Kit O'Connell
"King of the Goats"
Life Presents Complications 
15th-Mar-2008 04:12 am
pbf07, framed

Life has left me struggling to find time and energy to write, lately.

I got my laptop back from Dell in great working order, but then I promptly managed to get it infected with some adware that neither my primitive virus checker (AVG) nor the various free antispyware programs could handle. After a couple days of struggling with it, I downloaded a trial version of Norton; this seems to have done the trick so I guess I’ll cough up the money for it when my trial period ends.

I’ve also been helping Reesa catch up with work paperwork, helped friends with their personal crisis or at least their need to relax, and been struggling with my Fibromyalgia. The weather has been fluctuating from cool to warm and back, which is always a prescripton for unpleasantness.

Today was especially draining — our fridge which has been failing for some time totally died. Dealing with building maintenance is always a drag, but today we had the added fun of arguing with them about how we’d expect them to reimburse us for lost groceries and wondering if they’d really take days to replace it as they threatened. They ended up bringing in the fridge from the empty neighboring unit, but then we had the exhausting task of unpacking and then repacking the whole fridge and freezer in a hurry. And, after sleeping, I helped Reesa at Poking You, updating the website and then manning the front during a rush of customers while she got some much needed chill time.

It pleases me though that writing work has continued, even though I’m not doing so regularly enough during busy or complicated times. While I still have to work on my discipline and routine, it is nice to know I don’t abandon my writing as easily as I did even a year ago.

In addition, I got my first unsolicited book in the mail today — a copy of Circlet Press’ new Best Fantastic Erotica. Previous books have been requested from their publisher or SF Site; this is the first time someone sought me out to send me a book, which pleases me. I am looking forward to reading it and reviewing it.

Norton just informed me my computer is still infected with a Trojan, but at least it is blocking it from acting. I still have work to do… Time to start another virus check and then wake up Reesa from her nap.

Originally published at approximately 8,000 words. You can comment here or there.

Comments 
15th-Mar-2008 04:12 pm (UTC)
[info]beth47
(hey - if you want, i can help you stomp out whatever is infecting your machine. with a few specifics, i can probably even tell you what cleaner or program to use to get rid of it. it's part of what i do for a living, and i can help you deal with it without paying for any subscriptions to anything. especially Norton products. heh. so, let me know if you want help?)
15th-Mar-2008 05:29 pm (UTC)
[info]todfox
The system is slow. If I open IE I get lots of popup ads, and it seems to work in Firefox too though less often. Norton once told me it had blocked an attempt by 'Trojan.Vundo' to reach a certain IP address, but Norton Antivirus doesn't detect any threats and running the Symantec free Vundo-removal tool, in Safe Mode with System Restore turned off, didn't seem to have any effect.

Any help you can provide is welcomed. My next step is to try Norton customer service and I hate letting them hijack my machine.

Thanks.
15th-Mar-2008 11:49 pm (UTC)
[info]beth47
I clean this exact same thing (which has several varieties of itself, even) off of approximately a jillion machines a week. I do indeed have several suggestions for you, and can probably help get rid of it for good. Also, free. [grin]

Want me to email, or continue on LJ?
16th-Mar-2008 03:39 am (UTC)
[info]todfox
Email is fine. vulpine at pobox dot com.

Thanks so much!

I ran a program called 'Vundofix which seemed to kill some of the files, but I'm not convinced it got everything so Id still like your advice.
16th-Mar-2008 02:52 pm (UTC)
[info]todfox
I am definitely still infected, just was told by Norton it blocked an attempt by my laptop to contact 'volokol.com' due to Vundo.
16th-Mar-2008 07:37 pm (UTC) - (I'm not surprised about it still being there.)
[info]beth47
You've Got Mail. [ding!]
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