that they will let me know tomorrow whether they managed to clean out the machine without having to reformat, or not. As you might have guessed, they didn't. On Saturday, they called me asking if I wanted any of my files backed up. I had already paid $200 for the diagnostic & repair service - backing up files before reformatting costs another $100, but I said yes, because if I was gonna lose all my stuff on top of everything, I might have just as well put all that money into a brand new laptop, which would have cost about the same. *sigh* Anyway... they said it would be done by Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't. It was ALMOST done, though - they only needed to put my saved files back on the drive, they said. So I went to pick it up last Monday after work... and yes. You guessed it. It wasn't finished yet. So when I got a call on Tuesday saying "your item is ready for pick-up", I wasn't quite sure if I should believe it, lol. But I do have it back now, and they did rescue all my files - even the ones I didn't care much about (I only told them to save my music and pictures, really, since all my fic is posted here on LJ, and I had put most of my Viggo interviews on CD's long ago). I do need to re-download some software, like iTunes and uTorrent - but basically my machine is back to the way it was before it got infected. And I DO have a current antivirus program now - as well as anti-spyware - both set up to update automatically on a regular basis. You BET I'm going to watch it very carefully from now on. *sage nod* ;)
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.;)
I had heard that they do computer repairs at BestBuy (which is where I originally bought my laptop back in 2003), but since I wasn't eager to spend too much money, I tried finding a willing computer expert among friends/acquaintances first (like that guy who helped me out the first time it happened; unfortunately, I had no way of getting in touch with him now, since he was the ex-boyfriend of my ex-roommate, with whom I didn't exactly part on friendly terms when I moved out over two years ago).
akashaelfwitch suggested a friend of a friend who might be able to help - but he turned out to be a very busy person who doesn't answer his phone, and we couldn't get a hold of him for several days. By then, I was quite distraught and desperate to have my computer back, and suddenly money didn't matter that much any more. So I packed up the laptop and took it to BestBuy on Monday the 10th. They did a scan right away, which unsurprisingly revealed a whole nasty lot of crap. It had FIVE TROJANS, as well as a robust collection of spyware and other shit. And ALL my security software was out of date. However, the nice GeekSquad guy I talked to insisted that he had seen worse, that there was still hope and that they should be able to get it fixed within 2-3 days. So I waited (im)patiently until Thursday night. Then I called them and was told that it should be done by tomorrow afternoon. So I went to the store to pick it up on Friday after work... but was told that they are STILL trying to get the viruses out, and that they will let me know tomorrow whether they managed to clean out the machine without having to reformat, or not. As you might have guessed, they didn't. On Saturday, they called me asking if I wanted any of my files backed up. I had already paid $200 for the diagnostic & repair service - backing up files before reformatting costs another $100, but I said yes, because if I was gonna lose all my stuff on top of everything, I might have just as well put all that money into a brand new laptop, which would have cost about the same. *sigh* Anyway... they said it would be done by Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't. It was ALMOST done, though - they only needed to put my saved files back on the drive, they said. So I went to pick it up last Monday after work... and yes. You guessed it. It wasn't finished yet. So when I got a call on Tuesday saying "your item is ready for pick-up", I wasn't quite sure if I should believe it, lol. But I do have it back now, and they did rescue all my files - even the ones I didn't care much about (I only told them to save my music and pictures, really, since all my fic is posted here on LJ, and I had put most of my Viggo interviews on CD's long ago). I do need to re-download some software, like iTunes and uTorrent - but basically my machine is back to the way it was before it got infected. And I DO have a current antivirus program now - as well as anti-spyware - both set up to update automatically on a regular basis. You BET I'm going to watch it very carefully from now on. *sage nod* ;) 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.;)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-21 07:51 am (UTC)very glad you're back online!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 02:42 am (UTC)i seriously do not understand the need of some to put that shit out there, just because they can
Yeah. That's one of the many things in this world that just totally defy comprehension. *sigh*
very glad you're back online!
So am I, dear. So am I.:D