I just wanted to drop a quick note of something that's been trying to attack our computer so y'all can avoid it. I think its gotta be a virus, but I don't know what its called or what it would do if it successfully infected. Listen to the chain of events and I think you'll agree that its suspicious. The last couple nights while Corrina has been working on the computer, a window would pop up saying that our computer may have been infected and that "Antivirus 360" (or some other program) would do a thorough and free scan to fix it if we hit continue. RED FLAG: we already have NORTON 360 installed on our computer, so any scan is free and it never calls itself Antivirus 360. Corrina was smart and clicked cancel, then its starts popping up all these othewindows warning you that if you hit cancel your computer will be infected and crash, etc. The browser window then makes it look like it is scanning your hardrive and identifying multiple trojans, etc. and asks you to run an application to install it and fix the viruses. Corrina was smart and immediatley closed all windows, without installing anything, and ran our own antivirus software and, sure enough, no trojans, just a couple low threat tracking cookies. Last night it happened while we were investigating (cautiously) a suspicious website, so I wasn't surprised. But the crazy thing is, the night before it happened while Corrina was facebooking. Once again, fortunately Corrina realized it was suspicious and immediately ran our own antivirus. I just wanted y'all to be informed so you don't get tricked either.
P.S. does anyone know of any government installations in Mountain View California? :-) I was looking at the Feedjit gadget that tracks hits to my blog and approximately 2 days ago someone from Mountain View running a Linux OS visited my Wheel of Fortune Typo post several times and now I'm paranoid the government is keeping an eye on me and that I'll be labeled an enemy of the state because of my posts about Obama. :-) I'm just kidding, but it is kinda strange to see someone running Linux. :-)
Missionary Call
12 years ago
4 comments:
Fun blog. This "virus" sounds vaguely familiar to something that tried to get out computer but it was awhile ago. I'd have to ask Chris and see if he remembers.
Kelly
wow. good thing you are smart enough not to fall for whatever tht virus thing is. scary.
Big brother is watching! :) I'm glad you're the one doing the political rants and not me...I'm not brave enough :) I wonder if my friend Nicole (from here in Carmichael) has ever stumbled upon your blog. She would have been livid if she saw your wheel of fortune typo! A while back when I posted that picture of the Obamunism logo, I saw that her husband copied it onto his own political blog and condemned it. She probably secretly thinks I'm a horrible person! :)
Shirley
Ya know Dave, I had the same thing happen recently to me. So you piqued my curiosity and I looked online for some info. It appears that it is really aggressive advertising by the company - like a pop-up ad but more deceptive and invasive. Doesn't seem to cause harm but certainly tries to get you in download it.
Lots of tech companies in Mountain View, so Linux there isn't very surprising. I doubt think government computers are all that likely to be running Linux- you're just being paranoid.
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