Just wanted to pass along a warning for all my fellow AR types out there. Recently I was going through my emails and found one alleging it was from CNN proclaiming "Nicolas Cage Dies in Freak Accident". Well, he being one of my favorite actors, and absolutely without thinking, I clicked on the link to see what the heck happened.
Now, all you Cage fans out there relax, because he's alright. But let me tell you, when I clicked that link, I stepped in the biggest mess of techno-doo-doo I've ever seen.
Instead of news on Nick, what came up was a screen telling me that I'd been infected with a virus and it was therefore imperative that I immediately download Antivirus XP 2008 to get rid of it. The problem is that ANTIVIRUS XP 2008 is not antivirus software. It's the virus itself.
Now don't everybody jump up at once to chastise me. I did NOT download AntiVirus XP 2008. The thing actually gets into your computer when you click the original link. I repeat, it's not in the email itself and that, apparently is one reason the fully updated and active MacAfee AntiVirus software I had running didn't even slow this thing down.
This bug is in the link, or on the site the link is attached to -- I don't actually know. I'm just trying to repeat what my $50 per hour tech-guy, Bob, told me while he was cleaning up my mess.
Bottom line is that first I Googled Antivirus XP 2008 and after a little research, tried several different free anti-spyware/anti-virus downloads in an effort to get the little bugger off my computer. But none of them worked.
AVXP08 apparently embeds itself in, among other places, the part of the computer that controls the screen saver. So, along with whatever other mean and nasty stuff it's perpetrating on my machine, I got these literally non-stop popups, online or off, proclaiming the non-existent wonders of AntiVirus XP 2008.
$150, a lot frustration, and several days later, Bob finally got it all squared away, and my laptop was back to normal.
I just wanted to warn you all about this thing. Bob said it apparently comes in emails alleging that they are from CNN, or MSN, or other well-recognized news outlets, w/ headlines designed to arouse curiosity or alarm and take us off guard. He said, and (bonehead me) I already new this: "If you want news, just go online to a news site. Never, ever, open an email you don't recognize"
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