Vicious Malware almost ate my computer

Last night I was really tired and planned to go to bed early, or earlier than I normally do. However, I thought one stop over at Pinterest wouldn't be a big deal. So off I went looking and laughing and pinning when I came upon something I thought particularly witty and clever. I clicked to the linked site hoping for more witty and cleverness but instead a big scary Malware monster attacked my little 'puter.

Suddenly there were scary little pop-up windows declaring that my system had a "Delayed Write Failed Error 32". Another scary looking window said I needed to do a restore and a system scan and sacrifice a goat while burning a ritual candle in the name of the Computer Gods.

I immediately closed all the windows and they Kept Coming Back!!! I logged off. I re-booted. I watched my files just Poof! disappear. Then I did what any other normal person in such a situation would do. I panicked. Fingernails got chewed. Hair was pulled and also chewed. The husband was yelled at even though he was quietly minding his own business playing a game on X-box.

I ran my super-duper virus protection program in its limited capacity because I haven't yet updated it. Yet!  I will! I am! I also said a little prayer to God to please take a moment or two out of his busy schedule to save my computer and not have all my files be lost into the Great Unknown.

At this point it's almost 3 am and my perfect little plan of going to bed at a reasonable hour has been blown to bits. I decided to go to sleep and hope that maybe when I wake up this will all have been some ridiculous nightmare or maybe an episode of  Scare Tactics.

After a light, uneasy sleep of 4 hours I get up and get the Little Man off to school. And then I boot up my PC, fingers crossed the whole time. And....nothing. It wasn't a nightmare and Tracy Morgan didn't jump out of the closet to assure me that my husband set me up for a good fright.

I did some online research and after finding a free down-loadable scanner through Microsoft  that removes these pesky programs and finding out how to bring my file and folder babies out of "hiding" I am happy to report that all is well with my Dell laptop.

Lessons Learned:

Always update your virus protection software! (a little PSA from me to you)
Always backup your files! (another PSA)
Never click a link you are unsure of. (duh!)
Scare Tactics is funny.
Scary malware is not!
Go to bed when you plan to and get off the dang computer!

Hey! Come check out Lovelinks. Read some cool blogs, leave a comment or two or three and then come back Thursday and vote for your fave.  

He has a kid's room; I had a disaster area.

The little man has his own room at my parents' house for when he visits or sleeps over. There's a bed, nightstand and possibly a floor. It's hard to tell with all the action figures waging war in various ships and battlegrounds. Little green army guys are fighting alongside members of G.I. Joe. Transformers are joined in battle with Bakugan. There are tanks, boats, helicopters and other transports as well.

Anyway, some out of town relatives are coming to visit and will most likely be coming to see their new house. I suggested to little man that we "straighten out" his room to make it presentable for company. More than likely this will include me trying to figure out which faction goes into what tote box.

Me: Is this guy from G.I. Joe?
Little Man: No Mom, he belongs to Halo.

How silly of me to not know the difference. At least I can identify the Star Wars characters. Yay!

I told my mom of our intention to clean up his room and she replied in true grandmother-type fashion.

My mom: Oh that's not necessary. It's a child's room. It's supposed to have toys all over.

I stared blankly, blinked a couple times, and did a cartoon-like head shake. Did I hear correctly? Where was this woman when I was eight-years old? My room was called a disaster area if I had toys all over. And I HAD to clean it up. So. Not. Fair.

I'm still going to make little man make his room look presentable, if only to just get under his and mom's skins a little. Hey, if I had to do it, so does he! So there!

A Little Halloweenie

I've always liked Halloween. Not just the dressing up and getting candy - which rocks by the way- but the decorating too.  The husband lives for this holiday and we have several totes worth of gruesome Addams Family style decorations to show for it. You won't find any happy little pumpkins and scarecrows on our front lawn. I'm talking body parts coming out of the ground. His Halloween decorating was legendary back when he still lived at home with his mother. The neighbors loved it, kids came from all over and a handful were too afraid to venture to the front door for candy. After he moved out and we got married, kids still asked his mom on Halloween where the scary guy and his house went.

These days it's our house that looks like something out of a Stephen King horror story. Skeletal remains, got 'em. Cauldrons? We have three. Bats? Yep. Heads without bodies and bodies without heads, cemetery gates, fog machines. It's all there. I think the parents and kids enjoy the effort put into the decorating when they're out trick or treating on Halloween.

I have a love/hate relationship with all things macabre. I'm not a fan of haunted houses because somehow I always get picked on and I don't enjoy most scary movies. However, I take part in decorating and I do enjoy Mike Myers walking around with a butcher knife trying to slash Jamie Lee Curtis to bits. I'm odd like that.

Sadly, our Little Man isn't as enamored with the gross and disturbing side of the holiday. This all goes back to an ill-fated and premature trip with the Husband's mother to a haunted house when he was 3. That's a story for another day and yeah...still not happy about that. Anyway, he likes helping his dad with decorating but some of the stuff in our creepy cache freaks him out. When he's out trick-or-treating, he'll even bypass houses decorated like ours because he's skeered. The irony is not lost on the Husband. We're hoping he grows out of this.

Hey! Come check out Lovelinks. There are other cool blogs to read and on Thursday you can vote for your favorite!

Hello Fall!

Fall has officially come to the Vegas Valley. Granted our trees are not a multi-colored hue but the weather has turned cooler. Like significantly cooler. It seems like we went from 90+ degrees, which we call "Groundhog Summer" to 50 & 60 degrees in a matter of days. I don't like it. I actually have to wear pants. No, I haven't become a nudist or anything, I mean long pants instead of the shorts I've been in since May.

Yeah okay, Fall can be nice. Different wardrobe, boots, Led Zeppelin. That last one makes sense only to me and my best friend who have always equated Autumn with Led Zep music. Don't ask. Having lived on the East Coast for most of my life I'm used to sudden temp changes so this should come as no surprise to me. Doesn't mean I have to like it. The weather people are calling for warmer temperatures in the coming days. This makes me happy. I've gotten used to being warm and sunny while other parts of the country are cold and miserable. I know, that's mean. But still, that's the price you pay for red, orange and golden leaves and all that Autumn fall foliage everyone loves. I prefer my green palm trees.