For awhile now I have felt sorta superior to people who click on things and get these nasty virus' on their computuer. You know those stupid things that pop up sometimes on your computer that are like, "Click here for a FREE IPAD!!!" or maybe "Watch free episodes of GLEE Here!" Yeah. I am WAY too smart for something like that. I mean, who REALLY thinks someone is going to give them free ipad just because they clicked on a link? Like I would ever be stupid enough to click on one of those. Especially at work. I mean, that would be FOOLISH.
Turns out I DIDN'T Click to see episodes of Glee, or for a free ipad, or even for a free mini computer (which I REALLY want now that I see half the people in my grad class have one. And there I sit, taking notes in a NOTEBOOK. With PAPER. And a PEN. How horribly lame.) No, I did not click for something free. No sir. I innocently walked into work Monday morning and noticed something from my virus scan had popped up. It said, "We have detected several tracking cookies on your computer. We would like to remove them. Allow or Do Not Allow. So....I mean....I didn't want tracking COOKIES. That sounds VERY THREATENING. So I clicked Allow. And...all hell broke loose. The next thing I knew PO.RN sites were popping open on my computer. My WORK computer!! HORROR!
Turns out virus writers are getting smarter. It's not all about free ipads after all. They are now playing against our fear of virus' WITH VIRUS'. So I had to admit to the IT guy that I had a virus. A porn site opening virus. One that I let in by actually being the fool that clicked "Ok! Come on in and ruin my computer!!". He said it has been happening a lot. That it looks very similar to the actual virus notice and it goes off well after you are online, so you assume the computer did a virus scan. But still. STILL. I felt like a total fool as he spent the last two days (TWO ENTIRE DAYS) cleaning off and basically rebooting my entire system.
So, don't click "allow" to deleting cookies. It's a virus. Close it, then re-open your own virus scan and run it. I hope I have helped you. Wish someone had told me.
It's awful when that happens isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI used to work in a tourist information centre and one day we turned up to work to find someone had hacked into the website and turned it into a porn site (very cleverly to make it look like the proper site at first glance!) You can imagine the uproar and how quickly the media were knocking at the door, can't you?
And then later I managed to get the trojan virus on my computer simply by clicking on a link to a B&B website (which was on our accommodation database)... and with my computer being networked to the rest of the city council computers you can imagine my terror at unleashing the virus!!
Oh no, how embarrassing. You poor thing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for your Hunger Games recommendation - I started the first book on Saturday and finished the last today. They were impossible to put down.
Oh, I am a mean one. That is hilarious!!!
ReplyDelete