Well, it's gone My computer, that is. To the shop from whence it came, in the hopes that they can remove the foul infiltrator. They have a sufficient backlog that they don't expect to even look at it for a few days. The guy who took the info seemed to actually listen to what we were saying, though, and he read my printout. (I'd written out, as near as I could, what was wrong, what I'd tried to do about it, and what I wanted done, so there'd be a written copy in case of communication issues.) They hadn't heard of PG2009, but I have a sneaking suspicion I won't be the only customer they see with this problem before the year's out; looks like the latest fad in spy/malware is mimicking antivirus software and trying to trick you into "activating" it.
All things considered, today went pretty well, aside from the whole wishing-I-had-my-desktop-back thing. I made a Half Price Books run that netted me over ten bucks (it was 15 before I bought a PC game on clearance - maybe knowing it has a fun little game waiting for it will encourage the Big Black Critter to cooperate with the repair people and get home all the sooner....) We had lunch out, then grabbed dipped cones at DQ, because we hadn't had dipped cones in ages. Then we went to the lake to walk off lunch in the beautiful weather.
Today was also another good day for dragonflies. I've seen a large number of them this year; the last time I washed my car, a huge blue-green fellow hovered within a foot of me to watch the process with evident fascination. I like to think of them as good luck; if nothing else, they're a reminder of the strange and wonderful things in a world far bigger and more interesting than one's own minor little irritations.
Guess I'll head off. The LBC wants to update, so I suppose I should let it do so in peace.
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2 comments:
Good luck with the virus!! Or, rather, curing the virus - nice to know there's an IT person out there that listens.
PPG - At least the guy at the desk listened. Whether the guy/gal who actually opens it up listens to that guy, I can't say, but they kept my write-up with the computer, so hopefully that means they'll pay attention.
Evidently, I'm on the bleeding edge of virus/malware victims: my sister subscribes to the Panda antivirus newsletter thing, and the latest alert was all about Personal Guard 2009 as the new #1 threat.
(Just a warning to keep an eye on your Programs folder and desktop; if anything remotely sounding like Personal Guard 2009, or any "antivirus" software" you don't recognize, turns up, look out. I didn't download this thing, and I'm pretty careful about where I download things and what I click, but it must've piggybacked on something. And if you get a popup from Windows saying that your primary antivirus isn't working, check to be sure it's your real antivirus program it's complain about... and see if the info on the left side is all written out, or if there's a "..." as if part of it goes off the end of the line. That is literally the only difference between the fake Windows Security alert window and the authentic one. I never fell for it long enough to "fix" the problem by registering Personal Guard 2009 as my antivirus like "Windows" wanted me to, but anyone in a hurry or not reading too closely could be very, very easily fooled.)
Ah, well... at least I have the LBC to keep me occupied. I'll have to try hooking up the scanner to it to see if it handles it; my online sketchbook at CA.Org needs updating in the worst way...
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