Viruses Suck

Good news: I now have DSL connection so the net is uber-fast.

Bad news: I also caught the about:blank virus over the weekend which utterly paralyzed my ability to use the computer.

My symptoms from this LOVELY bug...

1. Resets homepage on browser to a cr*ppy search engine with "about:blank" in the URL.
2. Throws pop-ups onto the screen even when you have pop-up blocker.
3. Highlights text on webpages that are not, in fact, highlighted - clicking on them searches for said terms on aforementioned cr*ppy search engine.
4. Inability to use ANYTHING password related, including e-mail, AIM, message boards, or this blog.
5. Utter paranoia and despair.

Luckily, tech support suggested simply doing a system restore, and everything seems peachy-keen now. But from what I've read about this sumb!tch, this may not be over, as the virus has a nasty habit of mutating and becoming undetectable, then showing up again when you reboot.

But aha! Thanks to Heather's husband Mark, I may still be prepared if this rears its ugly head again, as he found a definition for this thing and has prepared a disk loaded with all the necessary software to (theoretically) kick it to Virus Hell once and for all.

Just an opinion, makers of viruses are among the lowest scum on planet Earth. Like, way lower than telemarketers. Way lower than Jehovah's Witnesses. At these with those people you can hang up or laugh at them.