Another kind of all shook up.....

  • I have been "all shook up" here for the last couple days. I think some virus or parasite thing got in our computer, and I have not been able to get on the computer at all. I have been having withdrawal ~ not being able to get my "fix". Makes me kind of scared to surf aroud the web any more. I never down load stuff because I am scared I will get into some kind of mess. I always ask my husband for help or if a thing is ok before I do any of that kind of stuff.

    I was playing on here ~ had put "find people" into the search, and was looking at different web sites that helped you get in touch with friends from the past who you had lost touch with. Have lost touch with a nice family who I knew during my college days ~ they were from the church I went to. I had met my husband to be and was out of school at the time and didn't want to go back home. This family ~ didn't even really know me, but prayed about it and took me in and let me live with them until I found a job etc. They were such nice people. We stayed in touch for a lot of years. We stopped to visit them on our way moving from Maine to Kansas City, Missouri in 1994. Still kept in touch, then the last couple years here, I didn't do such a good job keeping in touch with people (I would get to feeling kind of blue, and felt like if I didn't have anything nice to share, it was better not to share at all). I finally did write to them, and the letter was returned ~ they had moved ~ but enough time had gone by that the post office wasn't forwarding their mail anymore. Kind of sad when you lose touch like that.

    Anyway, I think that something happened when I was doing that. This funny looking screen came up and said something about a warning. All the little drawers where you put CD-ROM's in the computer popped open (like the machine was possessed or something) and the computer said "Uh oh" ~ then more funny looking screens and the computer wouldn't let you do anything unless you bought something. Kind of scarry that something could get in your computer and take over and not let you be able to do anything.

    I think my husband was about sick ~ he does alot of the bill paying on line, and our financial records and stuff are on here. He does the taxes oh here. He knew it would probably take a lot of time to fix and that is part of what upset him, because he is so busy ~ he didn't have time to have to deal with this mess. I felt bad to have inadvertently made a mess for him.

    It is still showing funny screens and the little drawers pop open, but there is sort of a way around it now. Maybe it is sort of temporarily fixed. Poor hubby ~ for the anxiety I have caused him.

    Sorry this is so long, I guess I am just so glad to be able to get back on that I have kind of yacked my head off. Thanks for letting me share.

    Gayle
  • Gayle, Sorry about the computer woes. It seems when they work they work well, but when they don't it seems to take forever to straighten them around. We got roadrunner last year and I insisted that we get a firewall program. I can't believe how often we get "attacked". And I always wonder if something gets by!
  • Pat,

    Can you tell me more about this firewall thing ~ what is it, how does it work, how do you get it? My husband worked on this last night and has temporarily fixed it ~ so that it is usable, but there keep being these nasty (bordering on porn type stuff) pop up things. Yuck!!!!

    Thanks ~ Gayle
  • Firewalls are pretty much a necessity if you are on broadband internet. Your computer has ports that are open all the time (think of them as open doors to the Internet), and the firewall blocks anything from getting in that shouldn't (many of them block programs from getting out as well, which is a good thing in my opinion). I have a router that I use as my firewall (also comes in handy since there are 4 computers that access the internet here lol). Routers are pretty much impossible to hack through, much more reliable than a software program (I think my router was $70 at Future Shop).
  • I have a router too, that way I don't have to worry about the firewall.

    Also, I just want to make sure that you are updating your virus protection and have run a scan since you have had these problems. And virus protection isn't enough these days, you also need Ad-aware (or something like it) to keep your machine free of parasites. It's a free download, just go to download.com. You need to update it as well.

    Hope your computer gets better soon!!