Season Of The Virus

Yesterday, a very aggressive virus attacked my computer at work.  This was particularly aggravating to me because it was one of those rare days that I had gotten up early, showered, shaved and had a big breakfast and had actually gotten to work early.

This was a day that I had actually planned to get ahead on some pressing work....Instead, as soon as I booted up, some box appeared telling me that I had a major virus and that if I clicked on this icon, it would install free software that would take care of the virus...This is an old trick...this was actually THE VIRUS! I knew this and so I tried to get rid of it...It came back...I xed it out and it came back again...I tried to get on internet explorer and it came back yet again!!! This time it was running....I quickly called my I T person...I had a hot cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee which I hadn't yet opened to drink...I offered it to her!

It's good to stay in good with your I T person...you never know when you might need them...It took her several hours to get rid of this virus...She had to take down and rebuild my entire profile to finally get rid of it.
It was an aggressive little bugger. A year ago, around this time, I had to have both computers at my home "cleaned and debugged " of viruses.  Lucky for me...I have a brother that does this for a living...It could have cost me some good money to have had this professionally done at work. (I know because I've done it before.)

I was talking to one of my frat brothers yesterday on Facebook chat and he was telling me that this was the season for viruses anyway.  He is a very no nonsense and sensible guy...not the type that would believe birther theories or way out conspiracy theories...So when he talks like this, I tend to listen.

He said beware of things on both Facebook and Twitter that appear to come from "friends" like a status update that says-"I can't believe how many people have viewed my profile...click on this and you can see how many have viewed yours."  It's actually not your friend...someone has hacked into their system and assumed their identity and is sending unsuspecting people sites that are actually viruses...

He said to beware clicking on Obama photos like the one used in my last post or fake photos of the recently deceased Osama Bin Laden in death....Those photos are fakes and loaded with viruses...It's a nice easy way for Al Queda operatives to get a little revenge...You know I'm not a conspiracy theory kind of guy....But this stuff doesn't sound that far fetched. Since I have been fooled a couple of times and have actually gotten a virus...There is more than enough reason for me to believe that what my frat brother told me yesterday was so.

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet.  Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.


A computer virus is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, even those that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses.

Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions.

Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious (Didn't know I knew a word like that did you? Every now and then, I make use of my college education.)or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.

Well good people...that's your education for today...in case you missed it through all of this technological mumble jumble...I'm just trying to say...be careful what sites you visit, be careful what you click on...It could very well be...The Season of the Virus..

A Public Service announcement from the Maverick of all bloggers!