Is There a Dark Cloud Over My Head? Over my PC?

First of all.... forget the Spyware Doctor program that I mentioned in the post below. Its not really free. Oh sure, the scan is free, but what good is that. (Don't get me wrong. I understand its all about the buck, but don't say something is free when its not. Or at least just say the 'scan only' is free.) I went back to a free spyware program I have used in the past. SuperAntiSpyware dot com. A limited version, of course. And (tears and sniffles) I'm soooo appreciative that its available to peasants free of charge. (Donations gratefully accepted, however. Plus you can buy an expanded version if you want.)

I thought yesterday I had taken care of the bleep bleep problem but I hadn't. I'm kind of waiting to see if anything indicating a problem shows up now, after using the SuperAntiSpyware. So far, so good.

My browser was hijacked. I couldn't go/read/see anything. As soon as I would go to a web site, I would find myself at (link address)"blank:about".... and "buy this protection now!" would be on the screen. I would google for free spyware and as soon as I clicked and went to the site selected, the blasted fake alert message came up. I don't know how I managed to finally get to a site to download help, but I managed.

I don't know if I really had a trojan horse or not. One of the infections detected was called TrojanFakeAlert. ?? So was it just a fake alert?? I hope so, but that malware... that hijacking malware. ooooohhhhhh the air is blue with the after affects of my cussing.

I was getting to the place where I was just going to accept it... I have been listening to Eckhart Tolle about acceptance lately.... but I wanted to give it one last try. Whew. I think things might be working okay now. My fingers are crossed.

(In case you are wondering, Eckhart's last name is pronounced toe-lay. That's what he said during an interview once. Lots of people say toll.)

I Caught a Virus

 
I caught a virus. Sniff. A Trojan.Win32.Agent.azsy virus. Or rather my daughter got it. We think she got it from MySpace. From reading about it on a couple of forums, it sounds like along with the trojan virus you also get malware from someone trying to scare people into buying his software. May his prick fall off and slap him in his face. (just an old family curse.)

Here's what I've experienced, in case its helpful to anyone else who doesn't know squat about viri (? multiple virusessseses) and pc's:

The item that was noticable from my perspective was a malware trying to scare people. (And it is scary... the little bastard.) A yellow 'shield' icon showed up in the icon tray when I turned the pc on. "hummmmm...that's new. WTH is it?" Clue one that something was amiss was that when the cursor was moved over the icon, no description displayed. (you know how you move cursor over an icon and it shows 'intel graphics blah blah' or 'volume' or 'AVG', etc. Well, this one didn't do that. No company name or logo. Nothing.)

Then up popped a yellow box down in the corner of the screen that said I was infected with Trojan.Win32.Agent.azsy, a very critical and dangerous virus that would steal my passwords blah blah blah. It was a scary notice at first. I immediately started a AVG scan to see what it captured.

While that's scanning, up pops another warning box (gray/blue in color) saying more scary things. This time the box had two options. "Ignore" and "block". I clicked on "block". Sloooooowly another item displayed on the screen and its layout looked just like AVG's layout. This one had the yellow shield and again...no company name. The only identifying text said "Personal AntiVirus" and "Get Full Coverage Now".

Selling. That's when I clued into the malware and someone trying to scare people into buying crap.

I didn't click on scan or anything else. (I already had my own scanning going on.) After the first cycle (clicking on the warning boxes and having them go away and come back) I just ignored the two boxes when they showed up. Eventually the yellow box would disappear, the gray/blue one just sat there.

My scan came back clean, but that damn antivirus crap was still showing up... it was located in the startup file.

I went to google to see what was on the other side of the mountain and there are plenty of people bitten by the bugger. Its an old virus. Some people suggested anti spyware so I tried that. At first this #($&#($ malware kept me from downloading anything. I tried different methods, but I think it was when I keyed the address directly into the address box (rather than clicking on a link listed on google) I got thru and downloaded a free version.

Its at AntiSpywareBot.com.
(ADDED LATER: UNLESS YOU ARE PLANNING ON BUYING THE FULL VERSION, DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS SOFTWARE. CHECK OUT SuperAntiSpyware.com. That one works for sure. And has a free version.)

I'm not sure everything is taken care of now or not. It says it is. After the first scan from the newly downloaded spyware program, the fake anti virus crap still showed up. I went back into AntiSpyware and noticed an option to check on the start up menu. I clicked on it and saw all the programs that start up automatically. "PersonalAV" was also listed. It was the fake malware thingy whose only identification was personal Antivirus. I removed it so when I rebooted, the yellow shield does not come up. Yay!

However, I did notice a stripe across the screen saying 'this site is dangerous' on blogger. I don't think so.... so I guess there's still leftover crap to find and clean out.

A hunting I will go...
a hunting I will go....
Hi ho the dairy oh, a hunting I will go

I think the one thing I want this post to do is to help other people not panic when they see a message saying DANGER!! Its not necessarily so. Any antivirus software worth anything should automatically take care of things. Enough so that DANGER messages are not necessary...only notification messages like 'we took care of this for you.'

hahaha but then what do I know. All I know is that not all CRITICALLY DANGEROUS messages are critically dangerous. Always stop and take a deep breath and think things through first. Don't do anything if you are feeling panic of any kind.

Refrigerator Art

When I was watching grandson Vyron he did some portraits... mostly by imagination.

Below is gramma. It made me think of Picasso's method of combining frontal and profile view points at the same time. I also noticed I'm the only one that got any fingers. snicker.

 

Below is his self-portrait. It was very important, in the name of Realism, that he add the red stripes on his shirt.

 

'Mom' dances below. I think the artist captured a very real essense in this portrait. To me it looks like the artist used the number 8 for mom's eyes. 8 balls. And mom IS a bit harried and feeling a bit behind the 8 ball right now. Mom is also off balance, which could be reflecting her current and temporary changes taking place. How intuitive!

 

The artist has declined commissions saying "It just takes too much of my free-flowing creativity away."

(sorry about the quality of the pictures. I was rushed. The gallery did not allow photographs so I had to take these on the QT.)

A Tip of the Hat

 

 

 

It is the end of a dynasty and a loss for the people. A great champion for the underdog has passed and an era is finished. No matter what your political leanings may be, I think we can all agree that Senator Kennedy had great determination and was a champion for the little people. He will be sorely missed.

Rosy's Art Challenge Response

Check out Rosy's art challenge here. She gave us three photographes to chose from... I picked two.

 

The Sleepy Fairy is what Rosy called her picture. Please note, it was her idea to not have any eyebrows... my idea was the pointy ears. (although I think it looks intriguing.) To help the Sleepy Fairy perk up, I tinted the background using coffee. Starbucks.

I did a contour drawing of Rosy's mother.

 

My apologies to her mother. The only thing Rosy's mother and this drawing have in common is that the ladies are both wearing glasses. The similarities end there. This one was done on 5 x 7 watercolor paper.

It was a fun challenge and I was reminded of a rule of art... always use the right equipment for the job. I should have used watercolor paper for the Sleepy Fairy. Instead I used cardstock. Basic. Doh!

I'm Here to Rave a Bit!

I've been checking out artist Myrna Wacknov's sites. I LOVE HER WORK!! Check her out.

(ADDED LATER: I think I must have gotten Myrna's link from Sandy's sidebar. I just saw it there. Must give credit where due...sorry I didn't include this in original post.)

She has both a website and a blog. I'm currently in the process of reading her blog, Creativity Journal, from the beginning forward. She shares her experiences and methods. For example, I just got done reading/looking at her experiment with using a tennis ball as a tool. I'm pretty sure I would not have thought to try a tennis ball...but there ya go. Myrna shares how it was using a tennis ball with graphite, charcoal, etc. Who knew?! (00)

I love her art, too. Loose, expressive, energized. (On her web site there is a pull-down menu to select which gallery you want to see. It took me a minute to notice it, but I haven't had my first coffee yet.) If you would to ever wonder what my particular favorite 'style of art' is, this would be it. One of them for sure.

If....

 If I was an optomist, I would say my cup runnth over and surely goodness and light will follow me always. Ain't family fun! But since I am a realist, I sit in the corner whimpering and softly moaning with anticipation. It looks like my daughter Candace (aka 'mom') and her two boys, Darius and Vyron, will be moving back in with gramma. Again.

My once spacial environment (small apartment) will once again be filled with wall-to-wall clutter, loud and constant noise, and endless activity that could cause a monk to beg for mercy. There will be no quiet haven to run to for regrouping, unless you count my car. I guess I could go sit in my car and lock the doors when needed. Or... or drive away and never come back.

As of this writing I don't see an end in sight. I suppose there is one. Somewhere. Sometime. The move-in is scheduled to occur at the end of this month. Barring any miracles.

Don't get me wrong. I love my daughter and the boys. I want to help when I can. But this isn't how I expected my retirement years to be spent. Taking care of a grown-ass child and her off-spring. Does every family have one of these? A person who just doesn't seem to grasp the intention of adulthood? Of financial responsibility? A person who's fate causes them to be ever needy and unable to take care of themselves financially? My first four kids flew from the nest as soon as they were able to and they've never been back. It was hard getting this fifth child out of the nest at all and now she keeps coming back. Not by choice but by necessity. I know if she had any choices at all, she would not be moving back with me, if you know what I mean. "Whadda ya mean there's no room in the car... that means I have to move back in with my MOOOOOOTHER!! Oh Gawd NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

All I have to say is "What in the hell is she going to do when I'm dead?!?"

Waste Not, Want Not.... sort of

Toothpaste is not something I buy often. One tube lasts me a very long time, so 'get toothpaste' does not normally swing in the back of my mind. I would forget to pick up a tube when I went shopping. So often, that I ended up with this, below:

 

I had to take a box cutter and open the tube WAAAAY up to get anything hinting of toothpaste. I think I got it pretty cleaned out. About the only thing left now, is the fragrance.

One might think that getting toothpaste would be in the front of the list of things to do, but in no way did I remember on my own to get any when I was at the store yesterday. Thankfully, as I stood in the check-out line (feeling smug at getting the shopping done) I noticed a display case. It was full of toothpaste tubes. And, snicker, they were on sale. Not just a penny off, but it was almost half-priced!!

Only once did I wonder why they were being sold so cheaply. I brushed the thought away and picked up a tube. Who knows how long it might have taken, had I NOT grabbed a tube when the opportunity presented itself.

oh... and by the way, the cloth used in the photo is a ShamWow special....it accidently got in the dryer and now all its little micro fibers to catch liquid are melded together. Its now just a piece of felt.

Inner Peace

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could probably use more calmness in our lives!

Some doctor on TV this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. I looked around my house to see what things I'd started and hadn't finished. There were quite a few unfinished items.

I finished off a bottle of 101 Wild Turkey, a bottle of shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys, abutle of vocka, a pockage of Pringlies, tha mainder of a botl Prozic and Valum sscriptins, the res of the Chesescke, an a box a chocolets. Yu haf no idr who frekin gud I fel.

Tank u.

Rain!

 We have rain, ladies and gentlemen...actual rain, with a lot of fender benders to prove it.

Photo courtesy of Public Domain Photo.

We haven't had any measurable amount of rain in a month. This smells and feels GREAT! I guess it took a while for my naked rain dance to kick in, but apparently it worked!! (It helps to do the dance in rain-prone areas.)

Why We Need Artists

The other morning the sun was hitting some blossoms which made them jump out at me, so I took a picture.

 

They don't jump in the photograph. That's why we will always need art. As good as a camera and a photographer may be, there are things that will some time demand an artist's interpretation in order for us to get the full impact.

Do you use incense? If so, here's an alert.... DO NOT BUY THIS BRAND. IT SUCKS. No matter how cheap it may be, it will still smell like a stick is burning.

 

I mean strawberry is the ace up the sleeve...the fragrance most likely to smell okay. If a company can't make decent smelling strawberry incense, then it can't make decent smelling patcholli, either!

SURPRISE! Not much going on here... but the weather is cooler. A bit muggy, but cooler, nonetheless.

Feeding the Fish

Addictive personality. I think that's my problem. Okay, one of my problems. I've been spending time feeding the fish over at Patricia's blog. Sometimes I put a gob of food out, other times I spread it around in all four corners, and just to change it up a bit, I might put just one pellet out to see which fish gets to it first. There's something meditative about it.

I'm ready for my medication, now.

Cooling

 
We're cooling off. Our temperatures are now in the 90s. (00) Some 'cooling', huh. Well, it is cooler than 106, but ohmygawd its muggy. I think that's worse than triple digit numbers. I move my eyes and sweat pops out all over. What's up with that?