(no subject)

[mereilin]

Funny how this virus has changed my habits. There's absolutely nothing I want to do online enough to risk dealing with that again.

Not that I have finished. I broke down and agreed to pay McAfee's virus removal fee, even though I pay them an annual fee for the privilege of getting a virus they don't recognize. Why? Because I shopped around and nobody was doing it cheaper or faster, and they guaranteed that if they couldn't remove the virus I'd get my money back. So what the hell.

After an hour the first technician threw up his hands and said he'd have a supervisor call me tomorrow. Fan-fucking-tastic. There's another day I can't earn any money.

In other news, my car still has no engine. After painfully hammering out the details of accountability with my mechanic, the actual PART has yet to be delivered after two weeks. He just called today to let me know he's getting ready to sue the salvage yard. Which is all very well and good except I'm walking everywhere and there are quite a few places I can't get to because they're out of range.

Also I got an evaluation from school of all the things that are wrong with my daughter. I'm sick of people telling me stuff is wrong with my kids. I'm sick of feeling like I fail as a parent because stuff is wrong with my kids.

There are a few things I'm sick of. And more than a few things I'm feeling bitter about. I know I need to get past it and adjust my attitude but for the love of all that's holy COULD I HAVE A LITTLE LESS SHIT ON MY PLATTER, KTHX???

Comments

[whobyfire78.livejournal.com]

Gosh. You win for most stress...that's a lot to deal with at once. *hugs*

I don't get it -you have to PAY McAfee to remove a virus you're already PAYING them to protect you from. That's crazy. Do you have any information on this thing? How you got it, etc? I ask because *I* have McAfee, and even though I'm an IT geek and keep my security settings pretty tight, I'm always paranoid of something getting through.

Fuck the evaluation, and fuck the people who try to tell you there's something "wrong" with your kids. I don't know you well enough to make any judgement about your kids, but from my limited perspective you seem like you love your kids very much and want them to thrive and be happy. Isn't that a definition of a good mom? Hell, I started reading when I was 2.5 or 3...and they told my mom it wasn't "normal" for me to sit in the corner and enjoy reading books to myself. I've found all of these so-called experts usually have their own theories and biases and are only slightly more likely to be right than the best of us.

[mereilin.livejournal.com]

McAfee is so nonchalant about it, too. "Oh, there are new viruses every day; nothing is going to protect you completely." I picked up a kind of FakeAlert malware that disguises itself as security software. It bombards you with warnings about all the infections and security breaches it "found" on your computer and then offers to remove them for a fee. After which, I'm told, if you're stupid enough to give them access to your credit card they promptly drain it.

I just found out today that even clicking the X in the corner of any of those "warnings" can cause the malware to install itself. To date, every attempt I've made to remove it has caused it to mutate and split so now it's everywhere. The latest iteration hijacks my google search results and redirects the browser to sketchy websites.

The worst part is it pops up looking like windows security software so at first glance it looks legit. So if you're in the middle of something and not really paying attention you might go -- oh, yeah; block that. Sure. And then WHAM.

At its worst it was flinging porno sites at me and telling me everything I tried to open to fix my computer was infected and blocking access to internet sites that might have instructions on how to remove it. This thing is MALICIOUS, and when I finally got onto McAfee's site, they didn't even have it listed as a threat.

I can actually use my computer, but I don't know where this thing is hiding and what it's doing back there, so I'm afraid to do anything of critical importance like logging into my bank account to pay bills or possibly submit infected files to my employer.

Oh, and my last attempt to remove malware took out the transcription software I use for work, and I don't want to bother to try to reinstall it on a computer that isn't clean.

It's so frustrating, and it feels marginally better to vent about it here. Thanks for the moral support. I appreciate the sentiment. :)