Part of me had hoped that the hour break would somehow result in the resolution of my computer problem with no additional activity on my part. The other part of me writes software for a living. That part knows the truth. After another Internet Explorer freakout, which this time included a fake blue screen of death followed by a fake reboot, I decided it was time to take action.
The problem was that this particular virus intercepted Internet activity at a relatively low level: it wasn't possible to connect to any virus-related site as well as many sites that had tech-related forums. So things like mcafee.com and symantec.com were out. I was trying to remember why I had gotten rid of Norton Antivirus on this computer. That decision was turning out to be a not so good one.
I'll spare you the technical details, but my computer had a particularly nasty problem involving something called a rootkit. Late in the day, I managed to find a program that detected and removed the offending code. I then when directly to symantec.com and re-upped my antivirus software.
This morning, I listened to Human Bell on my way back from taking TheWife™ to work. It seemed appropriate. Take for example the song Ephaphatha (Be Opened). The word 'Ephaphatha' is an Aramaic expression dealing with the idea of being receptive to all things. Is that something a hacker cares about? Probably not.
Phew! What a wasted day, all because some sex-starved geek felt he had to flex his intellect. Now that is pathetic.
Article comments
1 - Pico
Extended electric outage, internet outage and now this. Geez, Mark, what did you do to piss off the gods so much?
2 - Porter
Mark...do you know how I can get my hands on a recording of the Rose Parade?
3 - CJ
I was hit with the exact same virus on New Years Even morning. I have been working for three days trying to get rid of it, but as you point out, it blocks any and all help sites. It also disables the restore function. Could you please share what program detected and removed the offending code?