don't expect much from me for a bit

[ritaxis]

As usual I was a tad behind on updating the various firewalls and things, and I got a blackmail virus. You know the kind -- it freezes up your computer and says that if you pay them money they will fix the computer for you. It's specifically the "system check" virus. It's less virulent than some, apparently, in that it doesn't chomp holes in the operating system or the various files around the hard drive, but it's more virulent than others, because it effectively prevents me going into safe mode to run various utilities to clean it out. I read up on how to clean it out, and it's a method with many steps and many auxiliary utilities to download and run, apparently because it puts itself into the registry in some especially irritating ways. So I'm enlisting outside help. My friend is coming over today but I expect the computer to be out of commission for several more days.

I have my self-evaluation due for work, which I can do on the work computer, but I won;'t be working on the Drummer Boy on the work computer because it's just coming up to some stuff that's really not appropriate for a child care center. I can check my mail, but those of you who have journals marked out as not safe for minors may not hear from me for a bit, no matter how interesting your posts are.

The tag will say "computer crisis" but it feels more like computer tedium at this point: routine malignity, followed by routine lack of access and routine fixing.

Now I'm late back from my break.

Anyways, talk to you all later.

Comments

[carbonel]

Argh. I've gotten bit with scareware viruses twice now, even though I have heavy-duty antivirus and safe surfing software. The second time, I went for the easy solution and paid McAfee $80 to deal with it remotely. It involved the tech going into my Task Manager and shutting down specific processes, rather than just a particular application, over a couple of iterations.

Good luck in getting rid of your infestation.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Oh, how frustrating... I hope you can get it cleared quickly.