Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Dead in the water! And a big thanks!

Well, it finally happened, yesterday my computer caught a nasty, stubborn virus. I have NO idea how I got it because it happened first thing in the morning as I was looking at freebies and I had not unzipped any files at that point. We have Norton 360 running and I even take the extra step to scan all individual files before unzipping but I still got the whammy! This virus was giving me phony security warnings as an attempt to get me to visit a website to purchases some type of software to fix the problem. It even hijacked Internet Explorer so that I couldn't go anywhere but this particular website. Nasty bugger! I was steaming - don't people have anything better to do? I was dead in the water all day! And then to add insult to injury, my husband was on our laptop chatting with the good folks at Norton and they were more than happy to help for a fee of $99.00. Excuse me, I already paid to run your service and your suppose to protect me so why would I pay you more money! At that point, we started doing some Internet searching and figured out how to get rid of it ourselves. I'm so lucky I have a smart husband - he's my computer tech. Thanks Honey! Anyway, at around 10:00 last night, we finally got rid of the virus. Whew! Glad it's gone! Now if I could just figure out how I got it?

I wanted to post a thank you yesterday to everyone who left comments on my blog and 4shared concerning my last freebie - you guys are the best! That little freebie has been downloaded over 1,700 times -wow! I'm so happy you liked it and that you don't mind being my test subjects. I will definitely be doing more things like this and I have a few more surprises up my sleeve. I'll be back later with another new freebie that I think you're going to like as well. TTFN ;-)

6 comments:

  1. Got the same the same thing, Kathy ! I did a McAfee scan and no virus/malware. I also got the phoney pop ups trying to get me to
    buy software to clean it. Thank goodness I didn't click on anything. I'm okay now but I'd like all that time I spent back that I wasted ! I was looking through Digifree web sites also. I wish I could remember what web site the malware was on.

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  2. Ditto! It was a few days ago. My explorer just started flashing and acting all crazy. My puter is brand new (not even a month old). I shut it down immediately, rebooted, and ran a virus scan - nothing there. I have just decided to stick with my fav designers... cuz I just wonder what is going on. When I am on digifree, if I find an image I like, I will right click and open in a new tab. After a few are open - I go there... decide if I want it, leave my thank you... download and move on. So I have no idea which site it was. I figure I have more than enough scrappie stuff... so I just stick with those I know are safe - and hope for the best.

    I love your wordart... so I figure to keep you on the "safe" list - if that is OK with you. LOL

    Have a great day. I snagged yesterdays WA - so thank you thank you thank you...

    We are about to have a new President - so I must go pay attention to this historic event.

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  3. i am sooooooo very happy that your husband knew how to eventually get rid of that virus! my hubby and i are both computer dumb and have been really stuck when that has happened to us!
    Downloaded over 1,700 times!? WOW!! That is really GREAT!! i am THRILLED to have found your site and LOVE your wordart! Looking forward to your next! Hope you have a BEAUTIFUL day! :D

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  4. You might think of abandoning Norton which is a memory hog and looking into AVG - there is even a highly-recommended free version! It's great!

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  5. I too had paid for Norton and got a Trojan Horse as well as something else and Norton would do anything about it unless I paid the 99.00. Needless to say I did not renew my subscription. HP ended up fixing it because of my computer still being under warranty. Thanks so much for the freebies. Great work!

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  6. I had that virus and it is a nasty bugger...Had to put my machine in the shop for a total clean out...Went through total withdrawl (sweats and shakes) LOL...

    AVG rocks...My shop guy uses it and since he put it on my machine I have had no problems...I do run a scan every week, kinda like laundry...LOL.

    Hope today is better for you...HUGS

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on my freebie. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed designing it for your scrapbook layouts.