Christmas Warning . . .

Hello friends and loved ones.

Sorry to have been so distant over the last two months. Holidays always get in the way of my good intentions.

However, this is a quick update on a computer viruses. I know you're thinking . . . what no Christmas Cheer, no Well Wishes for the holidays, but those should be implied by sending this virus alert.

There are multiple Trojans running around, but I just had a taste of one that snuck in from a very familiar email, no attachment, but a web address to click on in the body of the email. This was the 2nd email I'd received from this particular address. Oddly, enough the first web address had been for a Snopes.com click. (If you're not familiar with Snopes, it's the site that you can go to and . . . well, snoop around to see if all the Internet claims are true. Was there really a Boy Scout who survived 26 days in the wilderness with no supplies? Did Michael Jackson really sire another 14 children that he refused to claim? ETC . . . ETC . . . ETC. So, when the first email came in showing the Snopes.com address, I assumed it was something cute this familiar person had sent to me. Just due to time constraints, I never got around to opening it. When the 2nd email came from the same person, I ASSUMED -- uh-oh, we know that's a dangerous thing -- I assumed it was another Snopes link. Bad . . . bad assumption.

The virus starts by turning off all your Anti-Virus software. Whatever you have loaded: AVG, Avast, Microsoft . . . whatever, it goes black and cannot see the virus. The virus will also disable System Restore, and it won't allow a restart in 'Safe' mode.

There are recovery disk available. Not, the original ones that come with your computer, but special recovery disk that will turn off the virus and let you reset your computer. These are large down-loads that would obviously need to be 'down-loaded' through another computer. Remember, yours won't be working by this time.

So, what to watch for:
If you receive an email without a subject line -- delete.
If you receive an email without any text in the body, except a web address -- delete.
If you receive an email with an attachment, even if it's from someone you know, you might want to call that person first -- but you may still just want to delete it.

So, here's my Christmas Cheer -- free of virus (gotta love blogs). Happy Holidays to you all and a very Merry Christmas to each.

Weather's cooled off here in Texas, and we had enough freezes that the mosquitoes are done for the winter. Yeah! I don't need to smell like bug spray for a few months. Cooked out this past weekend: ribs, pulled pork and BBQ chicken -- TASTY! Enjoy your families during the joyous time and do drop by my porch again.
Until then,
~Sandra