Computer viruses are every where and if not careful you may catch one like I did.
Last Thursday I was at work as usual and had my computer on beside me as I always do when all of a sudden my computer screen went nuts. Boxes and boxes began opening up the more I closed the boxes the more that opened. I knew that something wasn’t right but I was not sure how to fix the problem so force closed my computer.
When I arrived home I told my boyfriend the Member of The Geek Squad that I thought my computer was sick. He asked me to open it so he could look at it and so I did. Upon the opening of my desktop things looked normal but when I tried to connect to the Internet it would not have any part of it. I was wondering if I had caught Conficker the worm that I wrote about a couple months ago.
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The virus scan came back with 106 viruses found. I flipped out and tried my darnedest to capture the little buggers in my vault but it did nothing.
We worked all weekend trying to get my computer up and running and discovered that this virus was one of the most powerful either of us had ever encountered. It had not only closed me off the Internet but had disabled my firewall and was taken over by some group venture it also had turned off my automatic updates which made my anti-virus pretty much useless.
No matter what we did and how many programs we down loaded from the net nothing worked. There was no choice but to reinstall. Now that sounds easy but when you reinstall your software you looses everything you have on your computer at the time.
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I not only use this computer for work but it is also my personal computer so all of my files, music and pictures would be lost. My Geek, and I say that lovingly, has an external hard drive so the pain staking task of deciding what to save and what could be let go was on. Of course my pictures was on the top of the list along with work files for the State and other things that I needed.
Once we had moved all of my needed files onto the hard drive then the reinstall began. It took some time to get the software in place and then scouring the Internet for drivers and programs to make this work and that began.
It took some time a few hours at least to get my laptop up and back on line. After this process first thing to install was my anti-virus. I made sure my automatic updates was turned on and I had the latest version of the software. I also made sure my firewall was at the highest setting and then my computer was once more up and running.
Now it seems faster because all the junk that clutters up your computer was gone. I also have not reinstalled my other programs that now sit on the external hard drive.
I do know that without having access to the Internet for a few days and worrying if this dam virus could be killed it was a very stressful weekend.
Will I be more careful? Of course! Will I also be careful where I go and what I browse on line? Yes, definitely! Hopefully my anti-virus software will hold those bad worms and viruses at bay and day after day I will surf the Internet without any trouble.
Thanks to my wonderful Geek once more things are normal. Thank you sweetie and I mean that! I am also glad my computer feels better now and finally got over that nasty virus.
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17 Responses
You were lucky you had a knowledgeable person to help you. You must have been really upset when it all happened. I think I had better do another backup while I think about it.
Christine
Yes Iam very thankful I had my sweetie who knew how to fix the problem, but I was freaking out completely! I will back up more often also.
Good article. I have learned the hard way about backing up files. Thanks so much for sharing.
Good write. You’re lucky to have Mr Geek. I lost 2 computers through virus’s. Tho, to be honest, the first time was probably more due to me kicking the damn thing when it all went haywire.
I’m not so lucky because I have to pay someone to fix my computer.
I´m glad you fixed it,Don´t ever gorget 1) Antivirus.2)Anti-spyware..3)Email analyzer.4) Link scanner…5).Resident protection….6)update..I have AV FREE and contains all this features.
Great anecdotal article! Regards, Hugo.
very well written piece. I learned a lot from this. thanks to you
Thanks for this but I hope I never get something like that. I know very little about computers.
That is scary stuff.
Thanks for the information. Not knowing a lot about computers these things scare the hell out of me.
Virus protection and a firewall. Always keep it on and updated and never download from sites that you don’t trust.
Here’s what’s even more interesting. It seems that several people have had virus issues since the new sites starting running. There are way to many popups and ads and I think it’s a problem.
Interesting and just terrible for you. I am sorry you had to go through that. I thank goodness for HP as well as “back up”. I also absolutely our Geeks here! I am happy for you that all is going now! Great informative article/true story here.
Hmm…….A very interesting story.
So glad you got it sorted, I wouldn’t have a clue what to do, thanks for the warning Linda.
Earlier this year I lost everything – including photos of my children and pets – after catching a really bad virus that prevented me from even logging into windows. It all started (according the the guy in the shop who fixed it) when people hacked into AVG’s website and added a virus to their updates so everyone using the software wiouldget it automatically – clever huh?
very well written… im so thankful because i know how to fix computer viruses…